Excel Taekwondo Center

Those seemingly harmless statements we toss out can really stick with our teens. They're at a highly sensitive time in their life... they're self-conscious, scrutinizing everything about themselves, comparing themselves to others, and because of their changing hormones research has shown that they feel things in a much bigger way than they will later in life.

Let's cut them slack. Let's keep those "teasing" statements to ourselves. Let's not make them question themselves any more than they already are. Let's build them up, not tear them down. Let's help them feel confident and proud when they look in the mirror. Let's love and support them with everything we've got. ❤

This was a mic drop.

Be the change!

“After all, cultivating happiness is dependent on regulating distress.”

Parents: Don't focus on happiness, help build resilience instead Parents want their children to be happy, but resilience will help them better overcome life's unavoidable challenges.

Congratulations to our 2023 CA Challenge competitors! 🥳

We are especially proud of Amanda and Alexis for their amazing fights with tough competitors. Keep up the good work! FIGHTING!! 👊

Shoutout to our cheerleaders Annika, Eleni, Dale, Faizan, Kenzo, and Adrian for coming to support the team!

Thank you to our referees Ms. Eileen Sandejas and Ms. Naqiya Caderbhoy for volunteering their time last minute to make sure CA Challenge ran smoothly.

Master Paolo Sandejas made another special appearance yesterday and treated the team to frozen yogurt so thank you very much, Sir!! We love and appreciate you! 🫶

To our parents who are always there to support and guide us, THANK YOU!

And a final THANK YOU to our coaches Catherine Ditan Marcelino and Eva Marie Ditan who prepared us for this tournament.

Here are the final results:

Gold:
Auryon Duque
Alexis Diestro
Amanda Diestro

Bronze:
Santi Sandejas
Benjamin Yadao

Feeling like winners w/ free yogurt from their former teacher/coach. Thank you, Sir!

OPENING DOORS AND BUILDING BRIDGES

After almost 2 decades, Mrs. and Mr. Marcelino finally made another trip to the birthplace of Taekwondo. This trip to Seoul, South Korea was the first time that they did not have to don their doboks. When they were athletes competing for the Philippine National Taekwondo Team, they regularly went to South Korea to train with different university teams whose athletes were members of the national team or current or former world champions. Their last visit was in 2006 when they attended the International Referee Poomsae Course. They are both certified International Referees (IR) in Poomsae and Kyoroogi by the World Taekwondo (WT).

One of their contemporaries and a good friend, Ms. Lee Seung MIn, a 2-time world champion who now works in the World Taekwondo (WT), gave them a tour of the headquarters. The WT is the international federation governing the sport of Taekwondo and is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations. Since 2000, Taekwondo has been a recognized and official sport in the Summer Olympic Games. The WT produces prestigious international competitions such as the World Taekwondo Championships, World Taekwondo Grand Prix, Olympic Games, etc.

Stateside, USA Taekwondo (USAT) is the official National Governing Body (NGB) that is a member of the WT. In California, the California Unified Taekwondo Association (CUTA) is the only state association that is recognized by USAT.

Ms. Lee also facilitated their visit to the Kukkiwon, the headquarters of Taekwondo. There, they had the pleasure of meeting with the President of the World Taekwondo Academy (WTA), which is tasked by the Kukkiwon with developing and implementing curriculum, developing qualified instructors, and spreading the Taekwondo spirit worldwide.

They also visited the Taekwondo museum, which houses the important milestones in Taekwondo’s history and the inception of the Kukkiwon and the WT. The museum includes the winners of the prestigious international competitions - the World Taekwondo Championships and the Summer Olympic Games. The first world championships was held on May 25, 1973.

Mr. Marcelino’s name appears in the exhibit due to his silver medal finish in the 1995 World Taekwondo Championships.

What makes Excel Taekwondo unique among the many martial arts schools in the community is that we are a member of these official national and state associations. Our curriculum follows the standard set by the WTA while our athletes compete in the national and state championships organized by USAT and CUTA respectively. A number of our athletes are state and national champions, some of whom became members of the California State Team and the US National Team.

Moreover, our school is the only one that has several instructors and coaches who are former national team athletes, world medalists, and an Olympian. Our instructors’ and coaches’ credentials are found on our website (https://exceltkd.com/about-us/canoga-park).

Our Black Belts and instructors are certified by the Kukkiwon. Upon successfully completing the Black Belt Promotion Test, they are awarded the Kukkiwon certificate which is recognized nationwide and worldwide by schools and organizations affiliated with the Kukkiwon and the WT.

Part of this trip’s purpose is to facilitate visits by our students to the mecca of Taekwondo and open training opportunities for our athletes with different varsity university and high school teams in the years to come.

This is in line with our school’s goal of nurturing and enhancing the skills of our students by opening doors of opportunities and building bridges to the future.

Taking responsibility for one's actions also hinders the development of a sense of entitlement.

This is truth! 🙌

Save Our Water

1. WE MAY THINK OF OUR FUTURE SELVES AS IF THEY ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PEOPLE.

2. WHEN IT COMES TO LONG-TERM DECISIONS, WHAT MATTERS IS THE TYPE OF RELATIONSHIP THAT WE HAVE WITH THAT FUTURE PERSON.

3. TRY TO MAKE YOUR FUTURE SELF SEEM CLOSER.

4. STAY ON COURSE BY ADDING CONSTRAINTS TO OUR FUTURE BEHAVIOR.

5. MAKE PRESENT-DAY SACRIFICES FEEL EASIER TO UNDERTAKE.

A psychologist explains how you can train your brain to improve your future self now Insights from a psychologist that help make your future self more successful today.

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If only we could this too...

Japan's Women's World Cup team cleans stadium, leaves note after opening victory The women's national team also left behind a thank you message written on a white board

Get Off Your Phone and Be Present. Life is made up of millions of "once in a lifetime" moments. If you're staring at your screen, you're missing them! Get off your phone and reconnect with the extraordinary world around you.

BREAKING NEWS!
(Actually very late post. Sorry, sorry Ms. Frias 😢)

We are so happy and proud of our very own Ms. Samantha Frias, who graduated from El Camino Real High School. She started with us as an adorable 5-year old and now, she’s a gorgeous young lady.

We are blessed and fortunate to have her work with us in enriching the lives of our students and contributing to our community.

Congratulations Ms. Frias! Onward!

that time when the former crew came out to play 🥋💪

Today we celebrate and commemorate the birth of our country.

We are grateful to be in this great nation, the land of freedom, opportunity, and dreams. Sure, she's not perfect but we'd rather be here than anywhere else.

We wish everyone a wonderful and safe holiday.

BE HUMBLE

Modesty, in our mind, is the most important Tenet of Taekwondo.

We bow as a shared respect with one another.

We bow as a sign of our empty cup, that we are ready to learn, and as a sign of acceptance that we don't know everything.

We bow because we are ready to listen.

We bow as respect for others, for the learning process, and for everyone's journey.

We bow as a sign of gratitude that we are given the opportunity to learn, not only from our instructors and mentors but from one another, including our students.

It took us a long time to write this as it is heart wrenching. A tremendous loss like this takes time to process.

Our Taekwondo community lost one of its most loved and amazing members. Master Jimmy Kim passed away last Friday, June 23. He was the first American to win the gold medal in the Olympics in 1988. His illustrious career included gold medal finishes in the World Cup, PanAm Games, and World Games. He also captured the silver medal in the World Taekwondo Championships.

Eventually, he became a successful coach who nurtured and produced talented athletes.

In spite of his tremendous achievements and stature, he was one of the most humble people we’ve ever met. His amiability would make you think that he’s making an effort to make you feel comfortable around him. He shared respect with us by bowing to us as we bowed to him, even though he was our senior. His modesty was in stark contrast to how he fought in the ring, especially in the 1988 Olympics. Clearly, he embodied and balanced the two Tenets of Taekwondo - self-confidence and modesty.

He hosted one of, if not the best, local tournaments in California, the Jimmy Kim Invitational Taekwondo Championships in Long Beach. The well-organized and professional tournament was held in a beautiful venue - The Pyramid at CSU Long Beach. Each time, competitors, coaches, and parents would leave with satisfaction. His tournament attracted many of the best referees in California because they were given the treatment that they deserved. His desire to provide everyone with a wonderful experience can be encapsulated in one word - respect. He respected people’s time, effort, and investment.

Master Kim is the epitome of a Taekwondoin. Humble, caring, respectful, and dedicated.

He will be missed.

We offer our deepest condolences to his family.

- Catherine and Ulysses Marcelino

Jimmy Kim's Taekwondo Center - Laguna Niguel

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Powerful! 🔥

to our Muslim friends, and congratulations to the pilgrims who performed Hajj! May we all use this time to renew our commitment to work together to meet the challenges of our society.

Let's shout this from the mountaintops! ❤

Thank you Karim Saidi (FB: Karim saidi-art), for this powerful image.
We believe that children are inherently good, and when children become cruel, we need to look in the mirror and be curious if that was modeled in the home. Maybe not towards them, but in the conversations caregivers have about others, how they treat their spouse, how siblings are treated, or how a parent even treats people at the grocery store.
Our children are always watching. Be the person who you want your child to become.

Love this! 🧡

How I Bypassed a Dream College and Graduated Debt Free Being admitted to your #1 college choice. is a thrill. But that might not last when you see your financial aid package and figure out how much it will cost.

Yi Soon-Sin ... also known as Choong-Moo, namesake of the 1st gup pattern.

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(via on IG)

Yay! But please, continue to conserve water.

Photos show dramatic difference in water levels at Lake Oroville from 2021 to today, now at 100% capacity California's Lake Oroville, one of the many important reservoirs in the West that reached critically low levels during the height of the megadrought, is now filled to the brim. Before and after images of Enterprise Bridge offer a sharp comparison for Lake Oroville between July 22, 2021, and June 15,...

Modesty, one of the Tenets of Taekwondo.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad homies out there! We got this collection for ya.

Powerful! 🧡

PUMPED UP, FIRED UP, SUPER EXCITED!

We came back from the 2023 Taekwondo Professionals Convention and we are pumped, fired up, and super excited to put into action the many things that we have learned.

The convention was attended by almost 200 instructors from the USA and Canada. There were 10 speakers who discussed topics that included:

- How to teach classes that engage, inspire and grow your students
- Get to know, love, and enjoy teaching Little Tigers (Ages 3-5)
- Recruiting and developing the help you need to deliver World - - Class service
- Serving with passion and authenticity
- How to raise a family & run a prosperous dojang at the same time
- How to leverage technology in the classroom

Activities included roundtable discussions among instructors, Q&A sessions with the guest speakers, a morning workout led by a Canadian national team member and Olympian, and individual sessions by the guest speakers.

We are proud to say that we were the youngest and most diverse group. Our instructors were young only in age but they were quite mature in how they presented themselves in a professional manner.

Not only was the event insightful and transformative, but it left us reawakened and fuller. It reminded us of our primary responsibility, which is to teach and enrich the lives of our students. We will strive to be the best teachers that we can be.

Our intention from the onset is to invest in our employees and help them grow, whether they stay or not. If they stay, the school and our students will greatly benefit from their development and growth. If they choose to seek another profession, we are assured that we have given them skills and knowledge that they can use. When our employees leave, we want them to have seeds to plant for future growth.

We consider our employees our most valuable customers. When they are treated well and with respect and given the growth opportunities, the customers and the community will ultimately benefit. The growth of our employees is everyone’s growth. When we invest in our school and employees, we invest in our students and customers too.

Of course, we also had fun! Talk about combining business with pleasure! We visited the Niagara Falls State Park and went on The Maid of the Mist to get a close up look of the falls.

Our goal in attending the convention was achieved, which was to light a fire in all of us. It likewise helped us realize how noble our profession is.

We will plant trees that we'll never see.

We are Taekwondo Professionals.

Model what you want to see! 🙌
📷 Mom Brain Therapist