Taekwon-Do is a Korean martial art that was founded on April 11th, 1955 by General 
Choi Hong-Hi. It’s name means, “the way of the hands and the feet,” in Korean. General Choi Hong-Hi took the martial art Taekkyon that he learned as a child and Shotokan Karate, which he learned when he went to Japan for education. Later, he took the two martial arts and began improving their techniques, and eventually what he created was neither Karate or Taekkyon: it was a new martial art altogether: Taekwon-Do!
Eventually, many hand and foot techniques were perfected and taught, and a set of 24 patterns was created. A sparring system was defined, and the art gained many practitioners throughout the world. In 1966, the International Taekwon-Do Federation was created. Later, the Kukkiwon and the WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) was founded, which is a more sport-like system. Although there are more of this style of do-jangs around the United States, the ITF is still going strong and is still practiced by many. Although there have since been many other Taekwon-Do organizations founded, in the US the most practiced are the ITF, WTF, and the ATA (American Taekwondo Association)
The father and daughter proudly practice the ITF style. It is full of great techniques that are effective for defending one’s self against one to
multiple opponents. In it, the belt grades are White, Yellow Stripe, Yellow Belt, Green Stripe, Green Belt, Blue Stripe, Blue Belt, Red Stripe, Red Belt, Black Stripe and Black Belt. There are nine degrees of black belt. It can take many years to become a master (7th degree/dan black belt) and 8th and 9th dans are honorary, you don’t learn any new techniques, they just symbolize how far you have gotten in the martial art.
The philosophical values and the goals of Taekwon-Do are firmly rooted in the traditional moral culture of the Orient. On the technical side, defensive and offensive tactics are based on principles of physics, particularly Newton’s Law, which explains how to generate maximum force by increasing speed and mass during the execution of a movement.
Wanting to share the results of his philosophical reflections and his technical experiments, General Choi Hong-Hi, the late founder of Taekwon-Do, planned and wrote a unique reference work, the Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do. In its fifteen volumes, he explained in detail the rules and practices of this art.
Always striving for excellence, General Choi presented Taekwon-Do as in a state of continuous evolution, open to changes that would improve its effectiveness. He wrote that anyone who believes he has fully discharged his duty will soon perish. Likewise, any undertaking that is perceived to have reached its objectives is likely to lose momentum, stagnate, and die.
General Choi Hong-Hi, the father of Taekwon-Do says ‘…Taekwon-Do is an art of self-defense which aims at a noble moral rearmament, high degree of intellectual achievement, graceful techniques, formidable power at beauty of physical form…’ Through the scientific practice of Taekwon-Do a person can significantly improve his or her heath and nourish his intellect. Taekwon-Do will help one get in and stay in good shape. Moral society is characterized by self-discipline, sacrifice, and devotion- dedication to the art can promote change toward a moral society. If you are interesting in playing a sport or are playing a sport right now, Taekwon-Do will help you become better at all sports you try. Taekwon-Do develops your hand, eye, foot coordination; reflexes, speed, quickness, tones your muscles to run faster and jump higher. It teaches you courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit.
Taekwon-Do, even though founded in the military, is especially beneficial for children and is proven to change lives. Practitioners become better both physically and mentally, and
self-discipline, flexibility, endurance, ability to defend oneself, good moral values, leadership qualities, strength of the body, strength of the mind, and respect are just some of the benefits of Taekwon-Do.
The father and daughter want to open a do-jang in order to spread this amazing martial art and therefore change as many lives as possible.
