Contact Us

E-mail: carotha at gmail dot com

Find us on Facebook: McMinnville Taekwondo


We are currently closed until further notice. Our school survived the first wave of the pandemic but not the second.


Site Guide:

To use this blog: there is a list of keywords from past articles in the sidebar on the right side of the page. Key words are supposed to refer to article content, so that you can find what you're looking for. For example, you want to learn more about tournaments. Scan down the list of posts in the sidebar until you find pages referring to tournaments.

There is also a "Blog Archive" where posts are listed by date. If you click on the date (and keep clicking if necessary), you'll see the actual titles of the posts. This may be a better way to find the articles you are interested in.

In the sidebar, you will also find other features. Find our McMinnville school logo. If you click this, it will lead you to a linked website with more information about us. There is a slideshow of photos, which you can click to enlarge.

The purpose of this blog is to provide information helpful to our own students, but others may find useful information about Taekwondo (also spelled Tae Kwon Do or Taekwon-Do...).

This blog is filled with articles about how to warm up properly, how to deal with injury if necessary, how to throw a proper kick, how to pronounce some Korean terms, how promotion tests work in detail, how tournaments work and where and when they take place, links to other Kim's schools, gift ideas, etc. If you have a question about Taekwondo, there is probably an article listed in the sidebar that will answer your question. If not, email me. I'd love to get ideas for more useful articles.

Popular posts from this blog

Board Holder

Image
Board holders are hard to find, even on the internet. Here is an inexpensive model, $70. It is quickly adaptable to various sized boards, can be easily adjusted for height with one hand, and can be held by one person, even a child, while someone practices breaking boards. Currently posted on Craigslist under Portland, OR sporting goods. Search "board holder, one hand."
Read more

News, November 2020

Image
Master Instruction at Affordable Prices Focus, fitness, self-control  Set and reach goals with new friends: all shapes and sizes welcome!  The five tenets of Taekwondo— courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, indomitable spirit—teach students to follow a path that will lead to developing those qualities that help us reach our best potential. If you stick with it, if you push through, face your fears, test your limits, you will find that Taekwondo has the power to change your life. It changed mine, and I see it change the lives of our students. If you have an injury or another obstacle that has set you back, try talking with your instructors. They can offer guidance. Whatever goals you have set for yourself, don’t give up! Martial Arts:  Trio of Life Skills According to the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness , martial arts offer the "trio of life skills": through the study of formal martial arts, students can be healthier phy
Read more

Front Kick: The Forgotten Weapon

Image
For some reason, less experienced students tend to forget about front kick during sparring matches. They often rely on side kick and round kick, even when the angle is wrong and a front kick would have been simpler, faster, and easier. Maybe the problem is that from a beginner’s point of view, front kick is not so simple. It does require some skill to produce a proper front kick weapon, and many students struggle with pulling their toes back far enough. This article offers some ways to build those muscles and perfect that front kick. But remember, the black belts have such beautiful weapons of the foot because they’ve spent years developing them. A powerful kick doesn’t happen overnight. The Weapon First, a proper front kick weapon points the ball of the foot (that round fairly hard area just below the big toe and second toe) at the target. The top of the foot is a flat line all the way up the leg, and the toes are pulled back at a ninety degree angle. It isn’t luck that produce
Read more