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Over the years, I have noticed the trend in many schools out there is to utilize programs that are designed so that anyone can teach a class. They hand them a booklet that has all the drills, structure and ideas in it. This is very efficient and might be effective in teaching some but not all students. However, in my opinion the Art of martial arts is lost.
In today’s world where the average attention span is 8 seconds, some martial arts schools are using McDonald’s as a business model. What I mean by this is that, yes, you can serve a lot of people in a short time frame, but the quality and art of cooking and dining is lost. There is no way to add a personal touch or focus on individuality. Instructors are trained to teach in a certain way, say certain things and only use the given curriculum not taking into account each students individuality. In essence, they become robots.
Recently, I was approached by a company to use their system of teaching. It would definitely make things run more like clockwork, but I feel the art is lost. Each instructor brings their own experiences, fears, strengths with them as they teach. At Red Tiger we have multiple qualified instructors that may have different teaching styles allowing students to benefit from their experiences. If every instructor was told to teach only one way, we as students would not benefit.
Many ask me how I still enjoy coming to class, and that is because of the beauty of the art. There is no perfection- only improvement. As I age, my body changes, and I learn new ways to achieve and improve my skills.
I am proud that my husband, Master Hwang, continues to grow and learn too. He travels around the world as an international referee and is a personal student of Grandmaster Ahn. Everything he learns he passes down to his students, instructors and back to Red Tiger.
Taekwondo literally translates to “fist, foot, the way of the art” or in English- the way of the art using your fists and feet. Taekwondo has evolved over the many years. First, as a form of self-defense for war time to now, an Olympic sport. These are two separate things that many people can’t seem to distinguish. As a form of self-defense, there are techniques we have that you cannot use in the sport of taekwondo. Just as in any sport, there are rules that we have to abide by. However, that doesn’t mean taekwondo cannot be used for self-defense. The issue is that some schools only focus on teaching the sport and not the art, much like McDonald’s focuses on mass production rather than the individual.
Our mission is to bring you the art and sport of taekwondo. There is a balance between the two, as long as the student is willing to open themselves up to learn.