Parents and students: As we head into this year’s high stakes standardized testing, we have just one thing to say. TESTING IS WHAT WE DO!  We are not afraid of high stakes testing…. We break boards in front of Master judges. We spar people who want to kick us in the head. We stand alone…

When I think of nobility I envision kings and medieval knights. What qualities made them noble? Was it their good deeds or their lineage? Many kings came from great lineage- long lines of royalty, but not all kings were noble. This leads me to believe that nobility comes from actions. Someone who is noble would…

The traditional climbing of Turtle Head Peak is the part of the mastership process I had been looking forward to most. Somehow, participating in the climb made the mastership process feel “real”. Yes I have been training and reading and writing and checking things off of lists, but attending the masters’ training and climbing the…

A simple definition of honor is integrity, respect, dignity. A person who has honor has integrity, that is, doing the right thing even if no one is looking. A person who has honor treats others with respect; that is, manners and kindness. A person with honor has dignity and I believe this is the hardest…

It seems appropriate that the focus of December is gratitude as the “Christmas” season is usually considered a time of giving. People give gifts to each other and even to strangers through organizations such as Empty Stocking, Angel Tree, or Blue Santa. People even give their money to charities such as Salvation Army. I believe…

By definition, humility means to humble oneself. But what does that really mean, and what does it mean for a Master of Taekwondo? To humble oneself means to lower oneself- to me that means to submit yourself: to rules and regulations, to authority, to service. A humble person asks: Who am I? Who am I,…

When most people think of respect, they generally think of the term as it applies to using manners in the way people treat one another. Another definition by Webster states that respect also means “to hold in high or special regard”. The ATA has always sought to instill respect in its students. First, respect as…

When ophthalmologists diagnose a person’s vision, they use the terms “near-sighted” and “far-sighted”. The term near-sighted refers to a person who sees objects clearly close to them while objects in the distance are out of focus. Contrarywise, a person who is considered to be far-sighted sees clearly objects further in the distance while objects close…

Kids can learn many valuable life lessons and gain a set of traits from training in martial arts, from confidence to self-defense. In addition, martial arts helps kids develop a sense of respect, both for authority figures and their peers. Showing respect for people is a skill children need to learn early, as they’ll use it their…