tkdinfo

TAEKWONDO - THE MARTIAL ART
Translated, Taekwondo means “Art of the hand and foot”, and originally comes from Korea where it is still
practiced as a national sport. Taekwondo is one of the world’s newest martial arts, formally getting its
name in 1953. Its roots, however, are based on techniques tested for thousands of years. Today there
are hundreds of thousands of Americans studying Taekwondo. The Hwa-Rang Taekwondo Federation
stands for excellence, providing instructor training, belt rank testing and supervision of competitive
contests. This center is proud to be an accredited member of the HTF family.

TAEKWONDO BENEFITS
Who can benefit from Taekwondo training? Everyone can! The HTF has practicing students from four
years old into their seventies. Taekwondo offers something that no other sport can. It’s a “learning
style” athletic activity that develops a combination of balance, coordination and flexibility while instilling a
sense of self-discipline that can carry over into all aspects of life. The number of women in Taekwondo
has more than tripled in recent years, and today represents more than 30% of all practicing students.
Much of this interest can be attributed to the nature of Taekwondo techniques. In self-defense, striking
and kicking is instinctive and these types of techniques can be readily adapted to a women’s physical
structure. As we age our flexibility and agility often tends to decrease. This decrease level of flexibility
can have a negative effect on the activities we do or the style of life we lead. When people first see
Taekwondo techniques, they are fascinated by the strong, high kicks, often over their heads. Not
everyone can achieve super flexibility but the flexibility gained by practicing Taekwondo techniques can
benefit anyone no matter what age they start. So why has Taekwondo grown so popular? Because it’s a
comprehensive martial art that can benefit anyone and help them meet their own individual goals.

TAEKWONDO TECHNIQUES
When Americans first started signing up for Taekwondo lessons some 40 years ago, most of them were
primarily interested in learning self-defense. Today, many Americans practice Taekwondo for physical
fitness. Practicing the Taekwondo techniques of blocking, punching, kicking and striking provides a
powerful limbering and toning exercise. The principles of Taekwondo techniques are based on the
design of your body. For power, you develop the larger, powerful muscles of the torso. The speed of
the techniques comes from the fast, agile muscles of the arms and legs. When you learn to coordinate
this speed and power through your smallest muscles, you can develop the concentration to focus all your
body’s strength into a small, hard striking surface like the edge of the hand or the heel of your foot.
When used in a self-defense situation against the soft and vulnerable parts of an attacker’s body, this
power can be incredible.

TAEKWONDO FOR YOUR CHILD
A lot of parents shudder is disbelief when their child mentions the word Karate or Martial Arts. Broken
furniture, mangled brothers and sisters and holes in the walls are usually the first images that pop into a
parent’s head. Dispelling these myths and misunderstandings is generally the right place to begin when
you first start inquiring about martial arts. Taekwondo is unique in athletics because it is a Total
Learning style activity. Children learning Taekwondo begin practicing the basic skills that are the
foundation of the sport. These skills, which help build their coordination and balance, let the children
become active in their sport as they progress, instead of just sitting on the bench. The discipline you see
in our class often turns into self-discipline outside the class. Usually, when children first start
Taekwondo, it’s the parents who love the discipline and the child is drawn by the fun and challenge of the
martial art. A lot of parents, for example, notice subtle changes in their children’s school work and in
their self-control and patience with other children. Another benefit associated with our style of training is
improved self-confidence. Any child can do Taekwondo - all at various levels of proficiency - and
everyone own abilities while learning to deal effectively with peer and adults. Athletic ability increases the
longer a child takes lessons. As he does, the child’s overall coordinated movements soon turns into a
knowledge of self-defense that can last a lifetime. Don’t be concerned if your child is a little nervous or
thinks the techniques look too difficult; he will be in class with other beginners just like himself. The
instructors will do everything possible to make sure this nervousness disappears as quickly as possible.

TAEKWONDO - GETTING STARTED
New beginners start class everyday. Each new student starts slowly and progresses at his own rate of
speed. Don’t be concerned if you’re out of shape or think the techniques look too difficult; you’ll be in a
class with other beginners like yourself. We hope that this brochure we have provided you with has
supplied some sensible reasons for studying Taekwondo, America’s most popular form of martial art.
Again, thanks for taking the time to inquire, and we really hope that you decide to join us.