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!