I am so excited. Why, you might ask? The future of taekwondo is incredible. If you’re as passionate about taekwondo as I am, you probably have already watched YouTube tutorials and know about the various educational and competitive apps you can download on your phone. They’re certainly very helpful for reviewing poomsae, watching sparring competitions,…

Doctors have the Hippocratic Oath. Lawyers have ethics committees. Even architects have oaths they take to do their job. What about taekwondo instructors? The short answer is yes. The long answer is much more complicated. In taekwondo, ethics and morals are very important and very complicated. There are many factors that can impact what the…

Hold on there superman! What do you mean you “want to fight bad guys”? If you want help with that you’re going to have to elaborate. Let me back up. Recently I got a new student who wanted to learn taekwondo so he could become a superhero. After that class I started thinking about it.…

So you’ve likely heard of taekwondo, but did you know that modern taekwondo is actually based on the styles of 9 older versions of taekwondo? It’s true! Now, there is a lot of complex details that differ between the schools, but here is a quick summary of a handful of the taekwondo schools of thought…

Those demonstration team black belts are amazing! How do they do those kicks?! I had a student who asked me that, and my answer was a rigorous schedule. I mean VERY rigorous. I was reminiscing about my first demonstration team with my students, and they asked what training looked like. I didn’t have the time…

So recently I ran across a couple taekwondo instructors who, as part of their work, read philosophy textbooks. Even better, it was more than just The Art of War and The Five Rings. They were well versed in Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Marcus Aurelius, and many more classic philosophers. That got me wondering, can philosophy help…

I have a confession to make: I’ve betrayed taekwondo. I know! What a crime. So what is my betrayal? My betrayal is rather severe. Yes, I have indeed been learning in the local park! I’ve been learning Tai Chi. I know! Scandalous! That sounds like a rather mundane betrayal. That’s because it is not actually…

What’s a gamjeom? My fellow classmates keep talking about it, but I have no idea what they mean! Much like any Olympic event, Tae Kwon Do sparring matches have specific rules. If you’ve started sparring in class, your instructor has likely given you a basic introduction to these guidelines. While I can’t cover every detail…

Wanna know a secret? I was not always the best at school and doing schoolwork. Honestly, I was terrible at taking tests. Yet, I’ve passed (sometimes surprisingly) a whole bunch of Tae Kwon Do testings. When I think back on it, I’ve completed at least 30 Tae kwon do testings over the years (could be…

I published a post on types of instructors that I’d worked with, but I realized something… I forgot a few! The truth is there are so many different types of instructors; it’s hard to recount them all. Of course, as any of my more consistent readers have discovered, just because something is hard doesn’t mean a…