We’re not against martial arts for kids, but almost every martial arts school offers lots of options for young people. We are different. Our focus on adult classes gives our dojang (martial arts training hall) a different atmosphere. We’re serious and traditional, our space is beautiful and serene, and our authentic goals and training methods embrace the martial art’s East Asian roots and culture.
Like many traditional martial arts schools, we offer rigorous workouts that make people strong and flexible, build endurance, and empower people with self-confidence and self-discipline. Serious students will learn effective self-defense skills, although there are no shortcuts to proficiency, and as in all martial arts, real competence takes years to develop. Most good martial arts schools do these things, and cultivating these traits is a core principle at River Valley Taekwondo as well.
Our school is unique because we offer a broad program of self-study that helps our students understand the cultural context of their martial arts training. We use the word “unique” intentionally and precisely: we don’t know of any other martial arts school anywhere that offers this depth of cultural curriculum.
This program allows curious and motivated students to become true experts in our Korean martial art and to understand its place in the wide world of martial Ways.
None of these extracurricular activities are required to be a member of our school or to advance in rank and skills, but those who pursue them will find great satisfaction in studying: Korean language, history, and culture; martial arts traditions and evolution; meditation practices; advanced physical fitness and conditioning; leadership in the community; and poomsae (forms or patterns, similar to the Japanese term “kata”) that are of historical interest to the development of the Korean martial arts.
In addition to the promotion exams that most martial arts schools offer several times a year, our extracurricular study community meets periodically to share experiences and support everyone’s efforts beyond our daily training in the dojang.
Comfortable Being Uncomfortable, Part II
A post called "Comfortable Being Uncomfortable" from May 2016 is probably one of the top five in terms of generating feedback from students of all levels. In early July 2022, while we were all training…
Attacking the 10-Minute Conditioning Challenge
I'm loving RVTKD Instructor Luke Ryan's new ten minute fitness challenge, and if you're a member of our dojang, I encourage to do so. For me, part of the fun of this exercise is the…
Improve Your Korean: Directions and Categories
If learning Korean Taekwondo terminology seems daunting, it's understandable: the US State Department has included Korean in the top tier of "most difficult" languages for native English speakers to learn.1 The alphabet isn't hard to…
Dojang Reopens Sunday, April 3
The dojang leadership has set a reopening date of Sunday, April 3. We've been closed longer than we'd hoped when we moved classes to an outdoor model in January, but…
Dojang Closed Through March 2022
The dojang leadership met over the weekend and concluded that it's in everyone's best interest to remain closed through March. We will meet again in two weeks to reassess, and…
10-Minute Conditioning Challenge
With New Year’s resolution time upon us, you may be pleased to learn that Luke Ryan, RVTKD Instructor and Partner, has created a deliciously agonizing conditioning routine to share with…