It sounds slightly ludicrous to claim that martial arts alone can change your life in such a drastic way that it is the complete solution to achieving any of your goals. While you may be correct in some capacity (martial arts is not a guaranteed fix to goal setting and achievement), martial arts will teach and sharpen some skills needed to be the type of person who sets goals and reaches them (or kicks them in the face). It’s safe to say that pretty much everyone agrees that

1. The knowledge that you can defend yourself if need be is incredibly empowering. For children, this kind of confidence tends to keep bullies away which is comforting. For adults, knowing that you have the ability to protect yourself can put your mind at ease and give a sense of confidence like no other. 2. Ranking up in taekwondo provides a sense of accomplishment. How could you not feel more confident whe you are setting a goal and achieving it? You will! Taekwondo provide

You could do a typical spring sport such as soccer, softball, or golf, but why would you want to do something only for one season? If you really love an activity, why not do it all year long? And if you really love the benefits of exercise, then you would want them all the time, not just for a couple of months...right? So the ideal solution is to find a sport/activity that goes on during all of the seasons! What is one of those sports? Martial Arts! (I know: shocker!) The ben

2021 is now here! I think we can all agree that we weren't particularly upset to see 2020 go. With a new year comes new opportunities along with new challenges and of course, the inevitable new years resolutions. Everyone makes them (or at least some version of them) because we all have dreams, goals, and ambitions. Hopefully 2020 didn't stomp those out of you yet. As a martial artist, I can say that this sport has permanently changed the way I view new years resolutions or g

Before you start emailing in your rebuttals, hear me out. I'm not saying that other sports aren't great or fun or even beneficial. I believe all of those things as someone who spent a good chunk of their childhood shopping around for what fit me best. All I'm saying is that martial arts provides some advantages over the average seasonal sport. 1) Martial Arts never stops. It's a year around thing. It's not an activity where you are training for only a couple of months to not

If you've been on any form of social media lately you probably have seen a video with someone dancing to a song that goes something like this: "Spooky, scary, skeleton. Sends shivers down my spine..." or something along those lines. No? Allow me to glue this song into your brain for the next 72 hours. (Shoutout to our amazing instructor, Ms. Gabby for learning this dance) Anyways...sure skeletons are spooky and scary, but you know what is even more frightening? How unsafe the

Our Children's Program (ages 6-12) is probably our largest program. We are so grateful to be able to teach children in our community the skills they need to be successful in life! Goal Setting Teaching our students how to set goals and persevere until the achieve them is one of our top priorities. An obvious goal for every student is black belt and that is no easy task, but with the right support system and learning how to set mini short term goals along the ay, it is certai

Our Children's Program (ages 6-12) is probably our largest program. We are so grateful to be able to teach children in our community the skills they need to be successful in life! Self Control Let's be honest...all of our self control could be better, but when it comes to kids, this skill needs to be learned and cultivated for many reasons. Here are just a few: Self control helps in school (learning how to stay on task and get our work done even when we don't want to) Self C

Integrity is the second tenet of taekwondo and is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. Tenets of taekwondo are the foundational life skills we teach and encourage our students to live by both on and off our mats. While actively practicing martial arts, we ask our students to show integrity by always giving 100% effort. We also ask they apply moral uprightness while engaging with other students or instructors. While off

The tenets of Taekwondo are the foundational life skills of Taekwondo that are taught throughout the journey to a black belt. The first tenet of Taekwondo is courtesy. The dictionary defines courtesy as "the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behavior toward others." Another way we word this in classes is by teaching "respect." This is arguably the number one thing we teach in martial arts. We enforce mutual respect among not only parent-child but also student-teache

The tenets of Taekwondo are the core values that are taught with it alongside the physical aspects of self defense. The tenets are what makes our martial artist good people. Over the next few weeks, we will do a deep dive into each individual tenet, but for now here is the basic idea behind the values taught in our school. Courtesy: the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behavior toward others. Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles

Sending your baby off to school all alone can be a scary thought, but it doesn't have to be. After-all, if you were confident that your son or daughter was completely prepared, would you be nearly as nervous? Okay, maybe so, but the peace of mind that your child is a little more ready couldn't hurt. So let's talk about some things that will help you and your child feel a little more prepared when it comes to the "big, bad wolf" aka-- school. Pre-k and kindergarten is a massiv

There are tons of different martial arts styles out there. (That's right! There is more to the martial arts world than just karate!) Here is a break down of two common types of martial arts. Maybe it will help you decide which is better for you, or maybe it will convince you to do both. Let's start by taking a basic look at Taekwondo. Taekwondo is a martial art that originated in Korea. It is commonly confused or lumped together with karate, and while there are some similarit

Everyone's Taekwondo journey is a little different. Our instructors all have different stories and motives for their reason for doing martial arts and why they love it. Name: Ms. Stephanie Reyes Rank: Second Degree Black Belt What age did you start Taekwondo? I started right after my 13th birthday. What were your first thoughts when you started? When I took my first class my thoughts were, "I've never done any sports before; this is hard. I feel really uncomfortable. I have n

These are common myths and misconceptions we have heard over the years from various people. It's finally time to clear the air: 1. Martial Arts makes kids violent/a bully We hear this concern out of parents all the time, but it could not be further from the truth. Martial Arts is all about exercising self-control. It does teach students how to defend themselves, but there is a heavy emphasis on never misusing martial arts. Our goals as martial arts teachers are to instill con

I think we can all agree that the saying "Mother knows best" is true. Moms love having their kids in martial arts for multiple reasons: respect, confidence, focus, fitness, friendships, and more. Don't just take it from me; hear from some of our amazing moms of students: "I love taekwondo for my son because I am confident that he can defend himself. My 4-year-old son has been coming to SMA for about 8 months. Just a month ago, he was hit by a 10-year-old, and my son immediate

Everyone's Taekwondo journey is a little different. Our instructors all have different stories and motives for their reason for doing martial arts and why they love it. Name: Mr. Cristian Perez Rank: Third Degree Black Belt What age did you start Taekwondo? I started Taekwondo at the young, ripe age of 10 years old! What were your first thoughts when you started? I instantly fell in love. The idea of having small goals within each new belt rank piqued my interest. The feeling

Unfortunately, we live in a world where you always have to be cautious. Whether going out shopping, at a public event or just taking a stroll you want to feel safe. Here are some quick tips to help keep you safe out in public: 1) Be aware. Awareness of your surroundings is key. Just being aware at all times is the number one way to prevent anything bad from happening. Keep an eye out for people that may seem suspicious or sketchy streets/areas. 2) Don't walk while on your pho

Okay, let's start off this post with a common reality: We all get angry, irritated, and downright peeved. We are all human after all. In some cases, anger management can turn into a severe issue with random outbursts or uncontrollable response. In these cases, someone could get seriously injured and it can be detrimental to physical and mental health. With this commonality we all share comes another, we need a healthy way to manage when we have those rough irritable days. (an

Everyone's Taekwondo journey is a little different. Our instructors all have different stories and motives for their reason for doing martial arts and why they love it. Name: Ms. Heather Cardona Rank: 3rd Degree Black Belt What age did you start martial arts? I started Taekwondo with Grand Master Seo at the Rome location when I was 6 years old alongside my dad, brother, and sister. Why did you start taekwondo? As silly as it may sound, I had always wanted to be a ninja, and w