Testimonials
Choi Kwang Do has been a wonderful additon to my life! After watching my son participate in classes for six months I decided that I really wanted to have fun too! In March of 2004 I began my own journey to better health. I used to have to visit the chiropractor every 2-4 weeks due to a slipped disc in my early 20's and carpol tunnel syndrome which developed from my last pregnancy. After taking Choi for a few months my visits to the chiropractor actually decreased to 8-10 weeks between visits now! _________________________________________________ My children started Choi Kwang Do a few years ago. Within a few months, I joined them. Who wanted to sit on the sideline and watch them have all the fun? One of the things I like about CKD is that I get a great workout-cardio and stretching, all while working toward a goal. I remember being on an elliptical machine thinking that there was really no point to it. I got bored quickly with it and then stopped going to the gym all-together. I have been in CKD for 2 1/2 years now and am constantly learning and improving. I have noticed improvements in my flexibility and stamina. And with the ability to go punch a pad once in a while, I find myself having greater patience at home. For my daughter, CKD has been something that she has continued to stick with. We have been through dance, gymnastics, horesback riding, soccer, and swimming. We get through one season, and she has had enough. She continues to stick with CKD because she has fun and can see the goal of becoming a black belt become clearer and clearer with each testing. I like the idea that as she goes off into the world, she will be a Black Belt in Choi Kwang Do. Nicole Glasgow, 1st Degree Black Belt
_________________________________________________ I began my journey in Choi Kwang-Do in 1986 when I signed my then 6 year old son Sam up for classes for his birthday. At that time Grandmaster Choi was still teaching Tae Kwon Do on Canton Hwy. in Marietta,. GA. Because my son was small for his age, he had a problem with some bullies in the neighborhood. We felt he needed martial arts classes so that he could learn how to fight. As new martial art parents we were surely surprised to learn that what he learned was not how to fight, but how to have the confidence to stand up for himself. Natalie, his sister, began her classes a year and a half later. In addition to the confidence they were developing, they were also concentrating better in school and they were becoming quite good athletes in the other sports in which they were participating . Sam had some difficulty in school, but he could perform the patterns and techniques in Choi Kwang-Do with such confidence and discipline that I knew it was building his self esteem. My daughter had been teased because of a birth defect, but she performed Choi Kwang-Do with such a grace and ease that she really felt good about herself. They both reached the rank of 3rd Degree Black Belt on November 18th, 1995, Sam at the age of 15 and Natalie at the age of 12. I began my training in 1988 when I opened a school as a white belt in Marietta, GA. I began with a partner who was a 2nd Degree Black Belt at the time. I had graduated from Georgia Southwestern College with a BS Degree in Physical Education and had planned on teaching in the elementary school level. I was not very competitive so team sports and athletics was not my main focus. I was more involved in individual sports that could be enjoyed for a lifetime of fitness and health. That was my main focus for children. I wanted them to be fit for a lifetime, not just an athlete for a season. It was important for me to teach them be healthy through proper diet and exercise. After college I started another career instead of teaching. Because of my daughter’s medical problems, I needed the job for health insurance, but I always longed to teach. By starting Choi Kwang-Do, I was finally going to have the opportunity to fulfill my dream of teaching. I was lucky as a school owner to begin training with Grandmaster Choi even before I reached my Black Belt. His knowledge about the physiology of the body was and still is amazing. There has never been a class or instructor training with Grandmaster Choi that I didn’t learn something new. His knowledge and his desire to share it with his students is incredible. I remember a class on stretching where he compared the human bones to a bamboo with holes in it. As you stretch , your bones are strengthened by blood that is pushed into your bones by muscle, just as a wet towel would force water into the holes in the bamboo. Recently I read an article in a medical journal on the benefits of abdominal breathing and I thought, “Wow! Grandmaster Choi taught us that several years ago”! I achieved the rank of 4th Degree Black Belt as one of the “Magnificent Seven” on March 5, 2002, one of the first two females to receive this rank in Choi Kwang-Do. In 1990, I was actually the first BoDan Black Belt who had trained only in Choi Kwang-Do. I feel privileged to have been a member of the Georgia Area Demonstration team since 1991 and to have been captain of the team from 1998-2004. I am honored to be the first female Examiner for the Georgia Belt Promotion Test. I am always humbled by students and former students when they tell me what a positive and constructive impact Choi Kwang-Do has made in their lives. I will be forever grateful to Grandmaster Choi for the opportunity he has given me in Choi Kwang-Do. He has always inspired me to reach for achieve unimaginable goals. His wisdom and his eagerness to share it with others is such an inspiration to all who are willing to listen and grow. Thank you , Dojunim, for the knowledge, the dedication, the purpose and the lifetime of health you have given me through Choi Kwang-Do Martial Art. Beverly S. Busker |