Most kids dream of being a stunt double in blockbuster movies. For Canadian Yohan Chang, that’s his reality.
Holding double duties at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games as both coach and competitor, the 24-year-old is the epitome of taekwondo mental fortitude.
A graduate of one of Canada’s top business schools at York University, Chang has coached the national taekwondo team since 2022, mentoring his students at international tournaments while carving out an extraordinarily exciting career in the film industry.
And that’s just the beginning.
“Taekwondo is actually a family business for me,” he said.
“I started when I was two, just kicking (and) punching with my dad and eventually, I transitioned into competing when I was around 12.
“Ever since then, it’s just been my entire life.”
Living the Hollywood dream
Chang is no stranger to the international stage, using his unique taekwondo skills to develop a niche job path in TV and movie stunts.
“My dad also does the film industry aspect. So being a younger kid with this skill set of martial arts; being able to fall, being able to spin, kick, and jump is somewhat uncommon,” he said.
“So they need kids all the time to do all those small stunts. That’s how I slowly got into it, and then… into coaching, training (and) competing.”
Chang has credits in over 13 different entertainment series, with some jobs amassing nearly 800 million minutes viewed at peak streaming.
“The biggest (job) that I’ve worked on is Umbrella Academy. It’s a Netflix show with people with superpowers. I stunt double the Asian actor Justin H. Min. So I was stunt doubling him in season (two and three).
“Obviously, it’s been a blast being on that side of (the industry).”
The Torontonian said there isn’t much difference between his on-screen persona and the competitive taekwondo mindset.
“I would say that the main similarity (between the both) is the pressure of being on camera and also performing. You have that same pressure where you can’t really afford to fail.”
Double duties
Coaching Team Canada on Saturday, 19 July, while also representing his country in the men’s 64kg division the following Tuesday, Chang has unprecedented insight into being a student-athlete.
“I’m towards the end of my career, so it’s quite a rare opportunity for me to compete at an international level like this. The stunt jobs and those things, they’ll always be there, especially as I get older,” he admitted.
“This is my first University Games as an athlete… I just wanted to see what it was like being at a multi-sport games, working with other individuals outside of taekwondo and seeing what the atmosphere was like and seeing if anything was different.”
Chang’s mental fortitude, developed over years of competition, allowed the Schulich School of Business student to balance elite sports and academics.
Canada is no stranger to sporting prowess, but for niche disciplines such as taekwondo, structural boundaries still present themselves.
“It’s quite difficult to get into the sport, because in order for you to compete at a high performance level, you have to get your black belt first. Which makes it a little bit more difficult for people who just want to try it out,” he said.
This is something Chang is working to change, training with his student-athletes regularly to create a supportive and tight-knit environment. On Saturday, his mentoring paid off in a big way as his pupil and teammate Nithan Brindamohan captured gold with a 2-1 win over Ethan Youngsuk of the United States.
Other gold medallists on day three of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 taekwondo competition included Thailand’s Bunlung Tubtimdang (men’s 68kg), Brazil’s Maria Pacheco (women’s 57kg) as well as Yunseo Kim from the Republic of Korea (women’s 46kg).
The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games take place from 16-27 July. Watch all the competitions live on fisu.tv. Click on the link to find the full schedule.
Written by Sophie Wisely, FISU Young Reporter, Australia
The Young Reporters Programme exemplifies FISU’s commitment to more than sports competitions. At every FISU World University Games, a group of talented aspiring sports journalists are chosen to cover the competition.
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