MISSION VIEJO TAEKWONDO

Mission Viejo Taekwondo is a member of the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) founded by Grandmaster H.U. Lee.  ATA has over 1,500 independently owned and operated licensed schools and clubs (world-wide), consisting of 300,000 men, women, and children among our members!  Working closely together, ATA headquarters and our schools and clubs ensure that any and all are welcome to learn the world's most popular, and most organized, martial art: Songahm Taekwondo.  If you are interested in learning Songahm Taekwondo for the first time, or if you are a previous member looking to get back into this awesome sport, please visit us.

The school is owned and operated by Mr. Jeff McClellan, pictured above with a Tiny Tiger student and his son, Josh McClellan.

                                Instructor Demerie Lee

Songahm Taekwondo

Songahm Taekwondo is a style of martial arts originating in Korean tradition. Songahm means "Pine Tree Temple/rock." The term Songahm itself represents "evergreen strength the year round, long life and a symbol of unchanging human loyalty" as represented by the pine tree and the rock. Grand Master Soon Ho Lee gave the name, Songahm, and its meaning to his brother, Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee years before H.U. Lee founded the ATA. Throughout a student's training, the student is compared to a growing pine tree, from a seed (white belt) to a massive tree (black belt).

Practitioners of Songahm Taekwondo study poome sae (forms, a preset combination of offensive and defensive techniques, designed to simulate sparring an imaginary opponent), gyeo-roo-gi (sparring), one-steps (scripted sparring segments), self defense, board breaking, weapons and leadership. Songahm Taekwondo has a leadership program that allows students to work as junior leaders/instructors in junior classes. This helps the trainee instructors become qualified Taekwondo instructors and earn the ATA title of Certified Instructor.

	The "Songahm Star" is the pattern that is formed on the ground if all 18 forms of the Songahm system are completed. In a perfect Songahm Star, the distance from the center point of the star to the top point is nine feet ("feet" being the student's foot length). The total distance from the top point to the bottom point equals 18 feet, representing the number of forms in the Songahm system.