Welcome to Eagleville Taekwondo

Eagleville Taekwondo Academy was founded in 1983. In 1989, Master Giamo left the active duty with the US Army and took over the Eagleville dojang. Master Giamo developed a curriculum for Eagleville Taekwondo Academy incorporating Traditional Taekwondo, self-defense, and modern training into a comprehensive program.

Every student is given a free introductory class to become familiarized with the atmosphere at Eagleville Taekwondo Academy. The introductory lesson covers basic warm-ups, stances, kicking, blocking and punching. Once a person becomes a member of Eagleville Taekwondo Academy, they may attend as many classes per week as they wish (a minimum of two is suggested). Sparring training is based on International Competition rules and geared towards the safety of all students. Forms training consists of both the Kukkiwon (World Taekwondo Headquarters) Taegeuk forms and Palgwe forms.

The training at Eagleville Taekwondo Academy also includes special guest instructors from other Taekwondo schools and other martial arts such as Aikido and jiu-jitsu. There are also specialty classes offered each month such as our Flexibility & Stretching Class, Fitness & Endurance Class and our weekly Competition Poomsae (forms) Training. These seminars and classes are offered to all students. We encourage parents to become involved in their children's training through the OnMat Now smart phone app. Parents can foll0w their child’s technincal progress, number of classes, and special events on the calendar. Eagleville Taekwondo is affiliated with the Kukkiwon World Taekwondo Headquarters and Chang Moo Kwan Taekwondo Headquarters in Seoul.

In addition to our regular Taekwondo Program, we have a Little Ninjas Program for the 3 to 5 year old set. The Little Ninjas is a skill based program incorporating martial arts and growth skills into a bi-weekly half-hour class. Many of our Little Ninjas have continues into the children’s program and gone on to achieve their Black Belts.

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art that literally means "the way or art of the foot and fist". It traces its roots back to early 600 AD tribal and royal court fighting systems. Some early precursors to Taekwondo were soo bahk, tae kyun, and kwon bup.

Modern Taekwondo started to emerge in the late 1940's with the liberation of Korea from Japanese occupation. Many martial arts Masters had exiled themselves from Korea or gone underground during the occupation. When Korea was liberated these Masters began teaching their arts openly again. Many had gone to China or been in Japan and incorporated martial arts techniques from these countries into their systems. This gave the Korean martial arts a unique flavor and style. There are open and closed hand strikes and blocks, straight line and circular techniques, hard and soft techniques, holds and grappling techniques. Of course, there are the kicks, oh boy are there kicks. Taekwondo is best know for its fantastic kicking style. stationary, spinning, jumping and flying. Kicks that come from all angles and all speeds. Almost all martial arts today have borrowed the Korean style of kicking and added them to their own.

The early do jangs (training halls) were called Kwans. There were five major Kwans to develop in the late 1940's early 1950's. They were Mu Duk Kwan, Ji Do Kwan, Chung Do Kwan, Chang Mu Kwan, and Song Mu Kwan. There were also several minor Kwans including Mu Sul Kwan, Yun Mu Kwan, Kang Duk Kwan, Han Mu Kwan, Oh Do Kwan (Korean Army) and Mun Mu Kwan (Korean Air Force). While the Kwans all practiced similar martial arts, there were philosophical and technical differences. In 1955 many of the Kwan leaders (called Kwan jang or directors) met and unified under the name Taekwondo. They formed the Korean Taekwondo Association and later the International Taekwondo Federation.

Modern Taekwondo has both a traditional self defense aspect and a modern sport aspect. Under the guidance of the World Taekwondo Federation (founded 1974), Taekwondo has been introduced as an Olympic sport (1988 in Seoul, Korean and 1992 in Barcelona, Spain). It became a full medal sport at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Steven Lopez of Sugarland, Texas took a Gold Medal for the US Team in Australia

Taekwondo has something to offer for everyone. There are forms (choreographed patterns), self defense, grappling and holds, hand techniques, and of course awesome kicking techniques. Taekwondo is for the young and not so young. The competitor, the fitness buff, the person looking for self defense, the parent looking for a good disciplined environment, and especially the family looking for a group activity can all find something in Taekwondo.

For more information, you can search Taekwondo on the web, but be prepared for thousands of hits. Taekwondo is America's most popular martial art.

Dr. Steven Capener's History of Taekwondo: Dr. Steven D. Capener (Professor at Ewha Women's University's Korean Culture Department) is the only non-Korean to learn and finally earn a Taekwondo Ph. D. in Korea. Professor Capener learned taekwondo throughout his teens and twenties, when at last, he took third place at the World University Taekwondo Championships in 1986, third place at the World Taekwondo Championships in 1987, and first place at the American Pan-Am Games in 1987.