WADENA, Minn. — Lolita Myers is proving age is just a number.
The 84-year-old Wadena woman recently became a grandmaster in taekwondo.
To become a grandmaster, students must dedicate decades to training, achieve a high black belt rank and demonstrate extensive experience in teaching.
“Ever since I’ve known her, she has been a fantastic student and incredibly consistent,” said Grandmaster Eric Greenquist, who has trained with Myers for more than 25 years. “It’s a real pleasure to work with her and to have been part of helping her reach the level of grandmaster.”
Myers took her Seventh Dan exam in July, where she was tested on her form, technique, strength, self-control, knowledge and agility.
Lolita Myers completed her Seventh Dan exam on Friday, July 25, 2025, under the instruction of Grandmaster Eric Greenquist. (Courtesy of Greenquist Academy of Taekwondo / Forum News Service)
To pass, she needed to break as many as 50 boards with either her hands or feet, demonstrate her skill with different weapons and display her ability to defend herself. She was also tested on her knowledge of Korean terminology, showing her understanding of taekwondo’s origins.
Greenquist credited Myers’ dedication to both martial arts and her community, and said she serves as an inspiration to women in particular.
“There was a time when women weren’t learning taekwondo because it was such a male-dominated sport,” he said. “So her achievement is a true inspiration for everyone.”
Martial arts journey
Grandmaster Lolita Myers wearing her official grandmaster garb, achieving the status on Friday, July 25, 2025 after completing her Seventh Dan exam. (Nicole Stracek / Wadena Pioneer Journal / Forum News Service)
Myers’ journey to becoming a grandmaster began in 1993 while working at Down Home Foods in Wadena. She saw a flyer on a bulletin board about a new taekwondo school opening in town.
“I was the first person to sign up,” said Myers, who said her interest started at a young age with watching martial arts movies. But, she said, it was a different time. “Young women my age, in my age group, you didn’t do things like that,” she said. “You got married, you got a house, you had babies, you took care of that. You didn’t work.”
At age 52, Myers would embark on a journey of self-discovery in the Korean martial arts, eventually leading her to open Mid-Minnesota Tae Kwon Do School near her home in Nimrod. After outgrowing the space, Myers would make her way to Wadena, opening in a downtown storefront in 1996.
Studying under Grandmaster Eric Greenquist, Lolita Myers achieved her grandmaster in taekwondo on Friday, July 25, 2025. Pictured are Myers and her fellow students of the Greenquist Academy of Tae Kwon Do. (Courtesy of Greenquist Academy of Taekwondo / Forum News Service)
Longtime student Mary Ayers said she started lessons at the Mid-Minnesota Taekwondo School with Myers in 2008. Ayers’ husband joined later, and their kids would follow suit. Learning taekwondo from a grandmaster, Ayers said, has been an amazing experience.
“Every day I learn new things,” Ayers said. “She is very gifted in body techniques and coordination that the average Joe would never understand,” Ayers said, adding that Myers also helps her hone many techniques. “She teaches me a lot on how to fix kicks, how to fix people’s stances, and it’s just amazing. She has a lot of wisdom, and I have a lot to learn.”
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In addition to grandmaster status, Myers is also a fourth degree in hosinsool, a self-defense technique used to protect, disarm and incapacitate an attacker, focusing on practicality to end a dangerous situation quickly with powerful strikes, locks and take-downs.
“You’re going to learn how to break away if somebody grabs you,” Myers said. “You’re going to learn how to respond to somebody if they try to choke you; you’re going to learn how to fall and not break something if somebody knocks you over — but you’re going to get black and blue because you have to learn how to do that.”
Taekwondo offers numerous physical and mental health benefits, Myers said. Practitioners can find increased strength and agility, and the repetitive nature of the techniques helps with overall health and well-being.
“The best part is your muscles get better, your bone density increases and your breathing increases, too,” she said. That turned out to be incredibly helpful three years ago when Myers fell, cracking her hip bone.
As a longtime practitioner of taekwondo, Myers said she has fallen many times over the years, but a baseboard in her pantry would catch her off guard. Initially, she was relieved to learn nothing was broken, but a follow-up appointment would show cracks in the ball-and-socket joint, leaving her in crutches for three months. However, she healed without surgery, and credits taekwondo for keeping her bones strong.
“It’s been a fight to get back the flexibility, the strength to be able to stand on one foot, pick up the other one, that kind of thing,” Myers said.
Up next for Myers is her quest to achieve “triple master” status by mastering Kum Doh (Art of the Sword) and rebuilding her stamina for longer bicycle rides.
