NEWS

New Venue We have moved to Nuffield Health Club, Highfield Lane, St Albans.  Please come and join us at this fantastic new venue.  Free parking, changing areas with showers, refreshments and a good sized studio with mirrors.  We thank the YMCA for their support over the past three years.

CLUB HISTORY
The St Albans School was set up in January 2004. The club was different in it's approach to how Taekwon Do was taught and the club was set up and organised in order to meet the needs of the people who were most likely to attend.

Mr Sheehan noticed that on 80% of all Taekwon Do applications the individuals primary motivation to start Taekwon Do was to get fit. So the classes are very much geared around using Taekwon Do as an enjoyable means of getting fit. Uniquely in this area Mr Sheehan is also a fully qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer.  This means that unlike some other ways of teaching, you do not get exercises that are dangerous and damaging.  You only get safe and effective exercise and top quality Taekwon Do training.

Fitness, flexibility and all matters relating to good health are taken care of as part of the training. Gone are a lot of the old style exercises that caused a whole manner of problems with joints and muscle strains (although a lot of other organisations still include them - much to the detriment of their students!). In come a whole new range of exercises that strengthen the body rather than weaken it and help prevent long term injuries through misuse and over-use (repetitive strain). So Taekwon Do taught at this school is an excellent way of not only getting fit but also of making yourself healthier and stronger.

The other major difference with this club is that all kids train for free with their parents or guardians. However the kids train in the kids section and the adults in their section.  Logically, the groups are not mixed.  When it comes to learning a self-defence what is the point of a fully grown adult learning to defend themselves against a child? Naturally there is every reason for a child to learn how to defend themselves from an adult. And there are the facilities for us to teach this. However from an adults viewpoint - if you've joined a club to get fit and learn how to defend yourselves then surely you want to get the most from your efforts don't you? And learning how to defend yourself from someone half your size is not the way to do it.

So this club was established to do exactly that. Meet the needs of adults who want to train with their peers, enjoy the atmosphere and friendship that this provides whilst getting a realistic and lifelike learning experience. After all, when you compete as an adult surely you'll be competing with people your own size? Then how can you possibly gain the experience you need to do that when you're sparring people half your size all the time? And yet other clubs and organisations openly encourage that.

We think that's not right for the individual so our classes are tailored accordingly. It is because of this that people attending our classes get fitter, quicker, learn faster and become better more efficiently and all without issues or injuries or distractions. If you want to learn top quality Taekwon Do as an adult, then this is the place to go.

One other point is that this instructor is still very fit and very active.  And as recently proven, still a medal winner.  So when picking a club to train at then clearly you will get a great deal from training with us under the premier Taekwon Do organisation in the UK.

Update

Congratulations to Caroline Shortt & Christian Usell on their Silver Medals at the BUTF Cup in June.  Well Done also to Pete Newing who had three tough fights and was unlucky to just be out of the medals.  Can't wait for the next tournament; these guys are coming on so well.  Great students!