By Centennial Airport Limousines By Chase Limousines July 01, 2010
Thank you ...read more
As a Taekwon-Do School owner and Head Instructor I often find myself thinking, do I run a business with customers or a school with students? Fortunately, long ago I decided that I preferred to run a traditional ITF Taekwon-Do school as General Choi Hong Hi, the Father of Taekwon-Do envisioned it. That is, I run a school with students! I am both fortunate and blessed to have the privilege to run a Taekwon-Do school full-time, it is the way I make my living and I can devote my full attention to Centennial Taekwon-Do. My background in business accounting keeps the reality of business economics in the forefront of my thoughts about my School. I understand the need to make educated decisions on how to run my school from a economic business sense. I know that my income must exceed my expenses if I want my school to be an ongoing concern so that I can provide quality Taekwon-do and martial arts training to my students. During my professional years I have worked for several large companies whose main focus is on customer service such as AMC Theatres, Regal Entertainment, and Paramount Pictures Promotional Services . I put myself through college working as a customer service representative for American Express Travelers Cheques. They spend millions every year promoting their customer service. I consider myself an expert on customer service, I know what it is and how to best provide it. In response to my blog about avoiding contracts at martial arts schools, a martial arts school owner responded with the following in an attempt rationalize his use of contracts: "The peace of mind knowing the owner can make the rent and payroll make it worth it." I realized this person has a business with customers. In this case the term customer simply means, "revenue source". I started Taekwon-Do when I was 9 years old and I have had a passion for the art all my life. I have worked hard so that my life's circumstances allow me to teach students, not service customers. Some people may not see the difference between a student and a customer. Fortunately, General Choi understood the difference and gave those that are serious about Taekwon-Do (not the business) guidelines on sharing the art. He set forth the Student/Instructor Relationship found in his Condensed Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do pages 44-45. I try to follow these guidelines carefully so that I can fulfill my responsibilities as an Instructor. A few of the points worth mentioning at this time are: Never tire of teaching. A good Instructor can teach anywhere, any time and always be ready to answer questions. An Instructor must always set a good example for his students and never attempt to defraud them. The development of students should take precedence over commercialism. Once an Instructor becomes concerned with materialism, he will lose the respect of his students. All students should be treated equally, there should be no favorites. An Instructor should never seek any favors such as cleaning the studio, doing repair work, etc. from his students. An Instructor should not exploit his students. The only purpose of an instructor is to produce both technically and mentally excellent students. Always be honest with the students, and never break a trust. I can only think that if all martial arts instructors were to follow these simple guidelines, the "used car salesman" reputation of the McDojos and franchise martial arts chains wouldn't tarnish the reputations the majority of schools and Instructors who have a passion for sharing their art and not just trying to make a quick buck (or a million bucks). Many of the McDojo owners would say I am an idealist, actually I walk the fine line between idealism and business realities So if I have students not customers, what's the difference? Well I don't think a serious student of Taekwon-Do or any other martial art has to demonstrate their commitment to training by signing a 3 - 5 year contract (that is 36-60 months in McDojo terms). I don't want customers who feel obligated to train with me because they still have years left on their contract. I don't want to cover the rent from payments made from a customer who has quit training. Nor do I want customers who are only training at my school because I am the cheapest around. I want students who are committed to training because of their passion for Taekwon-Do and belief in what General Choi said about students; "A student must be willing to sacrifice for his art and Instructor." Condensed Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do page 45. The reasons for training dramatically affect the attitudes of the students and in turn the atmosphere of the school. As an Instructor I feel it is my responsibility to provide a positive friendly atmosphere for my students to learn and train. If there are a bunch of unhappy customers who are only there because they are contractually obligated, the atmosphere becomes negative and not conducive to learning. On the other hand a group of students who share a passion for Taekwon-Do create a perfect environment to learn and grow. So, if a customer is always right, will a business owner allow his customer to fail a Belt/Rank test? Or does the business owner just keep adding to an unending color belt system so they can collect more and more test fees. An Instructor would be concerned about the progress of his student, willing to put in the time and effort (without upgrade charges) to help the serious student prepare to succeed at Rank/Belt tests. A business owner looks for as many different ways to increase revenue as possible from his revenue sources (customers). Upgrades are the holy grail of the McDojo. The business owner divides up the art and only teaches the whole to those who are willing to pay, leaving others wondering what happened to their dreams of learning martial arts. An Instructor shares his knowledge and experience in the martial arts as a whole with all of his students, he doesn't show favorites to those who might pay more. Hopefully I have illustrated the difference between a customer and a student. So the next question you need to answer is, do you want to be a customer or a student? ...read more
By Centennial Taekwon-Do May 19, 2010
There is an ancient Shaolin saying, "I do not fear your 10,000 kicks that you have practiced once. I fear your one kick that you have practiced 10,000 times." The most important key to learning martial arts and also the greatest challenge to learning martial arts is REPITION! Interestingly enough this is also true about learning anything else in life. Our bodies and minds learn through repetitive actions. By repeating an action over and over we are telling our muscles and our brains that this particular action is important and needs to be remembered. Lack of repetition sends the exact opposite message to our muscles and brains, "this action is unimportant, no need to remember it." Unfortunately, most students are unwilling to put in the repetition that is required to truly learn skills and techniques. They become bored and want to move on to the next "new" thing before mastering the current technique or skill. This creates mediocre martial artists. General Choi understood this part of training. He addresses repetition and boredom in his Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do: "There is a common tendency among beginners to tire of repeating the same techniques over and over. Boredom will usually set in between the third and sixth month for the beginning student. This is the period when a student is building his Taekwon-Do foundation by learning fundamental technique and building power. The best way to combat boredom is to attend class regularly and resolve to attain a specified goal. Too often the students sacrifice thoroughness in the learning process, because they tend to lose patience and insist on progressing to a higher technique before mastering the previous one. Students should realize that it is extremely important for them to know thoroughly one single technique until it becomes reflexive before advancing to the next." -Condensed Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do by General Choi Hong Hi, pages 40-41 I would like to add that often I Dan Black Belts fall into this trap. Since they have reached what they consider an advanced level they become bored and quit because they feel there is nothing more to learn that is of any worth. Therefore, boredom sets in because students repeat skills and techniques without purpose. In order to avoid this obstacle a student must learn repetition with purpose. Every time a student practices a Kick, a Pattern, Step Sparring, Self Defense, Free Sparring or Breaking, they should stop and fix a goal in mind, what aspect will they work on in order to refine, polish and master the skill or technique. There are so many things to work on such as; power, speed, balance, proper facing/posture, correct intermediate hand position, correct stances, focus, accuracy and so on. Since none of us are perfect, repetition provides us with unlimited opportunities to improve. Boredom is simply the result of mental laziness. So the next time you are in class, I challenge everyone of my students to be both physically and mentally engaged. You should leave the class better than you started it, even if it is just one little thing. That is the difference between a class that is worthwhile and a class that is a waste of time. ...read more
By Centennial Taekwon-Do April 28, 2010
There are countless martial arts styles and schools out there. So which one is right for you? The first thing a person should do is understand why they are interested in taking up a martial art. Do you want to learn self defense, get in shape, get involved in competition, or develop self discipline? There are a lot of different and legitimate reasons to get involved in martial arts. Once you understand your own motivation is when the foot work begins. The best place to start is the internet, doing a search of key words will narrow down the choices in your area. But then you have to out and visit these schools. Talk to the instructors, watch a class, talk to students and family members of students. If the school offers a free trial class TAKE IT! Then once you have narrowed it down, it is time to look at the curriculums, school goals and tuition programs. I will address that in the next post. ...read more
By Centennial Taekwon-Do April 28, 2010
Tang soo do is a defensive martial art that has its beginnings in Korea. Tang denotes the dynasty the martial art comes from. Soo translated means open hand or worthiness and do means art or way. Simply, Tang soo do translated means The Tang art of worthiness. A basic front kick is one of the first mo... ...read more
Martial arts themed birthday parties are very popular among children of all ages. Finding the perfect martial arts birthday invitations can be difficult. Many companies will create custom invitation, but they can be very expensive. You can print your own martial arts birthday invitations for free. ...read more
