XML   Allendale MI — Grand Valley State University
XML   Coldwater MI — Coldwater Taekwondo Academy *
HTML  Grand Haven MI — Headquarters Chapter — GM Monte Beghtol, 10th Dan, presiding
XML   Grand Haven MI — White Pines Middle School
HTML  Grand Rapids MI — Grand Rapids Karate Academy
XML   Grand Rapids MI — Hunting YMCA Tae Kwon Do *
XML   Grandville MI — Visser Family YMCA Tae Kwon Do *
XML   Montague MI — White Lake Tae Kwon Do *
HTML  Muskegon MI — Blue Wave Martial Arts
HTML  Muskegon Heights MI — Muskegon Heights Korean Karate Academy
XML   Norton Shores MI — Christian Karate Academy *
XML   Otsego MI — Issac D. Pratt *
XML   Spring Lake MI — Wesleyan Korean Karate Club
XML   Brookings OR — South Coast Fitness Center *

* More info requested: — Those listings above bearing asterisks as yet lack separate, individual web pages and so are listed as topic headings on a common XML document. As volunteer webmaster for the association, I would very much like to create individual pages for each of those chapters just as I did for our own in Kalamazoo. There is no cost whatsoever to either the association or any of its members beyond myself. I would ask, however, that head instructors should appoint someone who will keep me up-to-date on relevent information about their chapters: contact info, instructor bios, photos, etc. As an alternative should your chapter already have a stand-alone webiste, then simply provide me the link so that I may list it here. Please also inform me of any chapters I may have somehow overlooked. My email is bottom-most on this page.

(Recited by dan ranks and senior students to GM Beghtol
at the terminus of org-wide, black-belt training sessions.)

This knowledge I assure you will not be used as a physical weapon to kill any human being.

It will kill only my own greed, arrogance, anger and folly.

It will not be an object of destruction, but a symbol of constructive deeds of justice, compassion, and love.

I vow to take responsibility to perform only the purest deeds and live in service to all living and feeling beings.

I promise to never dishonor your teaching.

HTML  Our esteemed Grandmaster Monte Beghtol awarded 10th Dan
HTML  Items with the WMTKD logo available at Cafe Press.
XML  Outside Links — Other orgs, search pages, etc.

The history of Western Michigan Tae Kwon Do begins with Professor Monte W Beghtol. In January 1963, Pf. Beghtol began training and progressed to black belt with Ernie Leib in the American Karate System. At his 1st Dän testing, Pf. Beghtol was fortunate enough to spar with Mr. Bill “Super-foot” Wallace and Tadashi Yamashita both excellent men and well known in the martial arts. Pf. Beghtol began training in 1967 with Mr. Edward B Sell from Detroit in Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan with The Korean Tae Kwon Do Association of America which became The U.S. Chung Do Kwan Association, of which Pf. Beghtol was the Vice-President for many years. Chung Do Kwan translates as the "Blue Wave School" or the "True Path School" ; waves being an endless source of power and knowledge expressed in the "water principles", Chung being Chinese for mean or center with a Confucian philosophy of Chung that describes "correct action flows naturally when we stay close to the center". On September 30, 1973, Pf. Beghtol earned his 4th Dän testing before Dr. Un-Yong Kim in Detroit, MI. This achievement made Pf. Beghtol the 2nd Non-Asian in the world to achieve the rank of Kukkiwon Certified 4th Dän Black-Belt surpassed only by Mr. Edward Sell.

A master Instructor certified by the World Tae Kwon Do Federation and Kukkiwon and now carrying the rank of 9th Dän, he formed the Western Michigan Tae Kwon Do Association in 1981 (WMTKDA). The purpose was to grow beyond the limits of traditional TKD and explore all techniques that can aid in self-defense in a practical way. Pf. Beghtol teaches techniques from every imaginable source. His philosophy is simple and expressed in the phrase he coined many years ago "If it works on me today, its Tae Kwon Do tomorrow." Imitation being the supreme form of flattery, some others now use similar phrasing.

Pf. Beghtol has promoted more than 300 persons to the level of Black Belt, and many of those have gone further in their studies to achieve higher ranks and successful schools of their own. In 1995, Mr. Beghtol began performing occasional workouts at the training school of Mr. Dan “The Beast” Severn (Ultimate Fighting Champion) and on April 1, 1997- Mr. Beghtol received his 9th Dän Professorship while testing under Moore’s World Tae Kwon Do and induction into The World Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Professor Beghtol, and Mr. Dan Severn both received inductions on July 19, 1997 in Texas.

Pf. Beghtol continues to honor us by teaching on Wednesdays at the Grand Haven venue, White Pines Middle School, from 6pm-8pm, as well as at the association black belt workouts every 6 weeks. His teachings transcend the martial arts and if we let them, help us to be better people, more disciplined, self-confident and thus able to be more compassionate and understanding with others in the rest of our daily lives.

The Western Michigan Tae Kwon Association consists of active schools in Allendale, Coldwater, Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Kalamazoo, Montague, Muskegon, Norton Shores, and Walker. All adhere to a core cirriculum established by Pf. Beghtol with freedom to add individual requirements.

E-Mail  This page is composed in XML format using a plain ASCII text editor. I last updated it on 2007-04-14 at 14:23 hours testing in the Firefox 2.02 browser. Please email to report any problems (other than MSIE’s CSS shortcomings).