Susan Shirk earns title of highest ranked woman in Minnesota for Korean sword martial art Haidong Gumdo

You might have seen Susan Shirk in the Weitz previously as a music collections curator, or now in the Libe dealing with new acquisitions, but if you could have seen her in April you would’ve seen her with a sword. On April 14, Shirk became a fifth degree black belt in the Korean sword martial art Haidong Gumdo, making her the highest ranked woman in the art in Minnesota. 

To achieve this status, Shirk had to perform bamboo cutting and forms, the latter being a set of moves, or “pre-choreographed fights against invisible opponents,” as described by Shirk. Her test stood out from previous ones in terms of content and difficulty. 

“They gave [my training partner and I] the hardest version of the test they could,” Shirk said, “which is completely unexpected. We had never seen it done that way before.”

Unlike the previous test administered, which included just four of the seven aspects of the test, Shirk was tasked with performing all seven to make it to the next black belt level. In addition, she was afforded no breaks, which was also unusual. These challenges only heightened the excitement for Shirk.

“The fact that it is all of them and then no breaks was awesome,” said Shirk. “My training partner and I felt our chief master — our master in the United States — was showing us off to the Korean masters that were visiting for the test. That was our takeaway: that he was proud of us and wanted to show what we can do.”

This day had been long in the making, as Shirk began her training over a decade ago, in 2012. Looking for a form of exercise that motivated her beyond just treadmill running or weight lifting, Shirk found Gumdo. Sword fighting brought to life her interest in fantasy, fiction, and video games.

“Now I’m a real life swordmaster instead of just one in a game,” said Shirk. 

Since then, Shirk has used many of the resources available at Carleton to develop and hone her skills. Shirk began with — and still makes use of — personal training at the Rec Center with Thad Caron, personal trainer, as part of the MindBodySpirit program available for staff, faculty, and students. Personal training allows her to tailor her workouts to her Gumdo goals. As she became more involved in Gumdo, she also began to take advantage of more diverse resources on campus.

“Over the years,” Shirk said, “I’ve used my staff benefit to take Korean history courses with Seungjoo Yoon, [associate professor of history]; the athletic training course with Chad Alladin, [head athletic trainer]; and choreography with Judith Howard, [Rae Schupack Nathan Professor of Dance] — all to deepen my martial arts practice.”

Shirk fondly remembers her choreography course as a great opportunity to prepare for an upcoming demonstration at a tournament. In the class, she created a sword dance to be performed at the tournament, incorporating dancing skills with her Gumdo knowledge.

Beyond personal development, Shirk found and forged community in Gumdo. Upon first exploring the art, Shirk discovered “a community of people that I felt I belonged to.” This has continued throughout the years, even to her most recent test. 

“[Community] was a big part of this last trip,” Shirk said. “There were 12 of us that went and a core group of people that would train weekly for several months. Then we hung out, traveled together. It was great.”

Shirk participates in the community not only as a student, but as a teacher. Running local classes through Northfield Community Education as well as leading seminars in greater Minnesota, Shirk grows leaders through martial arts training.

“I’ve been a leader in Minnesota for a while,” Shirk said. “Officially, for the last year I’ve been organizing all the schools and masters, and just sharing information and keeping us going.”

In such a male-dominated arena, Shirk also enjoys serving as an inspiration to other women. 

“There’s not a lot of women in this martial art, so being an example to the other women coming up is really, really exciting to me,” said Shirk.

Follow along with Shirk’s Haidong Gumdo journey on her Facebook page, and sign up for her Fall 2024 classes in Northfield!