Coronado's home for Taekwondo - we were SO GLAD when they opened, as there aren't many martial arts options nearby. This is the only place on the island where you can leard this Olympic sport--and even more. Though our kids stick to TKD, the Coronado Training Center also manages to wedge in Muay Thai kickboxing and traditional boxing as well. Oh, and there's a morning ladies kickboxing class.
The place opened in the spring, so the highest belts in Taekwondo are still pretty junior. The TKD classes are small, but getting larger - I think the most students I've ever seen is about 20, which left each student with plenty of room in this converted bank (the vault is still there). Dan Boyle, the master (or in Korean, "sah bum nim"), is a big, gruff guy who looks like a bodyguard and sounds like a Boston firefighter - the kids listen to him very carefully as a result, especially when he encourages them (which happens a lot).
Dan is a careful, patient, demanding teacher - he expects the kids (as young as six) to learn not only the sport, but also the traditional "forms", including all the Korean terminology for each move. (Seeing my seven year old doling out snap kicks while yelling in Korean was one for the scrapbook.) Mixed in with all this is the usual encouragement for "trying your hardest" at school, etc., which is a useful thing to draw on when my son balks at homework.
I don't know as much about the boxing or Muay Thai, other than there seem to be lots of students in their late teens/early 20's waiting for my son's TKD class to end - and I read a newspaper article about one of Dan's Muay Thai students who might end up in the UFC, so I guess these classes are up to the standard of his TKD program. read more