Hilliard Kids Taekwondo Blog - Hilliard Taekwondo Academy

Respect & Customer Service

RESPECT: It's a BIG part of our program. It includes developing patience, self-control and courtesy. This is so important in today's world where we all want good customer service AND we want small businesses to survive. Fortunately for us, the families already in our Hilliard Taekwondo Academy program are AMAZING! But as an example of what is happening to small businesses since March 2020, at Hilliard Taekwondo Academy we DO experience the random visitors who ignore our guidelines and get irate if we don't "hop to" and drop whatever we are doing at that moment for our current students. They don't want to wait a moment. They don't want to make an appointment. They ....
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Calendar

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Class Schedule

ALWAYS CHECK THE CLASS SCHEDULE and check for updates * also see our information under the listed changes, about how we are teaching/testing for stripes and why it is even more important for students to get back to class the first week after belt testing. Changes to the class schedule starting December 2023: Mondays, the Probationary & Recommended Black Belt Juniors no longer have 2 class options this same day. They will continue to have the 6:45 pm class option Mondays. Wednesdays, the 4:30 pm time will no longer be a teens (age 11-17) class. We gave it several months as a trial option and it was never well-attended. The 4:30 pm time slot on Wednesdays will now be a Juniors ....
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Introductory Special

All visits (for information or for a trial class) are by appointment this allows us to schedule the right amount of time to spend with you, AND lets us focus on our current students during their class times. We're a small business with BIG results! Hilliard Taekwondo Academy is a locally & independently owned small business offering BIG results for kids, teens and adults that includes: -building confidence -getting fit -learning self-defense -increasing focus -making friends -all while having FUN! Our intro special offers 2 great options, choose either: 6 weeks for only $159/person, or 12 weeks for only $279/person we provide workout pants, a ....
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Bullying: let's work together to stop bullying

Together we can stop bullying! And, parents, that means we need your help. Our goal is for every one of our students to develop the confidence to stand up to a bully, and for none of our students to ever BE a bully. The reality, though, is that every successful martial arts school - just like all aspects of life - is made up of many students, who all have different personalities, backgrounds, experiences, behaviors, and reasons for choosing to learn martial arts. One of the statements in our student oath is: "I shall never misuse taekwondo." And one of our tenets is: Integrity (which means that a person will do the right thing even when no one is watching). We want ....
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Self-control and self-expression

Developing self-control AND inspiring self-expression This is one of the biggest challenges for anyone working with children, whether you are a parent, teacher, coach/martial arts instructor ... And it's also one of the BEST things we can do for them. Self-expression without any awareness of how ones actions impact others, without realizing one needs to be courteous and respectful, without understanding the importance of integrity, perseverance, honoring commitments ... can make it more difficult for a person to develop lasting positive friendships and careers. On the other hand, self-control without any expression of the personality that makes one unique can make ....
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Show Your Love for Small Businesses

We have amazing Hilliard Taekwondo Academy families, but we realize not every small business is as fortunate. In social media we read so many angry rants against small businesses because of issues resulting from the huge financial losses of the past 3 years ... staffing shortages, huge increases in costs from vendors, shipping delays, communication snafus, etc. Small businesses are still in recovery mode (and will be for years) and need "the umbrella of grace" rather than a determination to take them down. We feel so blessed to have such great families who are loyal to our program, courteous to our staff, respectful of our guidelines, and understanding about any delays, and ....
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SUMMER is the BEST time to get started in martial arts!

Kids often think of SUMMER as lazy days with endless free time that includes no school, no homework, sleeping in, hours at the pool, all the snacks, so much time for video games, and more. Parents see endless: -hours to keep the kids occupied -dirty dishes here and there and everywhere -struggles trying to get the kids back on a schedule when school start SUMMER is the best time to continue or start your family's martial arts training. 1) It helps them continue the habit of having a schedule 2) A FUN program keeps them active(AND indoor, so A/C) 3) They're developing focus and respect that carries over to schoolwork and home-life 4) Confidence from martial arts helps them be better ....
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Parent like a ninja!

1 “catch” them behaving well We tend to notice and react when the kids are arguing, chores haven’t been done, they are late to wherever ... ...but how often do we notice and thank them for reading quietly, hanging out with sibs without arguing, being on time, finishing chores? We get more of what we focus on, so set a goal of “catching” and thanking them for behaving the way you want them to for at least one week to start. 2 apply consequences without counting to 3 or giving warnings Kids are smarter than we give them credit for. If we “count to 3” (especially if we add in fractions to avoid saying ....
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Perseverance

Perseverance. As one of our students walked out the door after testing, they made the comment "Wow, that was easier than I expected! My boards broke the first try." Is anything about belt rank testing "easy"? Does board breaking really seem "easy"? Was this student being braggy? No, no and absolutely not. This is a student who knows exactly how unforgiving boards can be, both during class and during testing. We tell Brown Belts and higher they can practice board breaking every time they come to class, and this testing cycle, after every class this student asked us and their parents for permission to stay and work on board breaking using our rebreakable boards and ....
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Coachable Kids ... and Teens and Adults

Coachable ... an important character trait whether we are a child, a teen or an adult. ... whether we are an athlete, a student, an employee or a coach, a teacher, a leader. We can react to feedback by being offended and refusing to consider any of it or seeing it as an opportunity to improve. We can focus on how it was said or consider the lessons it offers. We can quit, change jobs/programs/relationships, blame the person giving feedback or we can consider what we could do differently to be even more amazing. It can be uncomfortable, embarrassing, awkward to hear we might need to do something differently. But amazing results are revealed when we develop a humble ....
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Who is the boss in your family ... you or your child?

Who’s the boss in your family? (and how do you get that power back if you’ve lost it?) We’re the parents. Obviously we’re in charge and our kids just know that, right? It’s true that kids DO know who has the power in the family. Families are just like any other group dynamic. The person who has the power isn’t necessarily the person with the “power title of boss, coach, teacher, parent.” It’s the person who makes things happen … or keeps things from happening. A boss who is afraid to correct an employee who skirts the rules, is disrespectful, arrives late, makes mistakes, does the bare minimum … that boss loses ....
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What we teach them to do for themselves

Inspiring Independence A big part of parenting is accepting there will be bittersweet moments that also fill your heart with pride as you watch your child succeed at something ... without your help. You pick out their clothing You pack their lunch You help them ride their bike You walk them to their friend's next door You stand at the bus stop with them You read to them ... until the day they want to "do it myself!" As they get older we can still support them as they learn to speak up respectfully and talk to their coach about playing time or their teacher about a grade without us needing to step in and fix it for them. We can love them and still let them deal with the consequences of ....
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FAIR vs EQUAL

FAIR vs EQUAL Whether you are a parent, a coach, a teacher or have some other role in childrens' lives ... one of the biggest challenges in helping them become successful is understanding the difference between "fair" and "equal." Whether it's a reward or a consequence, what is successful for one child may not be what's successful for another. EQUAL: everyone who deserves a reward gets a reward that makes them feel equally appreciated and everyone who deserves a consequence gets a consequence that makes them feel equally remorseful. FAIR: the reward each person gets can be different based on what makes them feel equally appreciated and the consequence each ....
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Moments that catch you off guard

Moments that catch you off-guard (aka "that wasn't the plan, but ...") Yesterday's Little Ninjas class (our 5-year-olds) is still on my mind. At the end of class we sat in a circle and I asked what they thought of the new drill we had just done. I usually say "activity" or "game" but today I said "drill" and that changed the conversation. Apparently yesterday was a day Hilliard schools practiced drills to hide from active shooters and they wanted to talk about that drill. Some described a fun game they had wanted to win by being the most quiet and still. Some explained the mechanics of how jamming a door worked and who could and couldn't get the door open. And some ....
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HTA Instructors - Who is Who at HTA

Who is Who at HTA? Ms. Thompson owns Hilliard Taekwondo Academy, is a Master Level Instructor, a 6th Degree Black and the Chief Instructor of the school. We have staff instructors, volunteer instructors and instructors-trainees who help make our classes so successful. Instructor Levels are: Level 1 (narrow red ribbon around uniform jacket collar): the first instructor collar earned by passing a written test and demonstrating all the forms from White Belt up to and including 1st Decided Black Belt. Level 2 (wide red ribbon around collar): after 6 months of teaching as a Level 1 an instructor may test to earn their Level 2 collar earned by passing a written test and demonstrating teaching ....
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Whose goals & dreams are they ... yours or your child's?

Is your #1 goal to have your child to end up on an Olympic podium, with an eye to fame and fortune? We can save you time ... we are not the school for you. Do you want your child to become a more confident, focused, respectful, disciplined, kind person who learns to persevere through challenges while also developing excellent martial arts skills and leadership qualities? You are our kind of family! Our martial arts skill standards are high. Our character development standards are even higher. In any sport, the number of participants who end up on an Olympic podium is very small compared to the number of kids who start in that sport. EVERY child can learn to focus, set & achieve ....
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Current calendar

Watch for updates. Weather can impact our class schedule. Updates are posted on our business Facebook page and typically we are able to change our phone's outgoing message if we need to close due to the weather. If we plan in advance to be closed on a day we would normally be open for classes, there will be a "NO CLASSES" note on those days. Other notations on the calendar are informational. ....
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How to get your kids to listen (and have a happier homelife)!

How to get your kids to listen more and argue less! Thank them for the behaviors you want more of and give less attention to the behaviors you don't want. Kids want attention (well ... don't we all?). When they sit quietly, play nicely together, hang up their jacket, don't make a mess ... do you thank them? When they say "NO!" or argue, do you give them all your attention and try to reason with them, engage in the argument, try to find out what will make them do what you want, threaten, etc. If behaving well doesn't get recognized, but being the class clown or refusing to cooperate brings everything to a halt and wins them all the attention, they will continue to show off, disrupt, ....
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"How do you get kids to behave so quickly!?!"

"How do you get kids to behave so quickly!?!" This is one of the most frequent questions/comments we get from parents when their child tries a class at Hilliard Taekwondo Academy. It's really not magic, and our strategies will work for you at home ... yes, really! First, we understand: - kids really do want to please us - boundaries make kids feel safer - we get more of the behavior we focus on most Second, we are consistent in terms of: - expectations -recognition - consequences Third: - planning ahead helps avoid reacting based on emotions, especially anger - consequences tend to be more fair when applied based on a rule that's broken rather than how we feel in that moment - ....
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Integrity ... doing what's right even when no one (or our kids) may be watching us

We want our kids to be confident, to learn to focus, to have self-control and to demonstrate a character of integrity. Integrity - doing the right thing even when no one is watching - is my favorite of the Taekwondo Tenets. It means: To be trustworthy. To keep your word and do what you said you would. To be honest about finishing chores and doing homework. To own up to mistakes rather than trying to blame others, and accepting consequences. You may wonder: Isn't it normal for kids to tell "little white lies" and to try to avoid getting in trouble? Won't they outgrow it on their own? How do we help our children develop trustworthiness & integrity? As uncomfortable as it can be, we ....
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2021 and our Indomitable Spirit

"When 2020 is behind us ..." "What a year 2020 has been ..." "I'll be so glad when 2020 is over ..." How many times have we said that over the past months... as if we can put 2020 in a cardboard box, slap on a return address label and send it back. Just like many of you, I've found myself looking forward to the end of this year, to slamming the door on 2020 and never looking back. And then it hit me ... turning the last page on the 2020 calendar isn't going to magically erase the challenges 2020 brought with it. When I wake up on the first day of 2021 odds are I'll still be dealing with all that was going on in the world when I went to bed the last night of 2020. I'd been so looking ....
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GRIT plus Guts and Spunk!

GRIT & Guts & Spunk Belt Rank Testing ... results will be emailed today, and we can get so caught up in a strip of fabric and a title on a piece of paper that we forget what it's really about ... developing guts & spunk. While many of our students did pass testing and will get a new strip of fabric and piece of paper with a new belt rank title, there are also those who didn't. It's not because they didn't prepare. It's not because they didn't try. It doesn't mean they aren't a good martial artist. Over my 20 plus years in taekwondo I've seen amazing martial artists not pass a testing and I've seen not-as-amazing students move on to their next belt ....
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Let your kids "fail" on their own

So often we think failure is final and that our children will lose their self-confidence if they don't succeed the first time at each thing they try. Just like building stronger muscles requires struggling against weights that are not easy to lift, and just like babies learning to walk requires falling down and getting up, and learning to write or play an instrument or cook or build something, learning to overcome challenges requires practice ... often with failures along the way. When we step in to make things easy for our child, to fix any problems they may encounter, we are sending them the message that we know they don't have the ability to do it themselves. THAT is what hurts their ....
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2020 and ... Gratitude?

Can we really be expected to feel grateful during a year like this one?! It's way easier to come up with a list of things to be thankful for when life is going well. The challenge can be to recognize blessings when it feels like nothing is going the way we planned. As I tell our Hilliard Taekwondo Academy students, you tend to find what you look for, and right now it's easy to find plenty of things to complain about. It may take a little more work to find things that make us feel gratitude and joy, but those things are there. I saw a meme that asked us to consider what life would be like if we woke up one morning and only had the things we'd expressed gratitude for the ....
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COURAGE ... GRIT ... DETERMINATION

Who doesn't admire the power of courage, grit and determination? Who doesn't want to see those qualities when they look in the mirror? Who doesn't want to see them take root and bloom in their family? But we don't become courageous, we don't develop grit, our determination doesn't show itself when things are easy. It's like wanting our muscles to become stronger without the challenge of struggling to lift weights. It takes scary times, hard times, challenging times ... times like the past several months, and the months ahead ... for our true courage and grit and determination to be needed, to be tested and to have the opportunity to become stronger and stronger. And ....
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Hilliard's Best Taekwondo Training (Homepage About Us Section)

Our mission at Hilliard Taekwondo Academy: we are passionate about increasing the self-confidence of children, teens and adults by helping them master increasingly challenging martial arts skills through our exceptional taekwondo program taught in a safe, positive and supportive environment. Taekwondo is more than just a sport or a great workout. In addition to motivating students to become stronger, healthier and more accomplished at martial arts, our goal is to create a positive, motivating culture and help students develop a strong work ethic that will become a way of life as they experience "the effort you put in equals the results you will get." We don't measure our ....
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FAQ

Email or FB message us today to find out more about how your family can start building confidence from the very first class! (Many of our FAQs have been updated since the pandemic has changed how small business operate. Scroll down to the bottom to see examples on this page of what is okay and not okay to wear to try a class with us. All visits are currently by schedule appointment only, and only instructors and students are inside the school. Families (including parents, and even during the first visit for a trial class) stay outside so we can avoid crowding inside. We have age-based programs from ages 3 up through adults Contact us via email or FB messenger to find out how to make ....
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About Us

Courtesy ● Integrity ● Perseverance ● Self-Control ● Indomitable Spirit Grit, Growth, Goals! It's been a year of challenges and opportunities, of disappointments and determination, of making the decision to get up and put one foot in front of the other every single day. That courage and confidence, that guts and spunkiness ... how do you equip your family to be more likely to develop these qualities, especially during the time we are now in? At Hilliard Taekwondo Academy we're equipping students with the confidence and courage to face adversity and to keep working towards goals without giving up. Success is rarely a straight line, but is more often a hot mess of effort, "not yet" and ....
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Blog | Hilliard Taekwondo Academy

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Respect & Customer Service

Calendar

Class Schedule

Introductory Special

Bullying: let's work together to stop bullying

Self-control and self-expression

Show Your Love for Small Businesses

SUMMER is the BEST time to get started in martial arts!

Parent like a ninja!

Perseverance

Coachable Kids ... and Teens and Adults

Who is the boss in your family ... you or your child?

What we teach them to do for themselves

FAIR vs EQUAL

Moments that catch you off guard

HTA Instructors - Who is Who at HTA

Whose goals & dreams are they ... yours or your child's?

Current calendar

How to get your kids to listen (and have a happier homelife)!

"How do you get kids to behave so quickly!?!"

Integrity ... doing what's right even when no one (or our kids) may be watching us

2021 and our Indomitable Spirit

GRIT plus Guts and Spunk!

Let your kids "fail" on their own

2020 and ... Gratitude?

COURAGE ... GRIT ... DETERMINATION

Hilliard's Best Taekwondo Training (Homepage About Us Section)

FAQ

About Us

Rima Zeidan Melhem

Casie Marie

Donna Senchesak

Request Information Now!