January's Life Skill: Goals in the Martial Arts

This month's life skill is Goals in the Martial Arts. Having a goal is to want something and be willing to work hard for it. The famous quote of Eternal Grand Master H. U. Lee is, "Today not possible, tomorrow possible." If we believe in our goals, and work every day to achieve them, anything really is possible. Eternal Grand Master showed this in his own life; he came to the United States from Korea in 1962 and started teaching taekwondo in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1969, he founded the American Taekwondo Association. During his life, he developed the Songahm style of taekwondo, a standard for training and certifying instructors, and became the first Master to achieve the rank of 9th degree black belt under public documentation. Today the ATA and its affiliated organizations includes over 300,000 registered members, 53,000 black belts and 3,000 certified instructors. To learn more about Eternal Grand Master and the history of the ATA visit the ATA's website.

Your goal for your Martial Arts training might be to earn a black belt, become a Master, compete for World Champion, or become a Certified Instructor. These are all great goals, but remember Eternal Grand Master H. U. Lee once said, "Train hard-with patience! The best techniques are achieved one punch, one block and one kick at a time." To help us reach our long term goals we set short-term and intermediate goals, so that we can track our progress to our goals. So, maybe you want to earn your form stripe this week or compete in a tournament in the next two months.

Don't forget to set Goals for your Martial Arts training, so that you and your instructors can work together make them possible!