From 1991-1994 I worked part-time, and from 1994-2009 full-time, as a Taekwondo instructor back in my hometown of Newport, Oregon.
I know longer teach Taekwondo because the majority of the techniques and concepts you learn in that style are not practical for self-defense and fighting like our Krav Maga curriculum is.,
However, one aspect of Taekwondo, and other traditional martial arts, that I miss teaching was the mental or character skills required to become a true martial artist and a success in life.
I was reminded of this a few years back when I reconnected with a former student through Facebook. His name is Michael and he started training under me in 1994 when he was 5 years old. I taught him over the next 6-7 year where he eventually earned his 1st degree black belt in Taekwondo.
What resonated with me was a message he sent thanking me for being his TKD instructor and that he still remembers to this day and uses many of the character skill lessons he learned in my classes.
That 5 year old is now 31 years old, engaged to his fiance and working as a biology teacher in Baltimore.
This is just one of many examples of former child students, who are all now adults, who have reconnected with me and mention it’s the character lessons they remember and still use to this day in their everyday life.
I still own the character skills curriculum book that I started using as an TKD instructor over 20 years ago. It’s in a massive 4″ binder, contains over 1,000 pages, weighs about 20 lbs., and is broken down into 18 separate character traits and 13 different leadership skills.
It’s these character traits and leadership skills that determine the success of a person in both their martial arts training and in life.
The first character trait is Confidence.
Over the next 2 months I’m going to share the adult version of these Confidence lessons that I use to teach my TKD students through our student only Facebook group.
As adults we already know what Confidence is and what many other character traits are and why they’re important. However, we all could use a reminder from time-to-time, especially when things get difficult with our Krav Maga training or our daily life.
-Randall