About me
My name is David Chung.
For over 20 years I have guided people in their personal development, resilience and growth. My background lies in coaching, martial arts, resilience training and supporting people with a wide range of challenges and backgrounds.
Over the years I have learned that real change does not arise from knowledge or effort alone, but also from calm, attention and restoring the connection between body and mind.
That conviction forms the foundation of Vuurdraak today.
At Vuurdraak I guide people who long for more balance, resilience, recovery and personal growth. People who feel overburdened, get stuck in patterns, struggle to find calm or simply want to come closer to themselves again.
I believe that real change happens when people feel seen, heard and understood. Not by fighting harder against their complaints, but by reconnecting with themselves.
For over twenty years I have guided people in their personal development, resilience and growth. For the past fifteen years I have done so as a self-employed entrepreneur, teacher, coach and head instructor, working from my own vision and approach.
Many people know me as the owner and head instructor of Chung Do Kwan martial arts school, as the driving force behind the Special Needs Nederland Foundation, and as national coach of the Dutch Special Needs Taekwondo Team.
Throughout my career I have had the privilege of guiding hundreds of people: from young children and recreational athletes to top athletes and people with a physical or intellectual disability. What has remained constant all those years is my conviction that genuine development is never only about performance. It is about the person behind the performance.
The most beautiful moment is not winning a medal, diploma or title. It is the moment someone regains confidence in themselves. When someone discovers that more is possible than they thought. When strength, calm and self-confidence return.
That vision has led to remarkable results. At the 2019 World Championship in New Zealand, the Dutch Special Needs Taekwondo Team won no fewer than 21 medals. An achievement I am proud of. But I find the personal growth, the perseverance and the life stories of the athletes behind it even more valuable.
Throughout my years as a coach, martial arts instructor and mentor to people from all kinds of backgrounds, I saw time and again how stress, tension and unprocessed experiences leave their mark on body and mind. Vuurdraak grew out of the wish to offer people a place where calm, attention and personal growth take centre stage.
My own journey began more than 35 years ago as a martial arts student. There I learned the values that to this day form the basis of everything I do: discipline, respect, perseverance, humility and the awareness that you are never done learning.
From student I grew into assistant, instructor, coach and ultimately head instructor. Every step brought new insights, responsibilities and experiences. At the same time I have always stayed connected to my roots. To this day I remain in contact with my grandmaster in South Korea and continue to learn from the traditional principles on which my foundation is built.
What martial arts taught me, however, reaches far beyond physical training. It taught me how important the balance between body and mind is. How resilience arises. How people deal with setbacks. And how growth often begins the moment you are forced to pause.
This became real for me during the coronavirus period. While many activities came to a standstill, I kept teaching. First online from home and later outdoors in squares, on sports fields and in car parks. For months I stood there, rain or shine – in rain, wind, cold and sometimes even snow – driven by the conviction that movement, health and connection are invaluable precisely in difficult times. Anything to keep people moving and to maintain the bond between us during a period when that was needed more than ever.
But it was precisely in that period that I pushed myself too far. After a severe COVID infection I ended up in hospital, and what followed was a long recovery in which nothing could be taken for granted anymore. The energy I had taken for granted for years was gone, and even simple everyday activities could be an enormous challenge.
For the first time in my life, I could not solve problems by working harder or simply pushing through. I was used to always moving forward: travelling, building my business, teaching, starting new projects. To me, everything felt possible. The sky was the limit.
But life had other plans. I was forced to slow down — something I had never learned and, honestly, had never wanted.
I tried everything to become my old self again. Every new step brought hope, every relapse brought frustration. What had worked for years suddenly no longer worked.
In 2023 I cautiously began to notice that something was changing. I was still far from my old self and my recovery was anything but linear, but for the first time in a long while there was room for hope again. The good days became a little more frequent, the bad days a little less heavy. Slowly I began to look ahead once more.
That same year I travelled with my cousin to the interior of Cambodia to carry out a special project. Thanks to the support of members, parents and others connected to my martial arts school and foundation, we had raised money for people who had been struck far harder than we had.
From the very start, one thing was certain to me: we would not bring discarded goods. The people there deserve the same respect as anyone else. That is why we took the money we had raised and bought everything locally. New training uniforms, school supplies and other necessary materials. In doing so we helped not only the families who received the items, but also the local entrepreneurs. A small contribution with a double impact.
But what I received there ultimately turned out to be far more valuable than what I came to bring.
I will never forget how I stood there, in the midst of the people. People who often lived with far less than we are used to, yet who at the same time radiated a warmth, resilience and joy of living that made a deep impression on me.
At that moment, something became crystal clear to me.
I wanted to get better.
Not a little better.
Not just good enough to function again.
But truly better.
For my daughter. For my family. For my students. For the people who needed my help. And for all the plans and dreams I had not yet realised.
There, on the other side of the world, a fire was kindled that I had not felt so strongly in years.
From that moment on, I no longer let anyone tell me what was or was not possible. Of course there were still difficult periods. Days when my body would not cooperate. Moments when the fatigue was overwhelming and I wondered how much longer this road would last.
But each time I thought back to that moment in Cambodia.
To the people I met there.
To the promise I made to myself there.
And so I carried on.
Step by step.
Day by day.
Not because it was easy, but because it was worth it.
In October 2025 I once again stood beside the mat as a coach at the World Championship in Italy. With the Dutch Special Needs Taekwondo Team we won more than 50 medals. An achievement I am incredibly proud of. Not because of the medals themselves, but because these champions proved once again that limitations need not be boundaries — and in doing so wrote history for the Netherlands.
Yet that was not the only reason this championship was so special to me. Standing there, among the athletes, coaches and competitions, I realised I had recovered something I had long been unsure would ever return: confidence in my own body, my energy and my future.
For the first time I did not just feel that I was recovering.
I knew it too.
Not because everything was as it had been before.
Not because all the challenges had disappeared.
But because I noticed I could once again do what my heart is set on: guiding, inspiring and supporting people in their own development.
That moment felt like an important turning point. It confirmed that the path I had travelled had been worthwhile. A path of falling and getting back up. Of searching, learning, adapting and starting again.
The insights I gained during my own recovery now form an important foundation for the way I guide and support people.
When I look back today, what I feel most is gratitude. Not because I would want to relive those difficult years, but because they shaped me into the person I am today.
They taught me what resilience truly means.
They taught me how important health, balance and self-care are.
And they taught me that the greatest strength often arises the moment you think you have nothing left.
It is precisely for this reason that today I can guide others from more than just knowledge or training. I guide people from experience. From understanding. From knowing what it feels like to get stuck, to lose confidence in yourself and to have to start again.
In more than 20 years of coaching and guidance I have learned that no two people are the same. That is why I do not work from fixed protocols, but from attention to the person. The methods I use support the process; they do not lead it.
Perhaps you recognise yourself in that feeling.
Perhaps you too are looking for more energy, more balance or a new direction.
Then I want you to know that you are not alone in this.
Vuurdraak grew out of the conviction that every person has the capacity to grow, to recover and to find balance again.
My guidance combines more than 20 years of experience in coaching, resilience, martial arts and personal development, complemented by complementary methods focused on relaxation, awareness and recovery.
No standard protocol, but personal attention and guidance tailored to your situation, your pace and your goals.
Whether you are looking for more calm, more energy, more resilience or simply a moment to pause and reflect on yourself: you are welcome.
