Taekwondo Instructors at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute

By Mindy Sautel, 6th dan

The Colorado Taekwondo Institute (CTI) is proud of its numerous, highly qualified Taekwondo instructors.  The Moo Sul Kwan martial arts instructors certified by CTI go through a rigorous process to earn instructor certification.  Our Taekwondo instructors are trained by our CTI Master instructors from white belt through black belt.

Students start learning to be Taekwondo instructors when they become purple belts and a member of the leadership team.  This leadership team meets several times a month to go over all aspects of martial arts instruction, leadership, role modeling,  judging, etc.  Any student wishing to pursue the goal of "Taekwondo Instructor" must be an active participant of the leadership team.  This "Taekwondo instructor" in training must also attend his/her required number of classes, additional classes for assistant instructing training, and most all of the CTI events.

The Colorado Taekwondo Institute hosts many events each year and several are dedicated to the training of its martial arts instructors.  The most significant event for instructor training is the CTI Black Belt symposium held in October of each year.  It is a weekend solely dedicated to the upper belt training of CTI students with the belt levels of purple, brown, red and black.  Students attend many classes throughout the weekend to learn various Moo Sul Kwan martial arts instructor techniques.  The purple, brown and red belt assistant instructors attend classes to learn how to run the exercise portion or basics portion of a class.  They also learn how to talk to and instruct students on an individual basis.  These assistant Taekwondo instructors also learn subjective judging techniques, how to talk to parents and how to effectively work with students. The first and second dan Taekwondo instructors learn more in-depth ways to run a highly effective Taekwondo class.  This instruction ranges from class safety, to classroom etiquette, to how to get your students to the next level, etc.  Our first and  second dan martial arts instructors are also given explicit instruction on how to run a dynamic class, how to praise-correct-praise, and how to keep students motivated.  The CTI Black Belt symposium also provides instruction for our third and fourth dan black belt instructors.  These Taekwondo instructors are typically program directors so they receive instruction and training on how to build the Taekwondo program at their campus and much more.

There are periodic Master Seminars throughout the year where members of the leadership team work on specific instructional techniques.  Each CTI tournament provides a unique environment for our Taekwondo instructors to work with their students in a different environment than the classroom.  We have classes at our yearly Moo Sul Kwan Summer Expo for black belts and upper belts to work on classroom instruction.  The CTI Summer Camp is an excellent venue for our young Taekwondo instructors to learn a multitude of techniques.  Our leaders work with groups of younger students for six days as group leaders, teachers and role models.  This experience is unparalleled for our martial arts instructors.

One of the main goals of the Colorado Taekwondo Institute is to provide quality martial arts instruction in an educational environment.  Any student wishing to be a Moo Sul Kwan martial arts instructor can achieve this goal by following the guidance of the CTI master instructors and the training plan. Becoming a CTI Taekwondo instructor is attainable with hard work, classroom participation, event and leadership training participation.