The American Taekwondo Association (ATA) is the premier North American organization dedicated to the martial arts discipline of taekwondo, and is the founding organization of other international affiliates that include the World Traditional Taekwondo Union (WTTU) and the Songahm

Taekwondo Federation (STF). Counting both the U.S. and worldwide, our organizations have over 1,500 licensed schools and clubs, and we are beginning to register over 300,000 members.

Since the first class was taught many years ago, the focus of our program has remained the same: to provide students the highest quality martial arts instruction available in a safe and positive learning environment that people of all ages can enjoy. Our instructors combine excellent student instructor ratios with state of the art training facilities. This has helped establish ATA schools and clubs as the leaders in the martial arts industry. Each instructor is a graduate of an instructor program that represents more than thirty years of research and development. He or she will be with you every step of the way to help you reach your individual goals (and maybe even reach some new goals you never before thought possible).

Brief ATA History

In 1968, Korean General Hong Hi Choi (the man responsible for originally standardizing Taekwondo in 1955) met with then Master Haeng Ung Lee (now Eternal Grand Master), who at the time was teaching Taekwondo-Japanese mixed martial arts to his organization of followers. General Choi quickly taught Eternal Grand Master Lee the first 16 Cheon-jee forms of Taekwondo in only 4 days and three nights.

From this first meeting almost half a century ago, the stage was set for the founding of The American Taekwondo Association (ATA) in 1969 in Omaha, Nebraska by Eternal Grand Master Lee.

The ATA held "closed" tournaments -- you had to be a member to compete. Instructors had to undergo a rigorous trainee period to become a certified instructor, and the only way to receive certification was to come to Little Rock for a week in August and participate in a Trainee Instructor Camp, complete with physical and written exams.

Every student uniform was white (no black, no blue, no stars & stripes), and all lettering, piping and patches (initially just a school patch and the ATA patch) on uniforms were to be consistent across the organization. The ATA also shared marketing acumen with its instructors, helping to build a stronger organization by presenting a consistent, professional program and message to the public.

From its humble beginnings, today the ATA and its affiliated organizations is beginning to register over 300,000 members worldwide, including 53,000 black belts and 3,000 certified instructors.

In many ways, this is still just the beginning. We know the ATA has many wonderful surprises in store for Taekwondo in the United States and across the world. We hope you will journey with us as the ATA, and Songahm Taekwondo, continues to evolve and improve to help our students and masters do the same.