We look forward to being back in the gym soon! This morning we are kicking off a week long series focusing on what we’ve learned from this pandemic and the safer at home orders. Our goal as martial artists is to take on challenges as opportunities for growth. Our first essay comes from Instructor Marika Holbus. Today I Learned One of my biggest takeaways from being quarantined is the importance of community and the impact it can make.  This situation is unique because there a

When I feel disconnected, I often reflect on this tale of Wonhyo’s enlightenment. (First version blogged in 2011 on Martialing Art).  He was a Korean Buddhist monk, honored not only for his teaching, but for allowing and encouraging the common people to become a part of a movement which before had been reserved for the wealthy. Note: Each form (series of movements defending against an imaginary attacker) is named for someone in Korean history.  Wonhyo is our green belt (5th)

Our May the Fourth Family Night parties are some of our favorite events! We learn about safety, self discipline, and different sword strikes. We look forward to celebrating with everyone again soon! #sword #martialarts #taekwondo #StarWars #StarWarsDay #MaytheFourth #lightsabers

Power: Adding a Kihap with your techniques has been proven to give you more energy and power, which ultimately makes your strikes stronger. Core: When yelling, your core tightens. This makes it easier to take a hit in sparring matches. Breath: A power scream allows you to breathe when you are doing a technique. Overall, it helps you remember to breathe and improve your focus. Confidence: A loud and powerful Kihap improves confidence by making you seem assertive. Because of th

We reflected in class this week on what we learned at tournament. We discussed patience, fairness and the importance of practice. It was summed up perfectly by a five year old who was at his second competition. He had been disappointed not to earn a trophy his first time. He worked hard on his focus. He practiced in class and at home which helped build his confidence. He explained to our class about winning the trophy, “It was Perseverance – You just keep trying! Look at me –

Save the date! Friday, October 25 will be our annual Haunted Gym and Halloween Party! Be ready for some family friendly tricks and treats! Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Send us a message if you’d like to help! #Halloween #MilwaukeeMartialArts #taekwondo #Costumeparty #HauntedHouse #HauntedMaze #HauntedGym

At the start of every school year, we talk about going back with FOCUS AND CONFIDENCE. We practice our focus with games and target drills. We don’t expect perfection but keep working to improve ourselves. When our attention does wander, we do our best to bring our minds back to the present moment. We repeat out loud (and to ourselves): “Focus our eyes! Focus our minds! Focus our bodies!” We’ve also been discussing the importance of attitude. We examined ways a bad attitude i

At our recent Gala supporting our nonprofit mission to make sure martial arts are available to all youth, one of our students took center stage: See the video here: Thank you to everyone for your support! #martialarts #MilwaukeeMartialArts #taekwondo #confidence #leadership #perseverance

Our demonstration team is growing! On Father’s Day, four of our demo team members performed at our first ever demonstration. They did a form, showed off some kicks, and broke some boards. Also, they encouraged other children to try to break a board themselves. We are excite to do more and see them grow as martial artists! Demo team is an elite group of students who preform their marital arts skills. They are leaders in the dojo and in their community. Many of them wish to bec

Every time we promote to the next rank, we learn about what we need to do to get better. Belt tests help us set short and long term goals. They remind us of the importance of practice. The new year is always a super time to reflect on our goals! In class we talk about our martial art goals, our school goals and our home goals. We remind our students that it’s never about being perfect. It’s important to persevere (one of our tenets) and always practice! #martialarts #taekwond

At a program on Thursday, I challenged the class (and myself) to do 1000 kicks. We talked about having strong fundamentals for tournament. We talked about Bruce Lee’s quote “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” We did some math (how many kicks to we need to do in a minute to get in 1000 in 30 minutes?) We all did 200 ax, 200 front, 200 side, 200 roundhouse and 200 back kicks, with a stretch betwee

We are sharing a brief biography of Grand Master J.K. Lee, in honor of his upcoming morning visit to our school inside the Holton Youth & Family Center on Sunday, June 3 at 10:00 am. We welcome you to join us! Click here for more information: Morning with Grand Master Grand Master Jae Kyu Lee Grand Master Jae Kyu Lee is the founder of J.K. Lee Black Belt Academy and the inspiration for J.K. Lee City Youth Martial Arts. He has been practicing Martial Arts for over 50 years and

We were super proud of all our students who participated in the Great Midwest Championship! Prior to the competition, we had a number of students who were worried they weren’t good enough or could never win. During our mat chats, we re-framed what ‘winning’ means. It’s not always a trophy. It is more often, challenging yourself with something unfamiliar or uncomfortable. It’s about doing your best, being a good sport. It’s about learning from your mistakes and trying again. #

This was the third or fourth tournament for some of our students and they realized as they’ve gotten higher in rank, expectations have increased and all the competitors are better. We were super proud of all of our students for their good sportsmanship, win or lose! Tournament officials reported their super attitudes and support of other competitors in their divisions. It’s an important life lesson, because despite our best efforts, we won’t always win. What’s important is th

Everyone enjoyed a super time at tournament! We followed up in classes on all the lessons learned! (Listed here in random order.) Keep going if you make a mistake. Think about something other than how nervous you are. Never underestimate your opponent (especially when sparring). Be a good sport especially when you don’t win. PRACTICE! Thanks to all our teachers and family members for their support! #martialarts #taekwondo #tournament