Tae Kwon Do - A martial art for the family

Back in June 2015, I attended a Father's Day practice with both of my sons at Just For Kicks in Mandeville, LA. Both had started at JFK a year earlier and were working through the Tiny Tiger program.

Master Beaujeaux, who owned the school and was the Chief Instructor, taught the Father's Day Tae Kwon Do ATA Class. During the class he stated that Tae Kwon Do is one of the few martial arts that you can do with your kids. This really resonated with me and I began to contemplate starting back into karate.

I had previous trained with the ATA back in the 1980s, but eventually left for other Martial Arts. I had enjoyed the philosophy and training in Aikido while I was in Dallas, TX, and was not sure my body could physically handle getting back into Tae Kwon Do.

My sister, Master Hoover-Houston, who had originally started JFK in the 1990s, but had left to work in the Orlando area, returned to Louisiana and opened up JFK Covington in 2015. I decided to start training again but this time I started with my kids, since they would transfer to my sister’s new school.

Depending on the size of the school, it is sometimes difficult to actually train with younger children in the same class. You may be learning the same material but if the school has an adult class, you will typically be separated. Fortunately, you will be going to the same school and attending the same events or tournaments, so you will still be participating together.

This typically changes when you get into black belt classes depending on the size of the school. Ever since we all made black belt recommended, we have been training in the same class. We test on the same material so that allows us to assist each other outside of class when practicing.

Leadership roles are sometimes difficult depending on the location of the school. The kids or adults may be asked to assist in teaching and this may require additional time at the school. If you are not close to the school, then it may be difficult to bring them early and have to return later for your own class.

Tae Kwon Do has tournaments. Some are intra-school, state and national. Tournaments are not for every one but they do teach the kids valuable lessons in training, wining and losing. Typically the kids and adults compete by rank and age, and will compete by performing their form (a form is known as kata, a sequence of movements, techniques, and stances that are performed in a specific pattern, it simulates a fight against imaginary opponents where the practitioner goes through various blocks, strikes, kicks, and movements, often in a predetermined order), traditional sparring (One-steps for lower ranks, the techniques are agreed upon beforehand, this means the attacker knows what attack to perform (like a punch or kick), and the defender knows what counter to use; free-sparring for higher ranks, where participants react in real-time to unpredictable attacks; sparring focuses on controlled, precise movements to ensure safety while teaching technique, distance, timing, and application of movements learned in forms or kata), and combat sparring (higher ranks use a padded stick and engage in sparring one another). All sparring now uses full body armor for safety. 

Typically for lower ranks, you show up at the tournament for the time slot for your age and rank, participate in your match, after all the matches are complete, awards are handed out. It is possible that participants may not receive an award, and even though this may bother some, it is a valuable learning experience. Like I said, tournaments are not for everyone and they are something that you are not required to do, but there is something about having your name and state or world champion on the back of your gee (a gee or gi is a traditional uniform wore by practitioners during training and competitions) that is extremely rewarding.

As kids join and their parents must now stay and watch the classes, there is a short jump to bringing in other siblings and then to the parents joining. Why sit and watch when you can get some exercise and spend time with your kids. Our school has family classes where the family trains together and all ranks are combined. This is fun for the family and creates a larger family environment in the school.

So, if you are looking to spend some quality time with your family or trying to lower your cholesterol or trying to avoid having multiple kids in multiple sports and spending all your time in the car, then maybe check out your local martial arts school.