The Tae Ryong Park Taekwondo and Hapkido Academy was established in 1993 by a father and son team: Grand Master Deuk H. Park and Master Jae H. Park. Together with close to 100 years of experience in the martial arts they have created one of the leading Taekwondo and Hapkido schools in the world. Since its start, the Academy has been a very important part of the community helping members to keep fit and healthy as they train in the physical aspects of the martial arts as well as to help students to develop greater Confidence, Respect and Discipline.

The Tae Ryong Park Academy runs a variety of different martial arts programs for children as young as three years of age, for teens and for adults of all ages. Aside from its Taekwondo and Hapkido classes, the Academy offers early morning and evening Boot Camps, Martial Arts Birthday Parties, Summer Camps and an awesome After School Martial Arts Program. The Tae Ryong Park Taekwondo and Hapkido Academy has had much success in local, national and international competitions. The TRP Academy has been featured in most martial arts magazines including Black Belt Magazine, Tae Kwon Do Times, Martial Arts Trainer and Inside Kung Fu. The TRP Academy has also been featured in a martial arts documentary hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris.

The TRP Academy is 600 members strong. We have children as young as three and adults of all ages. All instructors of the TRP Academy are certified Black Belts, who have gone through the program themselves and are continually working to improve their physical skills as well as their skills as an instructor.

Mission

We train our students to one day become a respected black belt who has mastered the skills of the martial arts as well as demonstrate respect, discipline and confidence on a daily basis in all aspects of their lives.

Locations

South Winnipeg Location:	Transcona / Kildonan Location:
95 Scurfield Boulevard (Map)	355 Gunn Road (Map)
Scurfield Academy Fall Schedule	Gunn Road Academy Fall Schedule

Our Instructors	Our Black Belts
Grand Master-Deuk H. Park Master Instructor-Jae H. Park	Please follow the above link to view our Black Belts.

Taekwondo is one of the most systematic and scientific Korean traditional martial arts, that teaches more than physical fighting skills. It is a discipline that shows ways of enhancing our spirit and life through training our body and mind. Today, it has become a global sport that has gained an international reputation, and stands among the official games in the Olympics.

The meaning of the word "Tae" "Kwon" "Do" is composed of three parts as shown in the English spelling, though it is one word in Korean. "Tae" means "the way of the foot or to kick". "Kwon" means “the way of the fist or to punch”. "Do" means the "way" or "discipline."

Taekwondo has been developing with the 5000-year long history of Korea, being called by several different names in the course. In Korea, Taekwondo began as a defensive martial art called "Subak" or "Taekkyon," and developed as a way of training the body and mind in the ancient kingdom of Koguryo, under the name of "Sunbae." In the Shilla period, it had become the backbone of Hwarangdo that aimed at producing leaders of the country.

Taekwondo today is similar to the martial arts in other Oriental countries and shares some features with them because in the course of its evolution it has gained many different styles that existed in the martial arts of the countries surrounding Korea, like Japan and China.

Taekwondo is physically dynamic, with active movements that include a mirage of foot skills and hand techniques. The principle physical movements are in simpatico with that of the mind and life as a whole.

Taekwondo can be characterized by unity: the unity of body, mind, and life, and the unity of the pose ["poomsae"] and confrontation, and cracking down. When you do Taekwondo, you should make your mind peaceful and synchronize your mind with your movements, and extend this harmony to your life and society. This is how in Taekwondo the principle of physical movements, the principle of mind training, and the principle of life become one and the same.

Taekwondo is a way of life, much like having a job, raising a family, fighting for a cause, or any one of numerous reasons. What makes Taekwondo different from these is that it is an activity for survival in extremely antagonistic situations. One must always overcome the enemy that is trying to cause harm. But simply winning a fight is not enough to guarantee one's safety, because the enemy may recuperate and attack again. Moreover, there may be many other enemies than the one that was just defeated. One cannot ever feel safe unless one gains permanent peace. To attain this permanent or lasting peace, one needs unity. This is what Taekwondo aims for. Otherwise Taekwondo would be no different from any other street-fighting skills.

Taekwondo pursues harmonious growth and improvements of life through its unique activities. This is why one could say Taekwondo is a way of life. To ultimately enable ourselves to lead more valuable lives, we would do well by finding the guiding principles deeply hidden in Taekwondo.

Man by nature has instinct to preserve his own life as well as his race, and therefore engages in physical activities either consciously or unconsciously. Man cannot do without physical motions that he grows and developed on them, regardless of time and space. In ancient times people had no means other than the bare hands and body to defend themselves; so they naturally developed the bare-hand fighting techniques. Even at times when arms were developed as defensive or offensive means, people continued to enjoy the bare-hand fighting techniques for the purpose of building physical strength as well as showing off through matches at rituals of tribal communities.

In the early days of the Korean peninsula, there were three tribes, each enjoying warrior's martial art contests during the ritual seasons. At the time, people learned techniques from their experiences of fighting against the beasts whose defensive and offensive motions were also the subject of analysis. It is believed that this was exactly the true grounding of today's Taekwondo, which names have descended from "Subak", "Taekkyon" and so on.

In the latter part of ancient times on the Korean peninsula, three kingdoms were rivaling among them for the hegemony. They were Koguryo, Paekje and Shilla all indulged in growing national strength with trained warriors. Therefore, the Korean history tells that there were military personalities among the well-known prominent national leaders of the three kingdoms, which proves the military tendency of ruling hierarchy.

As a result, youth warriors were organized, such as "Hwarangdo" in Shilla and "Chouisonin" in Koguryo, which both adopted martial art training as one of the important subjects of learning. A known martial art book of the days, called "Muyedobo-Tongji" wrote "Taekwondo is the basis of martial art, enabling one to build strength by using the hand and foot freely and training arms and legs as well as the body to adaptable to any critical situations," which means Taekwondo was already prevalent in that age. Thus, it can be easily assumed that Taekwondo was originated from the days of tribal communities on the Korean peninsula.

Shilla kingdom founded in B.C. 57 on the southeastern part of Korea, and Koguryo founded in B.C. 37 on the northern part of Korea along Yalu river, both made great efforts to raise their youngsters into strong warriors called "hwarang" and "sunbae" respectively, certainly with Taekwondo as one of the principal subjects of physical training.

The philosophy of Taekwondo is very special, but what makes it so special? If we learn philosophy from books, we tend to forget it as soon as we leave them, because it is not related to our actual lives. But since Taekwondo is connected with our lives like every movement of ours is, we can never forget its philosophy

That is, the philosophy is one of actions that can be learned from other actions, and our everyday activities. Taekwondo philosophy represents the principles of the changes and movements in human beings. It also represents the principles of our lives, since life consists of our movements. Therefore, we can say Taekwondo is a philosophy in itself. We can understand the philosophy of Taekwondo by doing Taekwondo, and this understanding should lead to better understanding and enhancement of our life. The principles of Taekwondo can be explained in several ways but here we will explain it simply with the principle of "Sam Jae" [Three Elements] and that of "Eum" [the Negative or Darkness] and "Yang" [the Positive or the Brightness]. "Sam Jae" refers to "Cheon" [the Heaven], "Ji" [the Earth], and "In" [the Man] and the principles concerning them. In oriental countries, it has been recognized as the central principle that explains the changes of everything in the world. "Sam Jae" and the changes of "Eum" and "Yang" constitute the "Eight Trigrams for Divination" in the "Book of Changes." The principle of Sam Jae has been emphasized in oriental countries, especially in Korea. If you understand Taekwondo's principle, you could understand all the skills and spiritual depth of Taekwondo. The principle of Eum and Yang has also been emphasized in oriental countries as the central principle of life. It maintains that everything has an opposite side. This principle explains various forms of changes, but it comes from "Taegeuk" [the Great Absolute], which represents the ultimate claim that Eum and Yang was the one and the same thing. If we understand Taekwondo according to this principle, we will find a solution, and by continuously changing skills, we will never get stuck, in any situation. After we understand these philosophical principles of Taekwondo, we can find proper ways to understand and develop our lives.

The Korea Hapkido Federation was created by Korea's top Hapkido masters to spread the Korean martial art of Hapkido, while maintaining strict standards pertaining to Hapkido techniques and the certification of students, instructors and Masters. This will insure that Hapkido will be preserved and will grow properly.

Hapkido is a system of unarmed fighting and weapons techniques to defeat both armed and unarmed opponents. Hapkido contains both long and close range fighting techniques, utilizing specialized Hapkido kicks and percussive hand strikes at longer ranges and pressure point strikes, Hapkido joint locks, and or throws at closer fighting distances. Hapkido emphasizes circular motion, breathing techniques, non-resisting movements, and control of the opponent. Hapkido practitioners seek to gain advantage through footwork and body positioning to employ leverage, avoiding the use of strength against strength.

As a Hapkido student advances through their studies at the Tae Ryong Park Academy, they will learn how to employ and defend against various weapons. Weapons training usually consists of knife training, short stick, walking cane, rope, long staff and sword. Hapkido students are trained to use and defend against these weapons and to also defend against common weapons such are firearms, knives, broken bottles etc…

Hapkido has long been popular with various special operations military and police organizations throughout the world because it provides both lethal and controlling Hapkido techniques so that an individual can employ only the amount of force needed for the situation. In Korea, the Presidential bodyguards and the Seoul Police SWAT Teams all train in Korea Hapkido Federation style Hapkido.

Hapkido is a fully comprehensive fighting style that provides its students with a wide range of fighting skills to meet any threat from an attacker. It is not a sport. Hapkido is also a method to assist an individual to reach levels of self-improvement from both a physical and mental standpoint. Students usually start studying Hapkido for its effective and practical self-defense techniques, or as a way of improving their physical fitness.

After a short time they discover that Hapkido is a way of life that when embraced can assist an individual to reduce stress, improve their overall health, improve their self esteem as well as gaining an improved sense of community responsibility. A student may start their training as a stranger with their Master and fellow students but will soon learn that their affiliation with a Hapkido Master and their fellow students will become more of a family style relationship that will last for generations.

Hapkido is for everyone willing to invest the time and effort into studying this wonderful art. People from all walks of life and from all age groups will benefit from making Hapkido a part of their lives. In fact, when comparing Hapkido to other martial art styles, Hapkido can be effectively applied by people of any age group, because it is not dependent on high kicking techniques or overpowering an adversary. The techniques are based on physics and simple body mechanics and this is what makes this art so effective.