What
we teach has been developed continuously since
1945!
The
martial art we teach is called Soo Bahk Do
and was first introduced in Korea almost 60
years ago. It combines self-defense with building
character and learning how to guide yourself
through life.
The
results are startling!
Psychologists
have studied what we teach and here are their
conclusions:
substantial
gains in
What
we teach you improves how you look at and
deal with conflict --
whether its in the workplace, with friends
and family or just living.
Well,
What about Self-defense?
Its
very, very rare that one of our students actually
gets into a physical fight (it's almost always
in middle school), because we teach you how
to spot trouble before it starts and to stay
away from it. But we also teach that if you
must confront someone that you must win.
A
great, true story (one of my favorites) -
it was a bunch of years ago, but I had
a student who was 16 years old, female, 5
feet tall 105 pounds and very attractive.
She was almost a midnight blue belt (our equivalent
to black belt). One day she was jumped in
a school hallway after hours by three members
of the football team. Their intentions were
not good. She beat them so badly they were
unable to play on the team for the rest of
the year. The principal tried to expel her
because she ruined the school's football season!
Her dad straightened the principal out!
What
is the real result of our training? Not one
of our midnight blue belts (again, the same
as black belts in other martial arts) has
ever been in any kind of serious trouble:
not only here, but in all the schools that
teach our art throughout the United States
over the past 25 years! That's thousands of
people over decades of time! A pretty great
track record!
There
is no competition in our classroom …and
we do not teach the
use of weapons.
Competition
has its place -it teaches people with natural
skills to hone their skills even further,
but it also takes the less skilled and leaves
them behind, discouraged. We care about the
less skilled because that's almost everyone!
So here, at USK, everyone proceeds at their
own pace. We do not put students up against
one another to see who will be the best. But
we make you work hard to be your best.
Weapons
Practice is not useful! Could it lead to violence?
Practicing
with ancient weapons has some benefits for
the skilled, advanced student, but it is largely
a waste of time for beginner and intermediate
students.
More importantly, in today's society,
it teaches the wrong lessons, and may lead
students to behaviors that must be avoided.
We do not teach the use of weapons!
