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The Military Arts Institute (MAI) has an international reputation in high-quality martial arts education. It was founded in 1963 by Grandmaster Kyung Sun Shin, a world-renowned martial arts instructor and former competitor.
Here at MAI, we place emphasis on both the sporting and traditional aspects of Tae Kwon Do and Judo. We do not participate in the sporting aspect of Hapkido as that particular martial art is more self-defense oriented and it’s lethal techniques could result in severe injury if applied to a competitive environment.
Military Arts Institute has expanded to include instructions in the martial arts of Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Hapkido and Chi Kung. All of our classes are taught by black belts, many of whom have been students of Grandmaster Shin’s for many years. Grandmaster Shin himself is present at most of the classes, ensuring that a high quality of instruction is always maintained.
World-renowned master instructor Grandmaster Shin has been doing martial arts since he was a little boy in Korea, rising to prominence while still in his late teens. As early as 1971, he was named by the popular Black Belt Magazine publication as a “20th Century Warrior”.
The fact that MAI has been in existence for almost 4 decades says a lot about our quality of instruction in the martial arts. There are many schools that are owned and operated by high-ranking instructors, but we’re one of the only ones where the chief instructor actively teaches and supervises each class.
Unlike some schools that have gotten to large for their instructors to handle, you will never see a lower-ranking colored belt student teaching classes here at MAI. Every class, from children’s to advanced classes, will be led by either Grandmaster Shin, or a black belt assistant instructor that has been personally trained and approved by him.
In addition, there is always at least one or two black belts assisting in each class, even in the beginner classes. At many large schools, beginning and lower-ranking students get overlooked and overwhelmed due to the impossibly large number of people in the class but this is not the case at MAI. Beginning students usually get taken aside and are given personalized attention to help them catch up with the rest of the students.
The loyalty and dedication that many students of Grandmaster Shin feel toward him and the school is evident at many of our classes. One of our Judo black belts, John O’Malley, started learning Judo with Grandmaster Shin when he was 10 years old. He is now 40, and actively participates in classes at MAI together with his son and daughter.
The martial arts is generally a very safe activity to participate in, incurring way less injuries than popular sports such as football, basketball, skiing, etc. When injuries occur, many times they are due to careless acts such as students falling on top of one another or accidentally striking the person next to them. These accidents are usually because of training areas that are way too small to accommodate large number of students.
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