Before she became a Franciscan missionary, she was a martial arts champion. After 20 years in Zimbabwe and England, she came home to teach children with cancer martial arts techniques born in South Korea as part of their physical rehabilitation. Recently, she also won a silver medal at the Korea Open International Championships.

Singapore (AsiaNews) - When she was 7 years old, Linda Sim wanted to be a soldier. However, "If I couldn't serve in the army, then I will serve in God's army," quipped the Franciscan nun 51 years later.

After spending 20 years in Zimbabwe and England, she came home and now works as a mission awareness coordinator at the Mount Alvernia Hospital and Assisi Hospice where she coaches children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions the art of taekwondo.

The nun's sporting career began in 1971 when she signed up for taekwondo classes and began practicing at the St Vincent de Paul Church in Singapore.

"My father didn't want me to fight and my mother was the chaperone. When I got hit on the head, it was too late and I had to fight. My mother closed her eyes," she said. Over the next seven years, she rose through the ranks in the sport in the city-state.

In 1978, she gave it all up to follow her religious vocation, and entered the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood.

After her novitiate, the vows and a first stint in Singapore, she travelled to Zimbabwe where she ran a Catholic hospital for three years, and then moved to England where she was a religious trainee and trainer for 17 years before coming home in 2004.

Throughout this period, she did not stop practicing taekwondo but did it with a twist, poomsae, a version of the sport in which the athlete goes through basic actions and techniques without an opponent.

In South Korea, where the martial art was born, poomsae is very popular because it combines technique and concentration.

In 2006, the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) started offering taekwondo lessons to children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions at the Assisi Hospice Children Day Care Centre with Sim working as a coach. For doctors, the practice can help patients before and after chemotherapy.

The nun said that she was "overjoyed at having the privilege of coaching the Assisi Hospice children as well as for the opportunity to learn from the STF coaches" because she "always loved sports".

Through this programme, the children Sister Sim led children to competitions including the 1st National Taekwondo Poomsae Competition in 2007, bagging six gold medals, two silvers and a bronze.

She has also represented Singapore overseas and has won medals at numerous competitions, including a silver medal in the Korea Open International Championships in July.

"I thought I was too old," she said, "but not yet, apparently."

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