Sean Bragg

RANK: 3rd Degree L4

INSTRUCTOR STATUS: Certified

DOB: 1/4/80

Birthplace: Bryan, Tx

Favorite Book: Ender’s Game

Favorite Movie: Glory

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Ice Cream: Vanilla

Goal: To learn everything.

Taekwondo essay:

I started my training in 1991. When I reached 1st Degree, my family moved to New Braunfels and I was unable to continue training due to the commute (roughly 55 minutes one way.) Mr. McCulloch was a 1st degree trainee instructor. There was only 1 school in Austin and it was fitted with thin, semi-absorbent carpet laid over poorly leveled, non-absorbent concrete. The Alliance was still known as the USTA. After a 10-year break from Taekwondo, I returned to a system that had undergone significant changes from the one I’d remembered. For many people, change represents something ominous, or tedious. Having to break old habits and forcibly learn new ones means putting in more work than most people want to endure. As a 10 year old earning a new rank meant learning new forms and new definitions every couple of months, but it never seemed like work. It was the beginning of something new and exciting. It also meant I could hit people harder and harder in sparring. On returning to the USTA, I found it was no longer called the USTA. It was the ITA. They’d added a new belt and made Senior levels for all color belts (effectively doubling the number of ranks.) The Austin area had expanded to 6 schools, most of which were run by people whom had not even started Taekwondo when I was leaving. Mr. McCulloch was a 5th degree and had opened a school in San Marcos. To sum up the drastic nature of the changes; my last sparring match in 1994 was against another 10 year old 1st Degree. My very next sparring match was 10 years later against 3rd degree Mr. Ryan Sykes. The perseverance learned from Taekwondo aided me in surviving that beating and the many to follow. There are few activities where you can be so completely outclassed at first only to improve yourself tenfold within a few months. To those who react to future changes negatively I have this to say: Spar Mr. Sykes if you are having trouble putting it all into perspective. I returned to a much improved and matured system feeling all the luckier to be a part of it. For me, Taekwondo doesn’t represent so much a way of defending myself as it does a way of life. There are certainly many reasons why the ITA has distanced itself from other Taekwondo schools when it comes to actual and physical self-defense methods. However, it is the ethics of the ITA system that mean so much to me. The tenets are all universal principles that can be applied to everyone’s lives. They are the reason I continue to choose to be a part of the program. I’ve met hundreds of children and adults whom I have been privileged to watch improve both physically and mentally as Taekwondo works its magic. I’m never surprised by the good it does, but I’m always proud to see it working for them like it did for me. Taekwondo has done nothing, but good for me as I’ve explained for the last few paragraphs. It has also positively influenced my wife and son. Being able to share Taekwondo with them has had many benefits. One of the most obvious, and greatest, benefits for me is to know that my wife is far safer, when alone, than before. The second, of course, is that when it comes time to settle disputes at home and we strap on the sparring gear, I usually win.'''