
The Joy of Tae Kwon-Do
I was recently asked, “Master Gorino, when is it most fun for you to train? When is it the least fun?” I almost didn’t understand the question. The answer is simple: Tae Kwon-Do is always the most fun thing I do. The only way I can answer that person’s question is to [...]Read more

Blood, Sweat, & Bad Kimchi: On Tour with General Choi
The early days of Tae Kwon-Do were anything but glamorous. In the 1960’s, General Choi, widely considered the father of Tae Kwon-Do, took a team of 8-12 of his best men around the world to spread the word about the martial art. That team included great fighters like Ricky Ha and [...]Read more

Better Together: Families in TKD
Without question, one of the coolest parts of running a dojang is when a student and their loved ones earn black belts in the same ceremony. As is the case with anything, there are both positives and negatives to families training Tae Kwon-Do together. But the good vastly [...]Read more

Too Loud to Be Ignored: TKD in North America
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. One of my dear friends, Grand Master Francois Balet, was lifting weights at a YMCA in Canada one day back in the mid 60s. That booming sound stopped his workout dead in its tracks. He went to find out where the sound was coming from. What he [...]Read more

Colton: A True Success Story
It Changed His Life It was August of 2014. A few weeks before his sixth birthday, Colton started Tae Kwon-Do at Master Gorino’s. We had no idea how important that moment would be. Colton suffered from ADD. He had speech and reading issues as well as a learning disability. We were [...]Read more

The SWAT Team – Special Winning Attitude Teens
Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, I had a baby. No, Charlie didn’t get a new brother or sister. And my wife Tica felt no pain at all. This was my baby. I birthed it myself. And I named it SWAT. SWAT stands for Special Winning Attitude Teens. It is a group of [...]Read more