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 40 years ago, and having trained more than 1,000,000 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.

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.

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.

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.

ATA FIT

ATA FIT is a workout that readies your body for virtually any physical activity and can be geared toward anyone from pro athletes to the non athletes. Most other training programs work on cardiovascular endurance and/or strength but ATA FIT develops flexibility. power, speed, coordination, agility, accuracy, and balance. With regards to cardiovascular endurance the workouts alternate between short bursts of exertion and rest.

One new teaching method called "360 Training" is already being heralded for its ability to seamlessly blend fitness training into regular Taekwondo class segments. It is made up of functional movements done at high intensity. Every workout has a different set or techniques but the workout can be scaled down to meet individual needs such as lower weights, reduced reps, modified push ups and pull ups.

There are 6 parts to the "360 Training" push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, punching, kicking, and a combination of kicks and punches. When a martial artist becomes proficient in these drills, and proficient means being able to performance the drills with quality and not just quantity. The end result will be a better, faster, healthier martial artist.

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.

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.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Hollender's ATA Black Belt Academy offers a variety of specialty programs to provide the most complete martial arts training available: