The lease holder for this beautiful space is River Valley Taekwondo, Northampton’s oldest Taekwondo dojang (Korean martial arts school). We offer classes on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings for ages 14 and up. Unique among martial arts schools (as far as we know), every student who trains with us can earn free classes forever.
We practice a traditional style of Taekwondo known as Jidokwan, a timeless interpretation of this graceful, powerful, and practical mode of self-defense. Our dojang is adult-focused and noncompetitive, unlike most modern Taekwondo—since the 1970s and 80s, many Taekwondo schools have gradually moved away from applied self-defense and spiritual/cultural development, and toward a sports orientation.
Also unusual among martial arts schools, we offer a rich set of extracurricular programs to support and extend students’ understanding of the spiritual, mental, historic, cultural, and physical context of traditional martial arts practice. Events and topics have included:
- supplemental conditioning for strength, flexibility/mobility, cardiovascular/stamina, agility, and other aspects of overall fitness
- crash course in Hangeul (한글), the Korean alphabet; guidance for Korean language self study (한국어)
- in-depth study of historic poomsae (training patterns), many of which are obscure, beautiful, and contain gems not widely known in contemporary Taekwondo
- museum visits to view martial-arts related art and objects from Korea and other East Asian countries
- visits to spiritual centers, such as the Barre Center for Buddhist Studieshttps://www.buddhistinquiry.org/
- weekend-long retreats for informal training and socializing
- summer special training and rituals with guest instructors
- all-day school “triathlon” with bicycle, kayak, hike segments
- group attendance at seminars with prominent Taekwondo instructors at other dojangs
- group participation in Spartan obstacle course races, the Hot Chocolate Run, other athletic outings
- community service: Legal Observer training, neighborhood clean-up
- techniques for healthy, sustainable weight management
Because these extracurricular offerings complement our strong martial arts program, we attract professionals, entrepreneurs, lifelong learners and other smart, talented people. Martial arts training is our common point of entry, but the River Valley Taekwondo community is even more satisfying because of the interesting people who participate in our programs.
