ChampYon TaeKwonDo USA Academy
About
ChampYon TaeKwonDo USA Academy on East 112th Street
ChampYon TaeKwonDo USA Academy is a family-owned martial arts academy on East 112th Street in the East Side neighborhood of Chicago, serving families since 1982. More than four decades in the same neighborhood means generations of South Side families have come through the program, with parents who trained as kids now bringing their own children to the same dojo.
Kids Martial Arts Programs
The kids program starts at age 4 and runs through teens, structured around the World Taekwondo Olympic-style curriculum:
- Stances and basic blocks
- The Taegeuk poomsae forms
- Kicking combinations: front, roundhouse, side, axe, and spinning
- Structured one-step sparring
- Light controlled kyorugi sparring with protective gear as students advance
What's Included
- Color belt progression from white to black with stripes between
- The five tenets: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, indomitable spirit
- Younger groups focus on listening, motor control, and confidence
- Older kids work on conditioning, kicking precision, and longer poomsae
- Optional but encouraged tournament participation
- Trial classes available
Experience
The academy weaves the five tenets of taekwondo into how kids handle setbacks at the dojo and at school. It serves families from East Side, South Deering, Hegewisch, the Indiana border communities, and the wider South Chicago area. Four decades of continuity under the same head instructor's lineage makes it a fit for South Side families wanting a long-standing, neighborhood-rooted program with Olympic-style structure.