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TAE KWON DO'S NEXT GENERATION
Author: Aronda Davidson
He's the first of the next generation of martial artists that will, one day, be masters.
Cheong Park already possesses the drive and determination to define a new breed of Tae Kwon Do Masters.
Cheong Park, son of a respected grandmaster, is the Executive Vice-president of one of today's leading martial art organizationsPark's Tae Kwon Do and the World Martial Arts Research Union. He is owner/manager and Director of Operations of one of the largest martial arts schools in the southeast United States, with affiliate schools around the world. He is an internationally certified senior instructor, a fourth degree black belt, and four time winner of the Florida State Championships. He conducts seminars for instructors and has been the focus of many local newspaper articles. Cheong Park is also an actor whose credits include working with James Hong-a veteran of many movies, Danny Kamekona, Sato of "Karate Kid Kid" and Tom Ryan of "Wise Guys." He has appeared as a principal in three episodes of "Miami Vice" with Edward James Almos, Philip Michael Thomas and Don Johnson. He coordinated fight scenes for those episodes as well. Cheong Park appeared with Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa in "The Last Emperor" and "License to KilL" Additionally, he is a professional model. Cheong Park and his father, Grandmaster Jung Soo Park, together produced a video, "The Official WTF Forms", which is a popular instructional video.
While any of these achievements-martial artist, businessman, instructor, actor, model or producer is a worthy accomplishment in one lifetime, it is amazing to consider that Cheong Park has completed these things in a little more than 23 years!
What sets Cheong Park apart? Is he extraordinarily gifted? Does he have superhuman drive and ambition? When asked how he could do so much at such a young age, Cheong Park credits the physical and mental training and instruction he receives through Tae Kwon Do. "I would not be the person I am today, with the abilities that I have, without my martial arts training. The martial arts training I received provided me with a solid foundation. Through Tae Kwon Do I gained confidence, coordination and balance of the mental and physical aspects of life. Tae Kwon Do taught me how to set goals and to persevere to those goals. I know what Tae Kwon Do has done for my life. When I look in the mirror I see the reflection of a person that adopted Tae Kwon Do as a way of life and that makes me a better person than I would be otherwise. Tae Kwon Do is a way of life for me and I can't envision any part of my life outside of the Tae Kwon Do experience.
Cheong Park began studying Tae Kwon Do in Korea at the tender age of three under the instruction of his father, Grandmaster Park. He received training under the direction of other master instructors including his uncle, Master Won Ki Hong. But, Cheong Park is quick to recognize the value of the guidance and direction provided by his father who embraces the traditional methods of teaching Tae Kwon Do. "All my training has been under the direction of my father who himself was trained in traditional Tae Kwon Do in Korea. He taught me, the next generation, in the same tradition he learned. Because of that, I have developed incredible flexibility-not physical but the mental flexibility and openness of mind that allows me to practice traditional Tae Kwon Do, sport Tae Kwon Do and the most recent development in the area, scientific Tae Kwon Do. What this demonstrates to me is that with a strong traditional foundation, you can build on anything. lt's just like building a house, if the foundation is solid you can build any type of house you wantJapanese, Western, contemporary, Mediterranean, or whatever you want. Instructors and masters should focus on building that strong foundation with their students. This will allow the student to become his own leader and create a personal, individualized structure on that foundation. If the foundation is weak, the structure will also be weak."
At the age of 8 1/2, Cheong Park had progressed to red belt and it was at that time his family immigrated to the United States. Because they were in a new country and facing a new life, Grandmaster Park made the decision to start his son's training, once more, from the beginning. Even so, by the age of 12 Cheong Park received his black belt and soon began working as an assistant teacher. For the past four years he has served as full-time instructor and business manager of Park's Tae Kwon Do Federation.
When Cheong Park talks about Tae Kwon Do he does so from the dual perspectives of student and instructor. As an instructor, he makes practical application of the methods and philosophies that were valuable to him as the student. "My philosophy is the same philosophy taught to me that to achieve proficiency in any of the martial arts, is to achieve proficiency in life. The two cannot be separated. Life is the way of the 'do' and Tae Kwon is the way of life. To this end, my goal as an instructor and that of Park's Tae Kwon Do Federation, is to offer the highest quality martial arts instruction that can benefit students who show a wide variety of fitness, aptitude, and athletic ability. This variety includes students from three years to 67 years of age; special children and learning disabled students. Ev'ery single student has made significant advances because the instructors care and the students know that.
"Most children today desperately need the self-confidence and self-control taught through Tae Kwon Do. lt is usual for a parent to call and ask if we think Tae Kwon Do will help their child (who may be getting into fights, be generally disrespectful of others, or maybe has a low self-esteem). I believe we can help these children and so does a study reported in "Psychology Today" which concluded that students with more than a year of martial arts are more socially intelligent, feel lower levels of anxiety, and have an increased sense of responsibility and self-esteem. The physical benefits of increased flexibility, better posture and reflexes, and stronger muscles are visibly apparent.
"Many instructors don't want to teach children. They may think of a class of all children as too young to learn or too uncontrollable to teach. Instructors need to open their minds to the value of their teaching to these children. Think of these children as seeds and your school is the garden. You plant the seeds and nourish them through the teaching of traditions, care and respect and with time, the student bears the fruit.
"Instructors in the martial arts have more power than they realize. As traditional martial arts instructors, they have the ultimate power to change the futures of students-the ability to alter a person's destiny. From this perspective, being an instructor is a position of great responsibility and leadership. That thought shouldn't be unnerving because a martial artist trained in the true tradition of Tae Kwon Do will have those abilities. Many instructors do not promote Tae Kwon Do as a way of life and I see this as a mistake. Not a mistake in the sense of a failure, but mistake in the sense of an oversight and it can be corrected. Teaching traditional Tae Kwon Do as a way of life will make the students better people and better people will make a better world. As masters and instructors we know, personally, what Tae Kwon Do has done for us. For many of us it has changed the direction of our lives; it has helped us harness the powers we have within us-physical powers such as agility, speed, coordination and mental powers such as control, discipline, humility and respect. These are the areas instructors should focus on to show that Tae Kwon Do is a total way of life-not just a workout once or twice a week. If the student perceives Tae Kwon Do as a way of life, as it should be, if they are taught its values and they are educated by example and by words, they should never drop out because that training becomes a life long journey as a way of life. For the student to recognize that an instructor can teach the whole experience is important. There are people my age just starting the Tae Kwon Do program, as well as the three year olds and senior citizens taking Tae Kwon Do for the first time. The great thing is that no matter what stage of life a person becomes a student, there are still benefits of the Tae Kwon Do experience to be had for that person. With the right knowledge and guidance, success in life can come at any age.
Unfortunately, today many instructors have egos that get in the way of their teaching. They want their students to be the toughest, the winners who bring home the trophies, they want this not because winning is a reflection of the student's ability and skill, but because the instructor can say I taught this student; I am responsible for the win; my school is the one to attend. This is the result of an instructor becoming self-centered and inflexible-they become too focused on themselves and when that happens, who suffers? The students are the losers because they are being cheated out of the total Tae Kwon Do experience. The impact of focusing only on producing champions could eventually be detrimental to the school. If the school focuses too much on competition, where does that leave the adult who wants to begin instruction? Or the child who might be less physically gifted than those who compete? Tournaments and competition do have a place in the teaching of Tae Kwon Do, but that shouldn't be the main focus of the school. The instructor should focus on the whole student; giving the student the tools to be a better person. The most often used word in an instructor's vocabulary should be 'you', not 'me'."
Instructors are the key to operations. Cheong Park sees the martial arts instructor as a composite of many professionals: counselor, psychologist, role model, disciplinarian, motivator and trainer. The instructor must be flexible and open. In the Park's Tae Kwon Do system, flexibility is a high priority for both students and instructors. Their federation demonstrates this belief by combining the modern and traditional elements of Tae Kwon Do. Not only have they developed their own in-house training system for instructors, but their instructor curriculum provides full certification in kup and dan certification, and for instructor seminars.
Cheong Park's role goes far beyond chief instructor at Park's Tae Kwon Do Federation. He remains actively involved in the development of The World Martial Arts Research Union (WMARU) including the continuing development of Park's Tae Kwon Do Federation. Today the Federation has nearly fifty schools and hundreds of affiliates throughout Europe, Mexico, South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, India and the Dominican Republic. To serve their member schools and affiliates, Cheong Park and his father, Grandmaster Park direct the focus of the WMARU to stimulate research, learning and growth in all serious minded and sincere martial artists, to promote the highest standards of the martial arts and to share knowledge. Members benefit through sharing in the results of modern scientific research and development including the knowledge of the traditional and ancient ways.
"Our members and affiliates l;>enefit in many other areas. We provide modem methods of business operations and management, and computer systems and software. I know that many instructors still have computer-phobia, but we have found that computers can be mastered, one step at a time. Think back to when you first started learning Tae Kwon Do. You learn it in steps, each step building upon the next. Just approach your weak areas in the same way, whether those areas are computers, management or operations. Computers can be a tremendous asset, I've found that out by working with many different software programs. I have found the most user friendly program to be Studio Manager by Savant Development. This software has proven to be very responsive to our needs.
"We make available to our member schools all the tools that have proven effective and led to the tremendous success of our own federation-curriculum planning, ways to motivate and provide incentives for students, and new methods of teaching. Additionally, we host seminars, training camps, referee clinics, business workshops and tournaments for our members and affiliates. No one is told that they have to operate the way we do, we just make the information and methods available, how a school implements this information is their decision.
"We do care that they teach properly and become true leaders in society and their community. A proper martial arts school can be a great asset to the community because of its willingness to get involved. For example, some hold events to raise money for charities, or donate services to the community."
Cheong Park strongly advocates that instructors concentrate on the total philosophy of Tae Kwon Do; when they fail to be successful it is likely to be because they did not focus on the total Tae Kwon Do philosophy. When he speaks of success, he is not referring to financial rewards, he is referring to the philosophical sense of success-achievement of goals, accomplishment of tasks and development of students who embrace Tae Kwon Do as a way of life. Where does success come from? For a true martial artist success comes not from luck, but from hard work and sincerity.
"I disagree with those instructors out there that think the key to a successful school is a slick business management system. A school must have organization. An operational business system is important, but it is not THE key-it is a part of the key. Unfortunately, many martial arts schools around the country are lacking in the type of knowledge they need for their business management and operations. Why? There are many reasons, but the main one is they have probably spent most of their lives training and doing what they do best, teaching. We must do the things we do best, and seek guidance in those areas we are not as strong in. This is the reason the WMARU and Park's Tae Kwon Do Federation have evolved to where they are today-we recognized this need to provide functional operations and business systems support for affiliate schools and that is one of the areas we have become strong in. My whole family has spent many years in studying, testing, trial and error, to develop the right formula for us and our affiliates.
"It is disturbing to know that so many well-trained and \vellintentiorll'd instructors just barely survive in today's Tae Kwon Do market. An instructor, with the right attitude and flexibility can conduct a school that properly promotes Tae Kwon Do and meets the financial needs of the instructor and his family. There alT tools available to th ...
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