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Choi Kwang Do is...
- A unique martial art based on scientific principles
- Developed to promote optimum health, fitness and self-defense, not winners in sports competitions
- Developed by Grandmaster Kwang Jo Choi between 1978 and 1987
- The most effective martial arts system in the world
- Natural and easy-to-learn
- Able to maximize your body’s force-producing capabilities
- A means to increase opportunities to enhance health
- Based on modern scientific principles from human anatomy, physiology, psychology, kinesiology, neurophysiology, and biomechanics
- Training based on individual needs, capabilities, skill levels and age
- Intended to prevent or reduce illness and disease and to promote optimum health and longevity by minimizing degeneration of body and mind
- Open to everyone including those with limitations, such as individuals who use wheelchairs, who are amputees, who are blind, and who have maladies such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis
- Founded in non-violent self-defense, health, character development and humanity
- A non-contact, non-fighting, non-competitive art that stresses mental, physical, emotional and social development
Choi Kwang Do is NOT...
- Designed for competition and does not follow the intensity of sports training.
- Designed around a methodology for solely winning trophies
- A contact, fighting, competitive art
- A competition, students can continually develop – not against each other, but with each other
Grandmaster Kwang Jo Choi
Born March 2, 1942 in Tae Gu City, Korea, Kwang Jo Choi began his formal study of martial arts at age 12 under the famous Master Instructor, Dong Ju Li. Driven by the need to survive in the war torn streets of South Korea and an innate desire for perfection, Kwang Jo Choi soon became one of Master Li's star pupils.
After his tenure in the Korean Army, Kwang Jo Choi began his study of Tae Kwon-Do (Korean hand and foot fighting art) under its founder, General Choi Hong Hi. Through Kwang Jo Choi's talent and dedicated training, he was awarded the prestigious title of Chief Instructor under General Choi's International Tae Kwon Do Federation before he was 25 years old. In addition to teaching self-defense to the Korean Army and National Police, Kwang Jo Choi was personally selected by General Choi to serve as an elite member of a group of experts chosen to spread Tae Kwon Do throughout the world. Through his mission, Kwang Jo Choi became one of Tae Kwon Do's most prominent ambassadors and was directly responsible for its spread throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and eventually, the United States.
Motivated by his continuing dedication to the advancement of the martial arts and his desire for self-improvement, Grand Master Choi searched for ways to improve on techniques and teaching methods of his predecessors. It was during his first years in Hong Kong, where he settled twenty years ago, that Grand Master Kwang Choi began consolidating his revolutionary martial arts theories and concepts. For some time, Grand Master Choi had felt that many of the traditional techniques were too stylized and rigid for practical self-defense. He discovered that many of these same techniques could actually harm the body and, over the long term, is detrimental to one's health and longevity. In fact, Grand Master Choi had completely injured his body due to the lock out movements found in traditional martial art techniques, which forced him to move to North America in order to seek medical treatment. It was during this recuperating period that Grand Master Choi created new techniques that would later form the initial foundation for Choi Kwang Do. Grand Master Choi also witnessed too much importance being placed on sports competition with the winning of trophies taking precedence over the ideals of personal and human development. The Instructor-Student relationship, which is crucial to development of a student in the martial arts, was quickly fading into a coach-athlete relationship where the only goal was to win. Based on these observations, coupled with years of research and practical experience, Grand Master Choi pioneered one of the most revolutionary changes in recent martial arts history by announcing the introduction of an entirely new martial arts form - Choi Kwang Do. Named after its founder, Choi Kwang Do was officially introduced on March 2, 1987. Grand Master Choi has since founded his own world organization, Choi Kwang Do Martial Art International, and spends his time teaching, training Instructors and giving seminars at his many branches throughout the world. In addition, he is currently involved in producing videos and writing literature from his headquarters in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
