WHY THE AMERICAN TAEKWONDO ASSOCIATION'S TOURNAMENTS ARE THE PLACE TO BE!

The martial arts are bifurcated. A significant percentage of our community loves competition, while probably a similar portion has no interest. If you’re a tournament lover, read on to learn about a unique circuit you might want to join. If you’re a tournament hater, you’ll want to read on, too — you just might change your mind afterward.

- ROBERT W. YOUNG

Although martial arts schools licensed under the American Taekwondo Association are independently owned and operated, most encourage students to compete, and it’s for one simple reason. “We have found statistically that people who actively compete tend to stay in our program a whole lot longer,” says Chief Master Mark Sustaire, a member of the ATA’s Tournament Council. The longer they stay, the more chances they have to learn self-defense skills and crucial life lessons, of course.

“Competition teaches a lot of life skills about confidence and self-control,” says Chief Master Betsy Stevens, International Chairman of Tournaments for the ATA. “There’s also a special benefit for teenagers. Teenagers want to be a part of a group. They want to be a part of the team.

“But a lot of martial arts instructors lose teenagers — the 13- to 17-year-olds — because when they get to high school, they want to be a part of something, whether it’s the chess club or the tennis team or the drama club. It’s not because they’re so interested in that; it’s because it creates a ready-made group of friends they can hang with. Our tournaments create that atmosphere of being a part of a group.”