About Yuan Power
Taichung Xitun ・ A taekwondo school at this address since 2000 ・ Yuan Power since 2015
The name
Why "Yuan Power"?
The name comes from a pun. The founder's surname, Yuan (袁), sounds like the first syllable of 原動力, which means "driving force."
His hope for every student: train hard, and find your own drive.
This place
In 2000, this was already a taekwondo school
This space has been a taekwondo school since 2000.
From 2002 to 2004, a high school student trained here. He won gold at Taiwan's National High School Games three years in a row. His name was Yuan Ming-che.
In 2015, his coach retired and asked him to come back and take over. He inherited the students, and the shelf that still held his own trophies from those years.
That October, a new group of white belts walked in. Ten years later, two of them are our head coach and one of our coaches.
Passing it on
Two white belts from October 2015, ten years on
Lai Kuan-yu
Chen Yi-en| Lai Kuan-yu | Chen Yi-en | |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Head coach | Coach |
| Started | October 2015, white belt | October 2015, white belt |
| Now | 4th dan black belt | 3rd dan black belt |
| University | National Taiwan University of Sport (combat sports) | National Taiwan University of Sport (sport and health sciences) |
| 2025 | First place at both the Fuzhou and Pingtan stages of the Cross-Strait Taekwondo Exchange Tournament | Silver medal, BIG BOSS international championships |
A certificate shows a coach can teach.
Training students who become coaches shows the teaching works.
How we teach
Two paths, and both work
Students here can take one of two paths.
One is competition. Students who want to compete can join the Competition Team and train with coaches who competed at the national level.
The other is no competition. Students who don't want to compete still test for their belts, still get fit, and still belong here.
Both paths work.
About 30% of our current students are in junior high or high school. They started with us in elementary school and kept going.
Local schools
Our coaches also teach at four local schools
Our coaches teach taekwondo at three elementary schools and one junior high school in Xitun District: Yong An, Guo An and Shang An elementary schools (永安國小、國安國小、上安國小), and Focus Junior High School (福科國中).
At the elementary schools, it's an after-school taekwondo club. At the junior high, it's the school taekwondo team. The captain of that team's first generation now coaches at Yuan Power.
So kids who start with us in elementary school often keep training with the same coaches after they move up to junior high. Changing schools doesn't mean changing teachers.
Timeline
From 2000 to today
Lighter entries are the history before Yuan Power.
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2000
A taekwondo school opens at this address, run by the previous owner
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2002–2004
Yuan Ming-che trains here in high school and wins gold at Taiwan's National High School Games three years running
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2015
Yuan Ming-che takes over and founds Yuan Power Taekwondo
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October 2015
Lai Kuan-yu and Chen Yi-en start as white belts
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2019–2021
One of our students wins gold at Taiwan's National High School Games three years running (ETtoday report, in Chinese)
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January 5, 2021
Yuan Ming-che receives a Certificate of Appreciation from the Taichung City Government, presented by Mayor Lu Shiow-yen, for coaching students to outstanding results
-
2025
Lai Kuan-yu and Chen Yi-en coach here. 37 students are promoted to dan grades
-
2026
26 years at this address, 11 years as Yuan Power. 95 medals at the Taichung Mayor's Cup over the past two years
Same place
Opening day, and today
The front
2015
Now
The sign has never changed.
The wall has, there are more students, and ten years have gone by.
We didn't wait to grow before building a brand. It was this name and this gorilla from day one.
The training floor
2015
Now
Facilities
What parents usually ask about, in photos
- Mats across the whole floor, with padded walls
- A mirrored wall and barre, so students can see and fix their technique
- A waiting area for parents, so you can stay and watch
- Air conditioning throughout
- A trophy wall with ten years of student results
From the founder
A word from our founder
大家好,我是袁明哲,自小學三年級開始接觸跆拳道運動,
從受訓到執教我至今未停下腳步,
跆拳道改變了我的人生,
我希望將我對跆拳道的喜好及熱愛,傳遞給更多人。
In English: "Hello, I'm Yuan Ming-che. I started taekwondo in third grade, and from training to coaching, I have never stopped. Taekwondo changed my life. I want to pass my love for it on to more people."
Come and see the school
The trial class has a small fee, fully credited toward that month's tuition if you sign up that day.
We'll walk you through how classes work, missed-class make-ups and tuition in person on your trial day. Message us on LINE to book a trial.