Golden Eagle Taekwondo — Local services in Katy

I was not planning on doing a review but I felt it was needed. Let me start with saying I have over 20 years of Taekwondo experience which is why I thought I did my research in finding the perfect place for my son. I'd like to break this review into 3 different parts: Taekwondo lessons, Philosophy & Exposure and Cost.

Taekwondo Lessons - We initially signed up for 6 months and it went fantastic, I thought it was the right decision but soon after we signed a 1 year contract, the main instructor Master Kim vanished and the lessons started to suffer. They talk about the classes being balanced between conditioning, forms and sparring. The classes are minimally technique driven...most of the time it is cardio and exercise driven. It is a shame because the masters are quite skilled themselves. I was finding myself having to teach my son the forms since they end up spending only 10-15 minutes on forms day. Same with sparring, the classes would only spend maybe 10 minutes actually sparring. From my experience, I was soon realizing the students were going up in belts fast but the skill and experience were lacking. One large observation was the fact that none of the students were allowed to kick to the head which is scary because it is a full contact sport especially when they reach black belt. For board breaking I was finding myself having to challenge my son because they use paper thin demo boards for belt testing which quite a bit of students were still having issues breaking but yet passing.

Philosophy & Exposure - From my experience, any martial arts is the art of self-defense which means you should be learning the tools and skills to be able to defend yourself if needed. I do not feel this is the philosophy at Golden Eagle Taekwondo which is fine but it just was not for us. My son was not being challenged and he was not gaining the skill sets to perform the techniques effectively. I know this because of my experience and because we ended up going to a different school and within 3 weeks I see more growth than when we were with Golden Eagle for a year and few months. They do not give students great exposure since they only have tournaments that are within their Golden (schools) and the only tournaments offered are out of state which does not make sense since we live in Texas. Also, the few tournaments offered are ones that ONLY belong to some ATU (American Taekwondo Union) organization and not USAT or AAU. They did go to one USAT sanctioned tournament in Las Vegas last year but that did not make any sense since the students were not at an advanced level nor did they have a lot of competition or any which is a huge cost burden to families. The whole point of going to tournaments is to test the student's skill levels against other schools so I'm not sure why they decide to not attend local tournaments considering there are a ton in Texas.

Cost - I only paid for the monthly payments because from my experience I could assess and gauge what was appropriate and worth my son's time. I won't go into specifics but it is important to get the whole picture when it comes to expenses. I have never experienced a school that charges for every little thing and makes up additional items in order to charge more to the parents. I understand people need to run it like a business but all the cost charges are insane when they are not competing at a high level. Also, be careful about the contracts, I signed my 1 year renewal when the main instructor was still there but soon after disappeared. Thankfully, my son's new school is allowing us to go there for FREE until my contract is up with Golden Eagle which is only another month now. So when martial art schools talk about black belt contracts which are long-term, be careful signing those.

The owners are really good people but unfortunately when you pay for a service, you expect results. I found myself not even wanting to bring my son to Taekwondo because of my frustration with the direction they are heading. Hopefully the owners takes this feedback into future...

Golden Eagle has a great set up when it comes to exercise and how much time is set aside for the certain objectives. During Form days they are very careful about giving a good amount of time to teach the forms to the student. 10-15 minutes may not seem long but with my experience teaching children you find that the students sometimes have a hard time focusing for long periods of time having to do the same exact routine over and over again. Giving about 15 minutes to teach the students is a nice happy medium for the students to learn. They encourage you to record an instructor or Master doing the students form as well so that the parents do not need worrying about having to teach their child a new form. This also teaches them responsibility at a young age to practice on their own and learn the forms themselves outside of class time. They have about the same routine when it comes to sparring. They set a certain amount of time aside to let the students spar. They always set aside enough time to let each student spar at least one time. This is nice because sometimes it is very hard for students to do more than one round of sparring. I learned that they also have a rule that until your child is a certain age they are not allowed to kick face during sparring matches. This is really nice to know because this is a safety rule so that your child's head won't be of any danger during a sparring match. The way they test is in favor for younger children as well. For testing they use very thin boards for children of younger ages. This way it is easier for the child to break the board, building self confidence for the child and giving them a good ratio of hardship when it comes to breaking wood. A lot of children are scared during testing and I believe this is a nice way of handling it for them. Recently one of the head instructors has not been present for any of the classes but they have several instructors that are great at their job! Just like every business change will happen and sadly the workers are the ones to change but, they make sure that nothing will get in the way of teaching Taekwondo skills, discipline, and responsibility to...

If you're looking for the best TaeKwonDo school in Katy or Fulshear, TX, look no further than the excellent program offered by Golden Eagle TaeKwonDo. This school offers world-class TKD instruction in a welcoming and encouraging environment that's perfect for students of all ages and skill levels.

One of the things that sets this school apart is the quality of its instructors. All of the Masters are highly trained and experienced in the art of Tae Kwon Do, they have successfully represented Mexico on international competitions and they're passionate about sharing their knowledge with their students. They're patient and supportive, and every day they go the extra mile to ensure that each student is making progress and achieving their goals.

Another thing that makes this school so special is its emphasis on community. The students and instructors are all like-minded individuals who share a love of TaeKwonDo, and they're all supportive of one another. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced student, they will make you feel like you're part of a family.

The team of Instructors are also very supportive and caring, you can feel it right from the front desk, where you’re always greeted with a smile. Here, you'll find everything you need to succeed at this outstanding school.

And lastly, Master Um’s motto that is key in these troubled times we are living on: “Instilling Yesterday’s Values to Live Your Best Life in Today’s World”

This place is truly special, me and my family are blessed to...