Tae Kwon-Do’s Impact on Parenting
What do you as a parent want for your child? Some basics might be: To be respectful and kind to themselves and to others. To be in control of their mind and their body. To do the right thing even if they could get away with cutting the corner. To see things through, especially [...]Read more
At some point, you need to be better than someone else.
When I taught in a public school system in a low socio-economic area, I noticed a disturbing trend. Very often, students would be passed onto the next grade with no concern for their grades or their mastery of basic, necessary skills. It was simply to move them on and move them [...]Read more
What Trumpet Lessons Taught Me About Leadership
A while back, before Tae Kwon-Do entered my life, I had a trumpet teacher named Carmine Caruso. He was from New York City, and I used to go there to study with him. I remember walking into the room during my first lesson with him. Sitting in this room were some of my all-time [...]Read more
How Getting Yelled at Actually Relieves Stress
This might sound weird, but I believe that getting yelled at and being told what to do for an hour can actually relieve stress. At our dojang, we get a lot of people who have high-powered or high-stress jobs. They love training here because, for that hour, they don’t have to [...]Read more
The Three Contact Rule
Jack is a really nice kid, but he’s also a bit of a politician. Sometimes, when confronted, Jack thinks he can skirt the issue, so to speak, as to why he obviously didn’t practice that week. He is not a bad kid, though, he’s just distracted and needs to be re-engaged. [...]Read more
The Best Decision I Ever Made: Instructor Costello’s Story
Joining Master Gorino’s school in 2001 was the best decision I ever made. I had always been interested in learning self-defense. Training at Master Gorino’s has certainly heightened my awareness and helped me feel safer, but there are so many other benefits that I’ve [...]Read more