Cosette Pease recently made the cover of She Magazine, a popular magazine for women based out of Sioux Falls, SD. Pease, a 2nd Degree Level 4 Black Belt, is a student and trainer at Tiger-Rock Martial Arts of Sioux Falls. In the featured article, Pease talks about her journey through Taekwondo and the benefits of participating in the sport.

Chelsea McMurtrie from Pflugerville, TX, was one of the many volunteers that helped raise over $175,000 for the Central Texas chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. To encourage contributions Chelsea volunteered to rappel 32 stories (or 372 feet!) down an Austin skyscraper.  Nothing shook McMurtrie's focus on the good that could be done with the funds she raised – not even her intense fear of heights or the fact she had never repelled before! She was in the top group of fundraisers, so over the edge she went.

For those of you who are trekking to the 2012 Tiger-Rock Martial Arts World Championship, it's important to have healthy snacks to-go rather than stopping and eating fast food or convenience store snacks.

Are YOU the next face of Tiger-Rock Martial Arts?

Tiger-Rock Martial Arts is looking for new faces to model Tiger-Rock gear in upcoming marketing campaigns. If you’re interested, send us your head shot and full body shot wearing Tiger-Rock gear. Tiger-Rock is looking for non-professional models between the ages of 7 and 32. Winners will be contacted by 724 Impact and more information will be provided.

It isn't every day you can look at a painting completed by a 10-year-old and be speechless, except in Hasitha Tatineni's case. She is a 2nd Degree Level 1 Junior Black Belt studying at Johnson's Taekwondo Academy in Cary, N.C., and was asked by Trainer Bryson Johnson if she would paint something for the school.

"My inspiration was the encouragement that Mr. Johnson gave me in order to work on the painting," she said. "If you hope for something you will never get it, but if you say you will then your dreams will come true," she added.

The helmets that Tiger-Rock Taekwondo students wear are now being worn outside of the world of martial arts. The Louisville basketball team is now incorporating the use of dip foam helmets during their practice sessions to help prevent concussions.

This is the month that many of our youth are heading back to school. The start of the new school year brings with it many opportunities. For example, we can use this time to start incorporating healthy habits into our everyday lives. One way to accomplish this is to plan (with your child's input of course) to attend 2 lessons a week at your Tiger-Rock Taekwondo academy.

Tiger Rock black belt, Ryan Brandt was featured in the Cary News, as well as the Raleigh News and Observer in August for his participation in a Community project with two of his buddies. For 10 days, Ryan and his Salem Middle School classmates, collected 14 bags (or 122 pounds) of recyclables and kept it all from being thrown out at a local store in Apex, North Carolina! Without a recycling program, the three 14 year olds saw the opportunity to make an impact in their community with their Earth Day Project at this local store.

Tiger-Rock must show its importance as an innovator in Taekwondo to become part of Taekwondo history. The Taekwondo Park encompasses the past, present, and the future of Taekwondo. People who have paved the way for progressive evolution and who have made a major contribution to the history of Taekwondo will be remembered forever in The Taekwondo Park via commemorative pieces and within the Hall of Fame and Grand Master Museum. Now is the time to show the significant impact Tiger-Rock contributes to the overall benefit of the world.

Look in your closet or bedroom right now, and I'm sure that you'll find that you have more shoes than you need. Many of us don't know what it's like to only own a pair of shoes…or worse, not own any shoes. But many other people do know that feeling all too well, so charitable organizations like Soles for Souls make it a mission to help provide people basic staples of life like shoes. Martial Artists on a Mission is a local organization with the goal of collecting 5000 pairs of gently used shoes for redistribution to the poor, both domestically and abroad. In one year, they collected 4200 pairs of shoes that were then shipped to Soles for Souls for distribution. Everyone at Tiger-Rock Martial Arts of Sugarland contributed greatly, but one student went above and beyond for her community. Jahvni Besherdas collected 1000 pairs of shoes from her academic school!

Chesapeake, Virginia – Students from the Virginia TaeKwonDo Academy adopted a city park in Chesapeake, Virginia.  More than 100 Academy Students set their sights on the clean up of the Cedar Road Crossing City Park on June 11.

Students spent the day working for the City of Chesapeake pitching in to clean up trash and debris at the park.

"This is part of our tenet of Community by giving back," said Third Degree Black Belt Gabby Baker. "It's a little warm out here today, but the work will still get done."

Tiger-Rock Martial Arts franchisees Jeff Dousharm and Jason Reed were featured on the cover of Strictly Business magazine. “Strictly Business is a direct mailed news and marketing magazine. A publication containing vital Lincoln and Omaha business information, it’s mailed into the hands of nearly every CEO, business owner and key executive in the city.

Twelve year old Kaynan Goldberg received her 1st Degree Black Belt on June 8th, 2011! Leading up to this momentous occasion, Kaynan spent 6 months working on her blog about healthy eating, VeggiesGoCrunch.com. Topics on her site range from buying from the local Farmer's Market to the health benefits of drinking coconut water to rehydrating after TaeKwonDo!

Tiger-Rock Martial Arts teaches more than just fitness and martial arts. Life Balance is a key lesson taught in every class. Students, instructors, families and even staff are reminded of the mental and emotional benefits in having a balanced life. In this day and age, time management is essential. Today's stress and time management factors often lead executives, employees and families to a state of unhealthy imbalance. Work is important but often it's made a priority for such a long time that things such as rest, relaxation and family time get severely neglected. When this happens long enough, our body, mind and lifestyle suffer. To counter this trend, Tiger-Rock Martial Arts teaches students about achieving a balance between each element in their life. Downtime and spending time with people you care about is very rejuvenating and leads to long term success at every level.

Make your plans now to enjoy some hot competition in the warm summer city of Baton Rouge this July.  In Baton Rouge there is something for everyone!  Louisiana’s capital city, Baton Rouge has the home spun hospitality and charm of a small town, as well as the energy and vitality expected in a flourishing city.

With more than 600 restaurants representing cuisine from around the world Baton Rouge has earned a reputation for pleasing the most discriminating palettes.  From fresh seafood to sizzling steaks, cool Caribbean to authentic Italian, Baton Rouge has a wonderful selection of entrees to suit your budget.  So whether you are looking for an elegant dining room, a shady sidewalk, a colonial tavern or cozy bistro, Baton Rouge has a wonderful table waiting for you.

Tiger-Rock Martial Arts International is an innovative company dedicated to creating the most effective programs possible.  Continuing research and a better understanding of how training methods affect social, physical, and cognitive development is just one way we accomplish this.  To better understand the influence martial arts have on strengthening self-esteem Tiger-Rock Martial Arts International helped sponsor a research study conducted by the University of West Florida.

The purpose of the study was to determine if a correlation existed between martial arts training as an enhancement experience for the development of academic and self-esteem among pre and early adolescents.  The data was collected from over 100 locations which were delivering the Tiger-Rock curriculum.  The samples represented a mix of socio-economical levels, gender, and academic ability.  Two survey instruments were administered to two groups (students and instructors) pre and post commencing with an eight month training period.  The researchers selected Coopersmith’s Inventory School Form which measures attitude toward self in social, academic, and personal context and Behavioral Academic Self-Esteem Rating Scale which measures academic self-esteem. 

Results of this study found that martial arts instruction contributed to an increase in students’ self-esteem.  This further supports previous studies which provided evidence that many socially incompetent behaviors could change significantly following martial arts training.  Implications of this study and future research suggest that traditional martial arts training should be a routine component for adolescent development.