Classes Cancelled for the Holidays

Don't forget--Classes will be cancelled at both locations from December 24-January 1st. Classes will resume on January 2nd.

We'll see you all in 2010!!!!

Kick off your New Year with a training class at Space Coast Martial Arts

Do you want to improve your fitness, flexibility, and overall health in 2010?

If you do, we want to help!

At the ATA Fit Bootcamp you will learn stretching and exercise strategies that will help you achieve your health and fitness goals. We will introduce you to workouts that don't take up your whole day, but work out your whole body. It doesn't require complicated equipment, and you will be able to recover so you can enjoy the increased mental and physical energy you'll get from exercising regularly.

Students, Parents, and Friends are welcome to come and try it out!

A child class will be offered on Friday, January 15 from 6-7pm in Titusville, and an adult class will be offered Merritt Island on Saturday, January 16 from 3-4pm. (For the purposes of this seminar an adult is anyone ages 14 and up.) The cost is $25.

The Three Kinds of Black Belts

Great job to everyone who participated in this week's poll. The three kinds of Black Belts are Students, Instructors, and Masters.

Make sure you tell your instructor, so you can earn your next blue star!

Congratulations for a Great Job at Testing!

Congratulations to EVERYONE who participated in testing in Titusville and Merritt Island! You all did a great job!



A special congratulations goes to Mr. Ned Marcoux and Mrs. Darlene Marcoux who earned their third degree black belts. They have put in years of training to reach this point, and we're all very proud of them! Congratulations on their great accomplishment!

December's Life Skill: Integrity

December's life skill is integrity. Integrity means "always telling the truth," or "doing the right thing even when no one is looking."

Unlike some of our other life skills, Integrity is hard to see. But that doesn't mean it isn't important. Just as a small seed can grow into a big pine tree, having integrity can make a big difference in our lives. That's because integrity is the foundation for all of the other life skills we learn in the ATA. Integrity is our promise to ourselves that we will always do the right thing. In Taekwondo class, only you will know if you are trying your hardest and doing your best. At school, there are times when no one will find out if you don't do your homework or skip a few problems. In fact, there are many times when we can easily give up, lie, dodge work and avoid accountability.

However, as the author Mark Twain points out, "A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval." And more importantly, the ATA Training manual says, "Withouth integrity, honor is impossible. Without honor, spirit is impossible. Without spirit, self-control is impossible. Without self-control, perseverance is impossible. Without perseverance, the achievement of goals is impossible!" (December Instructor Trainee Manual).

We build integrity in the little things, when the stakes are low. It's a decision we make for ourselves every day, and it can have big results!

Merritt Island Christmas Parade: Cancelled

Unfortunately, the Merritt Island Christmas Parade has been canceled due to bad weather.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend, and we'll resume regular classes on Monday!

Who is in the picture at the front of the Academy?

The picture in the front of the Academy is of Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee. In 1969, he founded the American Taekwondo Association in Omaha, Nebraska. He was posthumously awarded the title of Eternal Grand Master after he passed away in 2000. Today the ATA has over 300,000 members worldwide.

The video below is a tribute to Eternal Grand Master.

Friday: Final Day of November Holiday Sale

This Friday is the last day to place an order from the ATA or Century Martial Arts Catalog and get 10% off and guaranteed delivery for Christmas. It is also the last day that our regular merchandise will be on sale.

If you have any orders that still need to be placed, the Merritt Island school will be open from 1-4 p.m. this Friday for your convenience. Also, the Titusville School will be open for regular classes from 5-7 p.m. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to call the school tomorrow at 452-7229.

Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

How to Enter and Leave the Academy, and collect stars for your next patch!

At the front of the school, you'll notice a Star Chart that tracks each student's progress towards reaching their next Karate For Kids Patch.

The first patch, which all students receive for bringing a friend to class has a Blue outline. The second patch, which student receive when they have 25 blue stars on their first patch has a Silver outline. The third patch, which students receive after they have 25 blue stars on their Silver patch has a Gold outline. And the final patch, which student will receive when they have 50 blue stars on their Gold patch, is Blue with a Gold outline.

Each blue star now represents a piece of knowledge about Songahm Taekwondo and our Academy. Each week, the assignment for one star will be posted on the website. Students can get one star each time they come to class.

The first star is for learning the Songahm Spirit of Taekwondo Oath.

The second star is for demonstrating how to enter and leave the academy. Remember: you stop at the door, put your feet together and your hands by your side, smile, bow and say, "Hello Sir, Hello Ma'am."

Make sure to show your instructor the next time you come to class! Even if you already have a Silver, Gold, or Blue Gold Patch, you need to be able to demonstrate the knowledge represented by each star.

Songahm Spirit of Taekwondo Oath

Make sure you know the Songahm Spirit of Taekwondo Oath. Recite it for your instructor the next time you come to class, and your instructor will give you a blue star!

As Taekwondo Event Begins:

"Sir,
I will practice in the Spirit of Taekwondo,
with Courtesy for Fellow Students,
Loyalty for my Instructor,
and Respect for my Juniors and Seniors,
...Sir!"


As Taekwondo Event Ends:


"Sir,
I shall live with Perseverance in the Spirit of Taekwondo
having Honor with Others,
Integrity within Myself,
and Self Control in my Actions
...Sir!"

Combat Weapons this Friday!

This Friday, Mr. Riordan will be teaching a combat weapons seminar at the Titusville school from 6-8 p.m. Students will learn sparring techniques using a specially designed Bahng Mahng Ee.

Sign up with your instructor today!

Great Job at Fall Nationals

Congratulations to all of our students who competed, tested, judged, or attended a seminar at Fall Nationals. As you can see, some of our students had the opportunity to meet Grand Master and compete.

Kamen Rider Movie Camp: November 27 (Day After Thanksgiving)

Parents: here is your chance for a day out of Christmas shopping without the kids. While you're finding just the right gifts, your child will be learning some cool techniques, watching movies, and relaxing. This fun and safe camp is exactly the excuse you need to get your Christmas shopping done for the kids, without them being by your side. And the Kamen Rider training will be an added gift for the Holiday season!

Camps will be held at the Merritt Island location on Friday, November 27 from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. and from 5 p.m.-9 p.m.

Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight

Visit http://ataonline.com/kamenrider/ for more information on the Kamen Rider sweepstakes and how you can win a training day with a Kamen Rider or one of three other prize packages.

Kidz 'n Power

This Saturday, we will be holding a Kid 'n Power safety seminar at the Titusville school from 2-3 pm. This event is free and open to the community, and we encourage all of our students to attend and bring their friends.

This seminar will teach students

• Simple Break Away Techniques
• Role Playing with Possible Stranger Dangers
• How to Deal with Bullies
• Internet Safety Tips

We will also have visitors from the Brevard County Fire Department as well as the K9 unit.

The Kidz 'n Power Open House is part of ATA Martial Arts’ worldwide initiative to help minimize the risk of child abduction through education. With active membership exceeding 350,000 worldwide and 1,200 schools in the U.S. and abroad, ATA is positively positioned to reach children and adults with the message of abduction prevention. As part of the safety campaign, ATA has partnered with AMBER Alert.com to increase AMBER Alert notification via e-mail and personal communication devices. Once an AMBER Alert is issued, AMBER Alert.com uses state-of-the-art technology to notify its subscribers of a missing child in a specific area.

November's Life Skill: Self-Control

November's Leadership Life Skill is Self Control. Put simply, self control means "making good choices," or as Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee said, "Self-Control: When we can say 'yes' to what takes us closer to our goals, and when we can say 'no' to what keeps us from being great."

Last week, ATA Black Belt Hunter Williams demonstrated great self-control on The Dr. Oz Show. He was able to focus while demonstrating his weapon form in front of a live television audience and showed that he is a mature and respectful black belt even though he's young.

It's amazing what we can accomplish when we have the self-control and perseverence to reach our goals!

Come to 'The Quest for the Perfect Kick: Power' seminar this weekend!

Have you ever been unable to break your board, even after three attempts? If so, 'The Quest for the Perfect Kick: Power' seminar this weekend is for you!

The seminar will be held at the Merritt Island school from 3-5 p.m. this Saturday, October 31st. Sign up at either school, you won't regret it!

ATA FALL NATIONALS!

This weekend students from our school and from around the Nation will be competing, mid-terming, judging, and having a great time at the ATA's Fall Nationals at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Florida.

This means that Classes will be cancelled from Thursday, October 22 through Saturday, October 24. However, feel free to come watch the competition on Friday or Saturday.

For more information visit http://www.ataonline.com/

Count to 10...in Korean!

1. 1. hah-nah (ah is the 'a' sound in father)
   
2. 2. dool (oo as in zoo)
   
3. 3. set
4. 4. net
5. 5. dah-seot (eo is the same as the 'u' sound in suffer)
   
6. 6. yeo-seot
7. 7. il-geup (eu is the 'oo' sound in good)
   
8. 8. deo-dol (o is the long 'o' as in go)
   
9. 9. ah-hop
10. 10. yeol
    

This information, as well as the answers for the weekly quiz questions, can be found in The Way of Traditional Taekwondo: Volume A Philosophy and Tradition.

Board Break-a-thon

At Saturday's Board Break-a-thon, we raised over a thousand dollars and broke 1600 boards at the Titusville and Merritt Island Schools! Thanks to everyone for their hard work and enthusiasm!

Several of our instructors also demonstrated specialty board breaks. In the video below, Mr. Valdes, a 3rd degree black belt and training instructor, does a running jump 360 elbow strike to break his board.

October: Goals in the Community

"If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us." -Jim Rohn

Every month as part of the ATA Leadership Lifeskills curriculum, we adopt a lifeskill to practice and learn throughout the month. This month we're working on Goals in the Community.

A Goal is a specific change in yourself or your life that you're willing to work to achieve. Goals are important for every taekwondo student. In the short term, color belts are working towards their next belt, but you're long term goal is to become a black belt. For black belts, maybe your goal is to work towards the next degree of black belt, improving your form for competition in a tournament, or becoming a certified instructor. However, we can't just limit our goals to ourselves or taekwondo.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy set a goal to send men to the moon saying:

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

This was a challenging goal for our country and for science to achieve. However, despite the challenges, by 1969 NASA had sent a man to the moon.

Our goals give us a way to measure our success and motivate us to continue working on reaching them. For example, on October 10th, our school is holding a Board Break-a-thon to raise money for the H.U. Lee Foundation, which gives scholarships to taekwondo students pursuing higher education.
Our specific goal is to raise $1000 and break 1000 boards in one hour. Our reward is to help people in our region and organization have to opportunity to get an education. And we'll know we're successful by working together to make this community better. We hope to see everyone on Saturday to help us reach this goal.

H.U. Lee Board-Break-A-Thon

Space Coast Martial Arts is pleased to announce it will be hosting the first annual Board Break-A-Thon in honor of American Taekwondo Assoiciation's Founders Month. The event will be held on October 10th, 2009, 10 am at our Merritt Island and Titusville locations. The students will form teams and will break more than 1,000 boards in just one hour.
Location Addresses:
2072 North Courtenay Pkwy, Merritt Island FL 32953

1925 Knox Mcrae Dr, Titusville FL 32780

The Board Break-A-Thon event benefits the H.U. Lee Memorial Foundation, which was founded in 1992 to honor Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee, founder of the American Taekwondo Association. The Foundation strives to assist those students that exemplifed skills obtained through the American Taekwondo Association by providing scholarships assist with the costs of higher education.

We will be handing out donation forms in class starting Monday September 21st, 2009. However, there is an eaiser alternative to traditional fundraising for this event.

Online fundraising is a simple and easy way to raise money for your event. We recommend using the FirstGiving website which allows anyone to create a personalized webpage, including pictures, to collect donations. After creating their pages, participants can send out an email to their friends and family with a link to their page. The email recipients click on the link and make a donation with a credit card.

To create a fundraising page for the Foundation, go to www.firstgiving.com/21852. You can see your participant's fundraising totals on this page, as well.

Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the St. Jude Children's Hospital Fundraiser. As of Saturday, we had raised over $900.

If you participated in the Fundraiser, but haven't brought in your donation yet it's not too late. We'll still be collecting money until the end of this week.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this event a big success!

5 Tips for Great Testing

Testing is coming up in just a couple of weeks! The deadline to register is next Thursday, Sept. 24, and it's important to go ahead and get signed up. Remember, even if you don't end up testing this cycle, you're registration will carry over to the next cycle.

Here are some tips to help everyone do their best at testing:

1) Arrive 15-20 minutes early. This will give you time to warm up, stretch, and get lined up.

2) Practice at home. Even if you don't have your form stripe yet, you can still practice for testing. If you're having trouble practicing at home, there are Encyclopedias and DVDs available for purchase at both schools if you need a reference to remind you what a move or segment of the form looks like.

3) Know you're belt meaning. Every belt has a symbolic meaning. For example, the meaning of the while belt is, "pure and without the knowledge of Songahm Taekwondo. As with the pine tree, the seed must now be planted and nourished to develop strong roots" (p. 7 The Way of Traditional Taekwondo: Vol. 1). If you want to know what you're belt means, be sure to ask your instructor the next time you're in class!

4) Remember this month's life skill: Honor. President Calvin Coolidge once said, "No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." By showing your black belt attitude, courtesy, and respect for others you can work towards your next belt every single day, not just at testing.

5) Smile, relax, and have fun.


Testing will be held on Friday, October 2, 2009 at the Titusville school from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and on Saturday, October 3, 2009 at the Merritt Island school from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

This Saturday, Space Coast Martial Arts is holding a fundraiser for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. St. Jude is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay.

To help children receive this life-saving treatment, there will be two seminars at the Merritt Island school only. The first is an Introduction to Martial Arts, which will be held from 10-11 a.m. The second is a Kids Self Defense Seminar held from 12-1:00 p.m. We ask that you bring a friend and a $15 donation to the seminar.

For more information on St. Jude Children's Research hospital click here.

September's Life Skill: Honor

Every month as part of the ATA Leadership Lifeskills curriculum, we adopt a lifeskill to practice and learn throughout the month. This month we're working on Honor.

What does "Honor" mean for a taekwondo student? It means a lot of things, but to start out, "Honor means deserving the trust and faith others have in you."

A great example of honor is in the life of Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi was born in 1869 and grew up in a small province of India. Gandhi began his career as a lawyer in both India and South Africa. However, because of his race he had limited rights. He could not travel to some areas of the country, and when he traveled he was forced to ride in a separate train car from other people. This angered Gandhi, but instead of fighting back with violence Gandhi fought back with nonviolence. He refused to obey laws that he believed were unjust. Because of this, Gandhi was put in jail many times, but he accepted the consequences of his actions.

Eventually, Gandhi and the nonviolent protests he led in India gained international attention. Gandhi showed the world that the British rule in India was unfair and that changes needed to be made so that the people of India could rule their own country. And in 1947, after 40 years of struggle, India was granted its independence.


Even though it was difficult and he was sent to jail many times, Gandhi knew that he was doing the right thing for his country and his people. He refused to respond to British threats with violence and persevered through difficult times, always teaching others to follow his example.


Because of his example and honor, the people of India began referring to him as Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma means "great soul." Because of his honor--his commitment to doing the right thing; his belief that the Indian people had the power to choose their own destiny, and his commitment to nonviolence--Gandhi helped lead India to independence, and he helped influence people all over the world to seek peaceful change.