WHAT
IS TAEKWONDO?
Translated, Taekwondo means "The Art of
the Hand and Foot," and originally comes from Korea, where
it is still practiced as a national sport. Taekwondo is an exciting
and powerful martial art known for its dynamic kicking and hand
techniques. Taekwondo is also 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. Martial
arts techniques provide training of both the body and the mind
toward the goals of physical fitness, self-defense, self-control,
and self-realization.
The focus of our program at Hollender's ATA
Black Belt Academy has remained the same throughout the years
-- to provide students the highest quality martial arts instruction
available in a safe and positive learning environment that people
of all ages can enjoy. Our instructors combine excellent student
instructor ratios with state of the art training facilities
and methods.
Today there are hundreds of thousands of Americans
studying Taekwondo. The American Taekwondo Association (ATA)
is the heart of this martial art. The ATA is Taekwondo's quality
control, providing instructor training, belt rank testing, and
supervision of competitive contests. Hollender's ATA Black Belt
Academy is proud to be an accredited member of the ATA family.
Founded over 35 years ago, and having trained more than 150,000
men, women, and children, the ATA is the parent company to more
than 1000 schools in the United States alone. One of the many
advantages of the ATA is that all of its member schools teach
the Songahm style of Taekwondo uniformly throughout the organization.
Therefore, if you are taking classes in one state and then move
to another, you can retain your rank and continue your training
from where you left off.
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WHO
CAN BENEFIT FROM TAEKWONDO?
Who can benefit from Taekwondo training? Everyone
can! The ATA has practicing students from three years old into
their seventies and also has the largest number of active women
black belts of any martial arts organization in the world. 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.
As we age our flexibility and agility often
tends to decrease. This decreased 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.
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LEARNING
THE TECHNIQUES
The principles of Taekwondo technique are based
on the design of your body. For power, you develop the larger,
powerful muscles of the torso. The speed of the techniques come
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 of your
body's strength into a small, hard striking surface like the
edge of the hand or the heel of your foot. When you have mastered
this "Focusing" of your strength, the idea of shattering
boards becomes quite real. When used in a self-defense situation
against the soft and vulnerable parts of an attacker's body,
this power can be incredible. Knowing how you can use these
techniques to defend yourself, your self-confidence and self-disciple
will grow and can carry over to all aspects of your life.
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WHAT
CAN TAEKWONDO PROVIDE FOR YOU?
Hollender's ATA Black Belt Academy has developed
proven teaching methods that will not only help you learn the
art of self-defense quickly and easily, but also provides a
wide range of other exciting benefits for students of all ages
and abilities.We realize that each student possesses different
physical abilities. Size and strength vary with each individual.
However, once you have acquired a strong foundation in Taekwondo
basics, our program will enhance your physical capabilities
and maximize your self-defense skills. We train our students
to the best of their abilities. All that is expected of you
is a willingness to try.
Physical Benefits:
• Improved Reflexes and Coordination increase performance
in all physical activities
• Increased Strength and Stamina boost energy, so you
feel great all day
• Increased Flexibility & Weight Control for better
overall fitness
• Great Cardiovascular Work Out keeps you in good shape
physically
Mental Benefits:
• Improved Concentration for better work and study habits
• Stress Reduction & Increased Levels of Relaxation
for a longer, healthier life
•
The
Peace of Mind that comes from knowing that you are able to Protect
Yourself & Your Family
• Increased Self Confidence & Self Discipline to develop
a positive attitude toward life
At Hollender's ATA Black Belt Academy, we are not interested
in just teaching self defense, we are interested in the complete
personal development of each student. Individual attention is
a feature of each and every class, allowing all students to
progress quickly and confidently toward their personal goals.
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BELT
RANKING, YELLING, AND DISCIPLINE
Your first visit to Hollender's ATA Black Belt
Academy will show you many things that may be new to you. Taekwondo
is a martial art with time honored traditions. Each class begins
and ends with a bow. This bow, often combined with an American-style
handshake, is simply a courtesy and a nice remembrance of the
homeland of our martial art. Each student wears a clean, white
uniform; its cleanliness reminds us to come to class with a
clean, clear mind that is ready to learn. Around the waist,
each student wears a colored belt. The white belt of the beginner
indicates that the student is like a blank sheet of paper, ready
to record new knowledge of Taekwondo. As students progress in
knowledge, the color of the belt gets progressively darker:
orange, yellow, camouflage, green, purple, blue, brown, red,
red/black and finally black. However, although earning Black
Belt is a major goal, it is not the final objective. At Black
Belt is where you really start to learn, somewhat like going
to college.
As you watch the class, you'll no doubt hear
many of the famous martial arts yells, called kihaps. These
yells have several purposes. In addition to distracting an opponent,
the kihap gets you excited. This combination, together with
the strength-building effect of increasing your adrenaline level,
greatly increases the effectiveness of your techniques. After
all, yelling is probably the world's most popular form of defense
- just ask any ten year old who has been caught with a hand
in the cookie jar!
One of the more subtle things you'll notice
is the air of dignity and discipline in a class. The discipline
of the practice is what makes it safe. When students maintain
constant respect for each other, there is little danger that
anyone will get hurt in practice.
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SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Hollender's ATA Black Belt Academy offers a
variety of specialty programs to provide the most complete martial
arts training available: