Martial Arts Lessons at the CTI

By Coghan Spery, 1st dan, 15 years old

The Colorado Taekwondo Institute (CTI) has unique martial arts lessons. Not only does it teach its students self-defense, it teaches students many things that might be hard to find in life. Our martial arts classes provide students with safety, a healthy lifestyle, a place to make friends, a place to challenge yourself, and a place to learn leadership.

CTI martial art classes are a great place to work out because CTI focuses on safety.  As a martial arts program, CTI understands that Taekwondo is a full contact sport and that safety always comes first. CTI never allows students to spar or break boards without an adult instructor supervising at the time. In CTI’s martial arts lessons, they spend many classes teaching their students how to use the proper technique for sparring, falling, and breaking and help protect the students from hurting themselves. CTI also teaches their students self-control, so that they do not hurt others, in or out of class.  For CTI, safety is always first.

In a country where more and more people have dietary and exercise issues, CTI martial arts classes helps students learn how to lead a healthy lifestyle. CTI teaches its students to lead a healthier lifestyle by helping them make healthier choices, giving them a good workout, and encouraging them to workout at home. CTI’s regular martial arts classes meet twice a week, although students can attend other classes with different purposes, such as a Black Belt Club to learn a different set of Poomse and self-defense. CTI also encourages its students to follow a healthy diet.  CTI’s martial arts lessons are a amazing place to learn, because it encourages its students to lead a healthy lifestyle by working out frequently and eating healthily.

Many people take martial arts classes, and it is a great place to meet new people. CTI is a perfect example of this because of its classes.  It puts people of the same relative age together, making it easier to make friends. Classes encourages students to work with other students that they do not know and allowing them to meet new people and make new friendships. CTI also makes it a “safe” place to make friends in its martial arts lessons because we don't not allow bullying. CTI’s martial arts classes are a great place to make friends, because student
s do not have the risk of being teased, and they are encouraged to work with new people.

CTI’s martial arts lessons encourage students to push their limits and challenges its students by having them learn and memorize a variety of different techniques and sequences of techniques for the next rank, such as Poomse, One steps, and Self-Defense.  Also, to move on to the next rank, CTI’s students must memorize all of the techniques and sequences of techniques for the all of the ranks before it.  In CTI’s martial arts lessons, its students are not taught all of the techniques in a single class, instead they space out the learning process, letting the student memorize a few moves at a time, before continuing on.  In order to see that the student has successfully memorized all of their techniques, they are invited to a physical test, where they must demonstrate, with other students, what they have learned in their time at their rank.  CTI’s martial arts classes encourage and challenge its students, by having them learn a variety of different techniques before moving up in rank.

In many martial arts lessons, students follow the instructor, but in CTI’s martial arts classes, students learn how to follow and to be a leader.  Once a student achieves a certain rank, the teacher will have them take a leadership role and work with lower ranking students. Doing this gives the student a skill that is required in life, and helps the student move up in rank, because once you get to a certain level some amount of leadership is required. CTI also teaches its students how to be a good leader, showing them that you have to be a team player to be a leader, and a leader also has to be a follower part of the time. CTI martial arts lessons are a great place to learn martial arts, because you learn how to teach and learn as well as self-defense.

CTI martial arts lessons classes are unique because they teach and give its students things other than self-defense. In CTI’s martial arts classes, students learn things that might be hard to find in everyday life. Because CTI’s martial arts lessons give its students safety, a way to get a healthy lifestyle, a place to make friends, a place to challenge its students, and a place to learn leadership, it is a unique place to learn martial arts.