Childhood Obesity and my own

For the rest of my life, I want to be fit.  I want to be the grandpa that the kids can't keep up with.  If I can stay away from injuries then I think I could do just that.  Well, I feel like I'm already pretty fit but I want to keep challenging myself with new things.  A lot of people just want to get in shape or make a little change to help them become a little healthier.

With our ATA fitness challenge, it seems like a no-brainer to just look at the foods you eat and make sure you get enough of what you need.  I read a beach-body newsletter that listed a bunch of foods that they say can make you smarter.  Well, at least it's a tasty way to change up your diet!  The real challenge, is how to put these "smart foods" into recipes that kids will like... be creative, go for it!

I already have 3 of my favorite ingredients on the list:  Spinach, Oatmeal, and Eggs.  In fact, my favorite breakfast that I've ever had was:  1)  A 3-egg omelet with spinach, onions, and tomatoes in it  and 2) 1 cup of oatmeal with brown sugar and pomegranate seeds mixed it, strawberries and french vanilla yogurt on top with cinnamon sprinkled on top of it

Check out the article by clicking here -->  Smart Foods Newsletter!

Also, RSVP for our END OF THE YEAR WORKOUT tomorrow at Noon.  You can say you're coming on Facebook, comment on this post, or email me! Facebook Event - End of the Year Workout

30 Day Challenge and the End of the Year Workout!

Not to keep talking about the same thing but... we have the 30 day fitness challenge and why haven't you commited yet??  It's not THAT hard to change a few things about your diet, lifestyle, and exercise habits, is it?  Whether you want to get a good workout or have a good jump-off point for your 30-day challenge, the End of the Year workout is an awesome time. 

Bring your friends, family members, and people you just met to ATA Elkton for the most fun workout for your family all year! This buddy-style class will be so awesome, you will be talking about it until 2011!  We're going to have a one-hour class that is a low-intensity, fun workout. We'll do kickboxing drills, body weight exercises that everyone can do, and self defense skills! Participants in the past have said this was one of the best ways to kick off their New Years Eve celebration!

I know, I know, it's a blog and I'm supposed to say something to make you cry or think, but sometimes actions are louder than words.  So here is my imaginary punch-in-the-arm to you saying, "Come work out with us, what are you waiting for!?"  RSVP NOW! 

P.S. It's free for the community, just RSVP

Passion - Why I do it

I want to tell you about my best friend for 12 years.  I'm an only child and he's the brother I never had.  It was an awesome friendship, "Hey man, I gotta go to pay my insurance, wanna come?" "Yeah, I'll be ready in 15 minutes."  We did everything together.  On his birthday, my mom include him in our big family dinner.  When I could drive we would go out to eat for his birthday.  We didn't have any bills so we could go anywhere we wanted.  When we turned 21, we would go out to eat and then have drinks afterwards. 

When I graduated, I dug in deep to martial arts. I eat, slept, and breathed martial arts. Everything martial arts.   Even though we were both busy with our lives, we still tried to get together when we could.  It wasn't as much as when we were in school but it was always fun.  My mom would still include him in our family birthday dinners and we would still go out for his birthday.  I wouldn't talk to him for months and then out of the blue I'd get a phone call and it would be like there had been no time lost.

Last year was awesome.  After I finished working out at the school, we went to dinner then went to a bar in Elkton.  It was a really fun time, we signed up to sing karaoke but the machine broke.  The DJ put on a Jay-Z song and we both jumped on stage and started singing it without the karaoke machine telling the words.  After that, we went to Denny's, ate and hung out til about 3am.  

This summer, I lost my best friend Jake to a drug overdose.  His family found him in his basement.  When Sam called me at the school, I was shocked and thought it was a joke.  She was freaking out and neither one of us knew what to do, who to call.  His viewing was one of the toughest times in my life.  Sometimes I leave the school and it still feels like a "should call Jake tonight" night.  Today is his birthday and I am going to stay busy, get work done, and at the end of the night go have one shot of Jack Daniels like we've done for the last 4 years.

This makes me think about why I teach martial arts.  It was there when I needed it and I would work out when I needed to get through a tough time.  Not only is it there but it taught me the no-quit attitude - I have to succeed.  I have to make all of this work.  I have to do it for Jake and everyone else that believes or believed in me and for everyone that's counting on me.  I'm also going to do it for the ones that told me not to become the owner of a martial arts school and I should focus on something else, because we know that success shall be the best revenge.

So this one is for you Jake - this kick, this punch, this block, this class, this cycle, this year,

The 30 Day Challenge!

At ATA Martial Arts, we feel that fitness should be a way of life. We want to encourage a lifestyle that promotes good health and longevity.  Our program will implement strategies on improving diet, lifestyle, and exercise. Here is your 30 day mission:

Diet: 1) Eat 5 fruits or vegetables, each one a different color per day. 2) Make 30% of your produce ORGANIC and/or LOCAL (grown within 100 miles). 3) Eat at least 3 balanced meals a day. 4) Drink no more than two 8 oz servings of coffee or soda per day (EVEN IF ITS DIET)


Lifestyle: 1) Sleep between 6 and 8 hours per day (naps are awesome!). 2) Watch no more than 2 hours of TV per day (including video games).

Exercise: 1) Exercise at least 3 days per week. 2) Stretch for 10 minutes once a day (best if done after a workout or walk).

Are you ready for the challenge? Anyone who commits to this 30-Day challenge will also get to take ATAfit class for free for a month (from when you start your challenge).

It's Winter... uhg!

I hate when the weather changes!  I feel all down and slow and not like myself.  I lose my temper faster and I think my creativity goes with it.  I researched today some things that will help to make the winter much happier for continued exercise and fitness.

This blog entry is about how you can fight SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), which is pretty cool.  It just helps you function better when you don't get to see sunshine as much.
SAD Article

This next one is about what to eat after you work out.  It's pretty cool because it kind of ties in with the last entry to make sure we are all reaching our goals during the year end/ beginning.
Post Exercise Fuel Article

My tips for all of these are:  try to take advantage of the classes at noon when the sun is super bright and the classes on Saturday too.  That way you aren't always working out in the dark and in artificial light!

Marketing for the Bully Defense Seminar

Today I spent about 4 hours working on the press release and sending it out to every media entity I could.  We are on a bunch of websites, I sent it to the newspapers nearby, and to some radio stations too.  I'm really happy to teach this one because I feel like if kids are taught the skills necessary and words to say in a bully encounter, they will be stronger people.  They will be able to have more courage at school to stand up for themselves, raise their hand when a teacher asks a question, and tons of other things. 

My goal is to have as many people attend the seminar as possible, but it's really challenging.  A lot of people may not have a current bully issue but having these skills will help kids deal with it if it ever does.  For most of us, bullying happens at one time or another in our lives.  Sometimes it happens when you're really young, a teen, or even an adult. 

Anyone who's coming to the seminar, make sure you invite your friends or bring one of your friend's children with you.  Our limit is 50 kids so we need to get RSVPs quick!  We'll have some pics and updates for it as soon as we're done on Saturday afternoon!

Muscle Building and Work out Tips!

I've been really focused on coming up with some new drills for classes and for my own training too.  Tonight I got a Men's Health email that I found really interesting.  Check it out, it's about the 7 things that can sabotage your workouts and muscle building efforts!  Just click on the sentence below.

Men's Health Tips

Dedication Camp: A Hyper Training Event

Today the kids came in to work on their skills and learn about Dedication!

They worked on basic kicks like Side Kick, Round Kick, Skip Front Kick, and Shuffle Axe.  Then we worked on more advanced kicks like Pop 360 Round Kick, Tornado kick (and Tornado Touchdown), Spin Hook Kick (and Autobahn), and Butterfly kick.

At the end, some students put their kicks into combination and the other group of kids worked on the next level of butterfly kick:  The butterfly twist. It was really cool because Barry got better at his Butterfly kick, Cody learned what a B-Twist should be, and Angus actually landed a B-Twist with me spotting.

Everyone seemed to have a great time and my favorite part was when they filled out their goals sheets on the back of their posters.  I love camps like this!

-Mr. Hayhurst

Jahng Bong Training Video #1

Last week some of my students and I worked out a few segments of the Jahng Bong Form. I thought it would be cool to actually have a training video on the different sections the way that I teach it at ATA Elkton. So here's the link to the videos, I hope everyone gets a chance to see it if they train with the Jahng Bong/ Bo Staff. Comment and let me know what you think!

CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE LINK!

Combat Wrestling Instructor Certification

This weekend I went up to Mr. Stuart's Martial Arts.  It's an awesome martial arts training facility and he focuses on extreme physical fitness and reality self-defense.  His website is MrStuartsMartialArts.com and it's definitely the place to go if you're a police officer or in the military or you just want to learn life or death self-defense!

So, Mr. Stuart's school hosted a instructor certification in Combat Wrestling which is a supplement to his reality self-defense curriculum to be able to deal with wrestlers.  It was an 18 hour long course with techniques to master and at the end it certified one to teach it.  We didn't do a lot of conditioning with push-ups and stuff like that because the techniques took so much out of us that the coach didn't need to add it in.

The Coach was John Clarke.  He owns a martial arts school in Florida and is a police officer and SWAT team member in addition to a Pro-MMA fighter!  A lot of times the champions aren't good instructors, they just know how to beat people up, but Coach Clarke was an awesome instructor and really inspired us to train hard.  It was a really good time and I was happy to be able to bring back more tricks for the MMA class at ATA Elkton to use.  Check out John Clarke's school/ blog http://haganaheast.com/

Coach John Clarke and Josh Hayhurst

XMA Class Demo Team Training

Today our Creative/ Extreme Class learned and performed as a team. They charged up all their energy and did the strongest punch that they could!

***But that wasn't enough...

They had to prepare for it!

***But that wasn't enough...

When they were done they had to follow through by "finishing it!"

***But that wasn't enough...

One charge up... let's double it, no, triple it. One punch... let's triple that too! Finish strong, triple it. Then they can celebrate... Oh yea! Woo!!

The students learned to follow through... you know? Do what's required, plus a little more. In martial arts its like this: I tell you to do three yells, you do 4. I say to do 1 punch, give me 2. At school, you are supposed to find 2 things to support your argument for your paper, shock the teacher by finding three! At home, your mom asks you to clean your room, you do that, then start your laundry... awesome, right!

We teach kids to be leaders at ATA Elkton.

***But that wasn't enough for me, I recorded it, check out the video by clicking the link below!

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO!

ATA Underground!

Lots of crazy things happen at ATA Elkton after all the classes are over. We get exciting visitors like dirty truck drivers looking for the warehouses that they just passed and old friends we haven't seen in forever that drop by and leave mud all over the place, thanks Mario!!

Anyway, one thing that happens almost every night is we work out. It's not just a lackadaisical training session, it's like 10 minutes of madness, then we go home. Pretty fun! Val Wallace-Holubyckyj hasn't worked out since Sunday so I gave her my little complex circuit. She loved it! Here's the picture, followed by our no-rest-til-your-done-drill:

30 seconds of push-ups with dumbbell, 10 "facebusters," 10 bent-over rows, 10 squats, as many curls as you can do (stop at 10), mountain climbers for 30 seconds, hold plank with 1 leg up for 12 seconds, switch legs 12 seconds, 5 push-ups, 15 scap push-ups, as many sub-scap rotations as you can do. Rest for like 2 minutes and do it again... 3rd time is the best one so far!

Record tonight was the whole set in 3 minutes, 29 seconds!

Crazy Weekend!

This weekend Mr. Morgan invited me down to Washington D.C. to help support Hyper Martial Arts. It was a lot of fun because I got to talk to people about Hyper, which is short for "High Performance" and it's goal to give recognition to youth martial arts and martial arts athletes everywhere. It was really cool and I had a great time meeting new people and hanging out with Mr. Morgan


On Friday, we had a big Bully Defense seminar. My students invited a bunch of their friends and everyone learned the best ways to deal with bullies and how to become a better person, a champion for life. I really like teaching these seminars because bullying is something that affects a lot of kids and even teens and adults. If we can touch the lives of kids that feel like they can't do anything about bullies and teach them how to deal, I would feel so proud. I'm on a mission now to teach this course to as many kids in Cecil County as possible. I'm doing a mass bully defense course for all the kids at the Boys & Girls clubs in Cecil County next month too!


Saturday, Mike Chat came to New Jersey and 7 ATA Elkton members went up to train with him. That's pretty impressive because we all came from about 2-1/2 hours away. Training with Mr. Chat is so worth it because he's trained some awesome martial artists over the years. Taylor Lautner and Boo Boo Smith from the Twilight series trained in XMA with him, Jaden Smith prepared for The Karate Kid with Mr. Chat, and Noah Ringer became famous for the XMA training he got at his martial arts school in Texas. He was super inspiring and the class was really fun. We learned what it was like to go up a level and to perform at "Level 10" all the time! Really cool

Update this thing already!

I just noticed that I haven't updated this blog in over a month! Wow! I can't believe I've let it slip. I guess I've been focusing on our Facebook accounts a little more than usual lately. Well, we've had our August testing which was awesome! After that, ATA Elkton hosted a tournament at Elkton High School on October 2nd! Then we had our Belt Promotions on October 15th and 16th with a bunch of people earning their 1st and 2nd degree black belts, opening space for a few new students to be ready to earn their next ranks in December!

Over the past 2 months I've been working hard to schedule a bunch of classes as a representative of Personal Achievement Academy. I, as an instructor from ATA Martial Arts, offer my skills to help teach kids about bullying, safety skills, and how to really become a champion. From the past few weeks, I really see some kids try harder with me than they do with their regular teachers, it's truly amazing.

Here's my upcoming schedule for the next couple weeks (and still adding things):
1. Just finished teaching abut 50 kids at Cecilton Elementary as PE Teacher of the Day
2. Thursday 10/21- Cecilton Elementary PE Teacher of the Day
3. Friday 10/22- Cecil Elementary PE Teacher of the Day
4. Saturday 10/23- Kid's safety Mass Introductory Lesson with beginners and kids from Cecilton Elementary @ ATA Elkton
5. Wednesday 10/27- meeting with the director of the Boys & Girls clubs in Cecil County to see what we can do to enhance the kid's abilities at the 3 locations
6. Friday 10/29- Bully Defense lesson at the Boys & Girls Club in Charlestown, MD
7. Thursday 11/4- Child Safety Seminar for Hollingsworth Manor in Elkton, MD
8. Saturday 11/6- Bully Defense Course for kids at YMCA in Perryville, MD
9. Monday 10/8- Bully Defense Course for families and staff members at Tendercare Learning Centers
10. Friday 10/12- Bully Defense Course for families and members of ATA Elkton (at ATA)

Wow, it didn't seem like a lot until I listed it out here. I guess a planner is a little deceiving. This is going to be worth it because I believe that if every kid had at least a little martial arts training, then their lives will be better and I'm going to help positively effect my community and make it better.

Success Course for A+ Grades

Our first ever POWER EVENT at ATA Elkton will be on September 18th. I haven't posted in this blog for a while because I've been working to prepare for the Regional Tournament in Maryland and the Success Course for A+ Grades.

The Success Course for A+ Grades is a fun interactive workshop for parents and kids to attend. During the course, attendees get tips for achieving success in school and in life while also learning important exercises and self-defense techniques for a healthy lifestyle.

Knowing how to protect yourself gives you self-confidence. When you combine self-confidence and self-defense, it removes fear from your life. It gives you the ability to accomplish things you didn't think you could do.

Let's help our kids in Elkton get better grades and improve self esteem!

Weapons Summer Camp

Weapons summer camp is going great! The Bo Staff group is already on the intermediate level and the Ssahng Jeol Bong (Nunchucks) groups have learned the form using one weapon and today, just finished learning the form with two! Way to go guys!

TEST YOUR POWERRR!!!!

Last weekend we did the TEST YOUR POWER board breaking class! It was a lot of fun and was the first time that we tried out some of the really cool board breaking drills.

All the students did a great job and broke a ton of wooden boards too! 1 brick was broken by Mr. Gramlich... it was really exciting!

Also, we raised $95 for the Leukemia Foundation... thanks everyone!

XMA Camp Day 4

What an awesome day! We are 3/4 of the way through our demo team form and the kids are learning some pretty sweet moves! Here's a video of our top 3 XMA competitors that are taking camp. The pad holder is Angus, Cody is doing a backside 900, and Ty's got some crazy trick combo he's runnin the floor with.

XMA Camp

This week is XMA summer camp! The kids are doing a great job learning new skills and perfecting the ones they already know! Some of the kids are doing XMA for the first time this week and they are doing great! The kids that have done XMA before are working on their leadership skills as they coach the other kids on their combos, forms, and techniques!
I really saw an improvement in how some kids became more outgoing and spoke louder in front of the crowd. In some cases, I saw that confidence in technique improved... the kicks were stretched out longer, the jumps were higher, and they really slammed those targets hard.

Summer Pro Shop Sale!!

From July 12- 17 all items in the ATA Pro shop will be discounted! This week's specials are:

All XMA Performance apparel that is In Stock is 50% off!
XR1 Performance Kick Pant- Was: $79.99 Now: $39.99
XR1 Performance Top- Was: $119.99 Now: $59.99
XMA Performance Bladed Long Sleeve Shirt- Was: $39.99 Now: $19.99
XMA Quick Release Belt- Was: $9.99 Now: $4.99

Also Available:
All XMA Traditional Uniforms- 50% off
Prices range from 000- 6
Extreme Training DVDs (weapons training)- Save $2!
All Hats and Tshirts in the Pro Shop- 50% off!

SHARP Seminar

This afternoon, 16 women from our community came to participate in our SHARP Seminar. In case you didn't know, SHARP stands for Sexual Harassment, Assault, and Rape Prevention. It is a self defense seminar that discusses the science of self defense with practical and efficient techniques that anyone can do.
SHARP is a great foundation for self defense. A SHARP graduate will be better prepared after training in martial arts. It is always great to see people from all walks of life taking there shoes off and getting on the mat! The ages ranged from daughters to grandparents!
To top it all off... Mrs. Hayhurst came out to kick some butt! After 11 years my mom is at ATA doing round kicks! So to all those moms out there: come out and train with your kids now that you have a great instructor and don't wait until your kid is a 4th degree black belt martial arts school owner! You're awesome mom!

Can you say EXPLOSIVE! Rescheduled

Our action-packed workout will be rescheduled for a few months from now, the day shall be decided as soon as we have it set. There are a lot of events this fall so we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to participate.

The Last Airbender Buddy Class

This weekend was very exciting! A bunch of our "karate kids" brought in their friends to take class with them, themed for Avatar: The Last Airbender. Students learned about the 4 Chinese martial arts that each element in the TV show was based on. From the reactions of the kids and parents, it was an awesome class. I lost my voice by the end but so did most of the kids... the were intense! I love to see everyone bringing in their friends to take class with them, it truly is a complement for you to share what we teach with your friends! After the seminar I realized that if I had more kids just like the ones that are currently training, we would have some awesome martial arts athletes!

Check out the pictures from the event by CLICKING RIGHT HERE

This Week at ATA!

This week we are open! There are future champions in Arkansas competing at Worlds and we have to cheer them on from home. Facebook is a great way to show your support, post something on their wall or send them a good luck message! You can find all of the competitors as my friends on my facebook page: Facebook.com/MrHayhurst. Top Ten competition is the most elite competitors and that is on Thursday and Friday. Then, the Juniors Competiion and Adult weapons competetition is on Saturday. On Sunday, the Adults finish up the tournament with their divisions. It is a very exciting time and, from what I've heard, the most exciting thing to happen to Little Rock, Arkansas since Bill Clinton. Put it in your calendar to go next year, I sure will!

If you haven't done so already, make sure you become my friend on facebook and also, "Like" ATA Martial Arts in Elkton, MD. The more friends we have, the better!

The Last Airbender

I am so excited for this movie! To quote a wise man, "if the kids love it, it's gotta be good." So I gave the cartoon a shot. The Nicktoon channel has been playing marathons of Avatar: The Last Airbender almost non-stop every weekend. The show is pretty entertaining. It's got a great story but most of the themes are based upon old martial arts traditions and character development like perseverance, trust, and courage. Every episode has an epic fight sequence with the main martial art being kung fu, so powerful that their kung fu moves can move the ground, create tornados or typhoons, and create huge fireballs.

So from a series of books came the cartoon and from the cartoon came the new movie The Last Airbender directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is live action and the coolest part, the main character is an ATA kid from Texas! So make sure you check it out and come to our Last Airbender buddy class! We'll learn self defense, learn the martial arts that each of the elements were based on -Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind- and of course, have an awesome and fun class!

Here's the latest trailer from Youtube of the movie:

Belt Promotions

We had a great showing at our 3rd Belt Promotions of 2010. We had 4 students test to 3rd Degree Black Belt, 1 student test to 2nd Degree Black Belt, and 3 students test to 1st Degree Black Belt. It was really exciting to see all of those kids work really hard over the past 2 months to prepare and really achieve what they focused their mind to. Congrats to all the new black belts!

Also, Saturday June 19th marked the 1 year anniversary of Elkton Karate as ATA Martial Arts! I want to thank everyone for your support, dedication, and enthusiasm for martial arts over the past year and more. It truly is my dream to be an instructor at a martial arts school where all the students are overachieving and above average. My students, parents, and instructors truly make my dream a reality every day.

Combat Fitness at Max Muscle

Today was the hardest workout of my life, brought to me by Mike Lee Kanarek. He is the founder of the reality self defense system called Haganah and the other subdivisions. One of them is called F.I.G.H.T. (fierce Israeli guerrilla hand-to-hand tactics) which is hand-to-hand combat, gun threats and disarms, how to deal with a knife attack or threat, and also how to survive a fight when it hits the ground. Others include how to fight with knifes and tactical firearm shooting. While I've only dipped in the shallow end of the FIGHT system, one thing that MLK offers is a workout called Combat Fitness.

Combat Fitness he says is the "ammo" to your arsenal of fighting. Whatever your style of martial arts is, you need to have the stamina and endurance to last in a fight and Combat Fitness is the answer. The goal of the workout is to reach that threshold of endurance right before you actually pass out or faint. Well, I made it there. It was during the last 5 minutes of the workout that I really had to push and make it through. It was extremely challenging and I loved it.

You might be seeing Combat Fitness at ATA Elkton soon but for now, come and try our ATAfit class. I'd like to thank Ms. Holubyckyj for coming with me and lasting the whole workout too! She got to "Roar with the Lions!!"

Karate Kid Bully Defense Class

In the theme of the new Karate Kid movie, students and their buddies learned how to deal with bullies and defend themselves if anyone tries to hurt, hit, or grab them. Students and their buddies also learned the negative effects that being a bully has on a kid. We did some of the techniques and exercises that the main characters from the Karate Kid movies used when training (catching a fly with chopsticks and other fun games). What a great class!

Memorial Day Camp

We had such a great turn out for the Memorial Day camp. The students practiced basics, worked on speed and power drills, and then got time to free spar against people bigger than them, smaller, and the same size. It was a taste of how awesome our summer camps are going to be this year. We've really got some awesome future world champions training here!

Vince Johnson at ATA West Chester!

Some of our dedicated XMA-ers spend 4 hours training with an awesome instructor, Vince Johnson. We went to Mr. Jouan and Ms. Boulden's ATA school in West Chester, PA. A lot of the people at the seminar were beginners but some were intermediate and advanced too. ATA Elkton was well represented by Cody McDaniel and Ty Moyer accompanying Mr. Hayhurst for the camp. Ty is awesome with his Tricks (which are the high-flying martial arts moves that cna be added into forms or done in combinations) and used the seminar to make his better. Cody is new to tricking and did a private lesson with Mr. Johnson afterwards. Cody went from spinning 360 with his kicks to almossstttt being able to spin 900 and do a kick

For anyone who doesn't know, tricking is what makes martial arts athletes the best. Someone once said, "My friend can skateboard and jump off a ramp and do a 720 spin." I said, "well my 10 year old student can do that too, but he does a hook kick before he hits the ground and hits a target 6 feet in the air." Tricking is special because it seems like the athletes truly defy gravity. Check out our Youtube page: ATAELKTON

Ssahng Nat/ Kama Seminar

ATA Elkton students who were beginner and advanced that wanted to learn how to perform with the Kamas had a great time at the Kama seminar today! They learned rolls, chops, punches, and some other cool moves. We put them into different combinations and then learned that we can put the combos together to make a form that can be used to show off to our friends and compete in tournaments! At the end, we had a team battle (Team Hayhurst definitely beat Team Fox though :) Check out the picture!!

The Teachers Only Class

Today we had about 4 teachers come and take class at ATA. They learned 3 self defense moves based on the grab. It was a great opportunity for our SWAT and Instructor Leaders to work on their teaching skills with new people. We will hold another teachers-only class for any teachers that missed the first one. Check out the picture!

Cleaning and Updating

ATA Elkton is coming up on its 4 year anniversary and its time that we update a few things. This weekend, the Hayhurst family started the huge ultra-cleaning process by stacking up the red and black Zebra Mats. We scrubbed the concrete floor underneath and steam cleaned the mats individually and scrubbed the bottoms before lining them back up. The dots on the floor have been removed to make room for an updated design. We take pride in our awesome martial arts school. There is so much space to work out on and the mats are top of the line. Before the end of the summer, the walls will be painted and some of the posters and decals will be updated.

Cecilton Fun and Fitness Day CANCELLED!

We were supposed to be in charge of the ATA station at Cecilton Elementary School's Fun & Fitness Day today but it got rained out! That's ok, if there are any moms or kids out there with friends that go to Cecilton Elementary we'll give them a free uniform and 2 week trial since we couldn't make it down today!

Mother's Day classes!

Today was our 9th annual Mother's Day classes! We had a lot of moms come out on the floor and train with their kids. We did a light workout, basic Taekwondo techniques, self defense, and positive coaching drills that parents can use to make training at home more pleasurable. We even had moms do the ABCs of Praise! Thank you to all the moms that participated today, you are awesome! I want to give out a special thanks to Martin's in Rising Sun for donating a $10 gift card to our Mother's Day classes moms and giving us a discount on all of the flowers and water for today's event.

Next week, any mom that comes to the ATAfit class on Monday and Wednesday will be entered in a drawing to win movie tickets just in time for the new Shrek Movie!!

Dolce Restaurant & Pizzeria

Today is May 1st! Any ATA students and family members that go down the street to 175 Fletchwood road in Elkton to visit our friends at Dolce Restaurant & Pizzeria will receive 10% off of their breakfast check and 15% off of their lunch or dinner!

Also, I heard that my friend Wayne Gonce will be there performing today! He's an amazing magician and is getting ready for a big show at Elkton High School in July before he makes his big move out to California.

Monmouth, NJ XMA Camp

Cody McDaniel and Ty Moyer went to Monmouth, NJ today to take class with some of the best XMA instructors in the world. Events like this help students become better, they see how big our organization is, and of course, meet new kids. It is a sign of leadership when kids take initiative to further their training by cross training with other instructors! You two are awesome leaders!

Regional Tournament

This weekend some of our students went up to Lincroft, NJ to compete and judge at the latest Regional Tournament. There were divisions of Tiny Tigers, Black Belts, Adults, and Extreme Martial Arts. The competition was exciting as our students got the last remaining points available towards earning State or World Champion.

Something new at this tournament was The Hyper Games. It was a "tricking" battle where martial arts athletes link together their favorite techniques in quick little combinations in a bracket-type competition. All the winners in the Creative and XMA and Hyper Game events all won a Hyper Tshirt. Hyper is a new label focusing on the sport martial art lifestyle. Something new that I learned was the double H logo that Hyper Martial Arts uses is a symbol for the ladder of success. Very inspiring.

Congrats everyone who competed this weekend! Also, I feel as if the students and instructors who didn't compete have been inspired to compete at the next regional that will be held in Long Island, NY in August. See you there!

Belt Promotions Day #2

We had such an awesome promotions!! I'm starting to feel like what I've been saying after promotions, "That was the best they've ever performed," is getting old and now I feel so excited when it's time for promotions. I know all the students that are testing are going to shock and amaze me at how awesome they've become. Every time they come out everyone improves so much. It's unbelievable. I wanted to share 3 pictures with everyone on the blog, which are below. More pictures will come as I get them from awesome Moms and Dads that send them to me. P.S. Send me pics!
The New First Degree Black Belts! From Left to Right: Dev Manekporia, Sage Fox, Father Stanislao Esposito, Alexis Phelps, Josh Hayhurst
New Second Degree Black Belt!! From Left to Right: Dev Manekporia, Sage Fox, Luke Bhan, Josh Hayhurst
The Current Student of the cycle! From Left to Right: Dev Manekporia, Sage Fox, Dalton Shanahan, Ann Stanley, Cody McDaniel, Josh Hayhurst

Belt Promotions Day #1

We had an exciting first day of Belt Promotions for our Color Belts. Everyone was impressed by the confidence in our Tiny Tigers, the Intensity in our Kids, and the power from our adults. In my opinion, the ATA Maryland Demo Team performed better than they've ever performed before. A lot of parents only began a few months ago after telling me and my staff, "Noooo I don't think so, it's not for me." Now they are testing, competing, and leading by example... especially in their own family. I'm really proud of everyone that succeed this promotion cycle. There were a ton of parents that took pictures and as I get those pictures, I'll be sure to post them to Flickr and a few onto our blog.

I'll see everyone tomorrow night for Black Belt Promotions at 5:30 and good luck at the tournament on Saturday!

Kidz 'n Power at Healthy Kids Day!

We had a big group of students today for the annual Healthy Kids Day at YMCAs across the country. We volunteered our time to host a free Kidz 'n Power seminar for the kids and parents in the Elkton community. If you've never done a Kidz 'n Power seminar before, visit www.ATAsafe.com to find the closest ATA school near you and get registered for the next event! At the bottom is a quick promo video of Kidz 'n Power, featuring Sgt. Safety.

I want to thank all of the ATA Elkton students that came to participate, you are awesome!

SGT. SAFETY AND KIDZ 'N POWER PROMO VIDEO

Inner School Tournament!

This weekend we had our Inner School Tournament. It was an awesome event for the kids, teens, and adults. We had about 50 competitors and a record number of White, Orange, and Yellow belt competitors! Our students learned about "spirit" and how important that it is to cheer other competitors on. They also learned what it takes to perform in front of a group. Some of the best students at ATA Elkton are motivated by competition and the saying is true, "Pressure makes diamonds." We took a bunch of pictures of the kids in the morning and the adults later in the afternoon. The most exciting event was the Creative Division and Mrs. McDaniel's form. She was "warning me" all week that she had a surprise for us! Check out our Flikr.com page for all of the pictures! Some of the students were competing for the first time this weekend which is great because trying new things is a great way to develop confidence! Keep up the great work! Hopefully this tournament was the first of many.

TKD in the Park!!

Today was Taekwondo in the Park! We had great classes all day learning about some of the traditions of Taekwondo that have to do with being outside. The students did Songahm 1, the first form created in the Songahm style of Taekwondo. We learned that traditionally forms are done starting facing east to catch the first glimpse of the sun in the morning. Make sure you check out our flickr account to check out more pictures as we receive them from the parents!


I want to thank everyone for coming out to class! Even though our weather man or woman said it was going to be Sunny and 80 degrees, it was more like dim, foggy, and about 55. Thank you to Mr. Seal for setting up our event and teaching an awesome Tigers class! Thank you for being a guest instructor Mr. Morgan! I hope everyone had a great time, let me know if you would interested in having classes out there a little later in the summer too!

Karate Photo Day

We were happy to invite Jason and Katie from PhotoKicks in to take action shots of most of the students at ATA Elkton! They are definitely experts in what they do. We saw the outcomes of our hard work in class after seeing the stills of all those sweet jump front kicks and XMA attitude shots! This year, we set an ATA Elkton record and will have 87 students on our 2010 poster! I can't wait for it to arrive!

First ever ATA Elkton Confidence Course

Today was an incredible day! We had 10 students come in for a special class called the Confidence Course. It was a great community event. The instructors talked about different ways our Martial Arts techniques, when used, show confidence! What a great seminar, I wish we had more pictures! Visit Flikr.com/ataelkton for the pics!

Also, Congratulations to Leigh Samios-Uy, Quinn Stoops, Victoria Frank, Robin Frank, Chris Frank, and Billy Frank for enrolling at ATA Elkton today. You and your families have taken the first step to becoming Black Belts!

ATA Elkton's first post!

We had a Blogspot before and we kind of abandoned it. This is the first post for the official ATA Elkton Blogspot! Since the beginning of 2010 we've had a ton of events! Check them out:

1. Bring a buddy to class week January 4-7
2. Sports Fitness and Combat Conditioning Seminar January 10
3. New Year, New You Adult fitness classes January 11-14
4. ATA Maryland Demo Team performed at The Tome School January 15
5. The Good Fight Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament in Baltimore, MD January 16
6. Regional Tournament in Lincroft, NJ February 6
7. Tournament Prep Seminar February 13
8. President's Day Camp February 15
9. Belt Promotions February 19-20
10. Old Gear Buy Back February 22-27
11. F.I.G.H.T. Seminar with Haganah founder Mike Lee Kanarek March 7
12. Quest for the perfect kick seminar March 13
13. Jahng Bong Seminar March 20
14. Regional Tournament in Pittsburgh, PA March 20

Wow! We are full of events at ATA Elkton. Don't forget to comment and share your pictures on our Facebook page! In addition to our new Blogspot, we've also created a Flickr account! Click on the different links below to check it out to see some of the pictures we've added!

FLICKR.COM/ATAelkton
FACEBOOK.COM/ata.maryland

If you find yourself in any of the pictures and you'd rather not, let us know and we'll remove it right away!