The Colorado Taekwondo Institute - The Best Martial Arts School in Town!

 By Collin Kreutz, 4th Dan

Are you looking for the best martial arts school in the Denver area for you or your family? Look no further than the Colorado Taekwondo Institute. The Colorado Taekwondo Institute has been providing the community with the best martial arts classes in Colorado for nearly 40 years. Our experienced and well-trained instructors run classes for all ages, including toddlers, kids, teens, and adults. With five martial art locations in the Denver metro area, the Colorado Taekwondo Institute is sure to have a school near you!

Each of the five locations in the Denver area, plus our additional campus in Northwestern Colorado in Craig, provide a variety of taekwondo martial arts classes for all ages. The Lakewood/Green Mountain, Golden, Westminster, Littleton, and Conifer locations all boast spacious workout areas that are well maintained, thoroughly cleaned, and are constructed with carpeted suspension floors for the best workout experience. All of these campus locations are run by experienced black belts with years of teaching experience, so regardless of which location works best for you, you are sure to get the best martial arts program around.

At the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, the students always come first. All of our classes are organized according to age and ability, so the training is properly tailored to the needs of the students. Our instructors teach group classes with an individualized focus, so you and your family will get the workout, self defense instruction, and personal training that you need. Classes run year round, so you will be able to attend biweekly throughout the calendar year to make sure you stay in shape and are able to continue progressing through the program at a consistent rate.

The Colorado Taekwondo Institute prides itself in being an educational martial arts school, meaning that we encourage use of the mind and emotions in addition to the body to become more well-rounded martial artists and better leaders. The Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo martial arts teaching program that the Colorado Taekwondo Institute follows was brought to the United States in 1969 by Great Grandmaster Lee H. Park. In every class, Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo stresses using self control over self defense, ensuring that we make the world a better place while learning to defend ourselves. With over 50 years of curriculum development, our instructors teach a solid foundational training program based on a basic routine of taekwondo techniques that is successful at making students the best martial arts version of themselves.

In addition to regular martial artsclasses, the Colorado Taekwondo Institute conducts special events throughout the year. We host four tournaments every year, where each of our five primary campuses, plus students in Craig, get together to compete in different events that are practiced during regular classes. There are also a variety of non-competition events, including weekend long expos, week long summer sleep-away camps and day camps, and weekend seminar classes. These additional events at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute set us apart from other martial arts schools in the area, as they provide supplemental training on a consistent basis to keep students motivated and to spice up the routine with fun competitions and classes with new and different instructors.

So, if you are looking for the bestmartial arts for you or your family, I would highly recommend giving the Colorado Taekwondo Institute a try. Our introductory program will set you up with a uniform and two classes for only $30. Give your local Colorado Taekwondo Institute location a call for more information!

Leading the Way at the 26th MSK Symposium

By Abbey Salamera, 2nd dan

The 26th Moo Sul Kwan Black Belt Symposium took place on October 7-8, 2022, at Alameda International High School in Lakewood, Colorado. Nearly a hundred Moo Sul Kwan black, red, and brown belts gathered during this two-day event to train in classes and seminars to strengthen their understanding of Moo Sul Kwan martial arts. According to Great Grandmaster Park (who brought Moo Sul Kwan Martial Arts tothe United States) and his Model Concept, these upper belts and instructors should concentrate on strategies of movements and techniques of teaching for program instruction, respectively; the MSK Symposium gave these students an opportunity to focus on these elements of their training through the theme of the event: “Leading the Way.”

“Leading the Way” serves to be important for all MSK Taekwondo students, especially as the participants of the Symposium grow into the leaders of the school. The upper belts and instructors take the knowledge they’ve learned at the Symposium and pass it down through classes, assistant teaching, mentoring, and other opportunities to collaborate at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute. Participants trained extremely hard on Friday evening and during the day on Saturday as they improved their skills in poomse, sparring, one-steps, self-defense, and more. The Symposium culminated in a banquet at Alameda International High School for a night of entertainment, food, and fun!

The first class that Symposium participants embarked on was poomse. Each class was given the opportunity to practice each poomse that they know, and do each one of them to the best of their ability. Each participant was given a sheet of paper with these poomse names and marked down every time they made a mistake on the poomse. Given the fact that perfect practice makes perfect, a mistake on a poomse resulted in practicing that same poomse five times to ensure that it would be done correctly with the best technique. All participants collectively did so much poomse in just the first couple hours of the evening.

Both days of the Symposium ended in sparring seminars between all the participants. Students and instructors from all CTI campuses were able to spar one another, no matter the difference in age, rank, and ability. This gave participants the opportunity to practice their skills on new opponents as they improved their speed, blocking, spin moves, fakes, footwork, and all techniques that create a good sparrer. At the end of the day, respect and sportsmanship amongst the participants filled the gym of Alameda International High School to reflect the qualities of a Moo Sul Kwan black belt.

After the two-day event, MSK students were able to develop their CTI teaching and leadership and concepts for their physical and mental training. The many hours of training made an impact to progress students towards their next belt and become better Taekwondo students that embody the values of Moo Sul Kwan. With an emphasis on increasing both athletic and academic knowledge, the 26th Moo Sul Kwan Black Belt Symposium was able to fulfill both of these aspects for MSK students to continue leading the way.