Carson Clews, owner of ATA Martial Arts in Keizer, has been teaching classes at the facility for more than five years.
Despite popular belief, martial arts is a lot more than just punching wood boards and learning to do cool kicks. For some it provides discipline, patience and self defense.
ATA Martial Arts provides all of that, while also allowing students to punch boards and learn to do cool kicks like a ninja.
Carson Clews, one of the instructors and owner of ATA Martial Arts, has been working there for five-and-half years after he bought the studio from a friend.
Before then, he worked for another instructor at a different studio.
“The opportunity came up and I knew I wanted to have my own school. There’s a big difference between teaching in someone else’s school and having your own school to decide what direction your program takes people,” Clews said.
One thing Clews believes sets ATA apart from other martial art studios is their focus on goal setting.
“Instead of telling the students what direction they need to go, as far as goals, we want the students to discover what goals get them pumped,” he said.
Although Clews and his team want students to succeed, they also encourage the idea of treating failure as a good thing and a way for students to challenge themselves.
“We want them to push themselves to a level until they experience failure. And when they experience failure, we want it to be guided,” Clews said.
Guided means providing a safe environment with padded equipment and instructors there to help students. Clews wants his students to view failure as a positive learning opportunity instead of a negative experience, he said.
ATA Martial Arts offers classes for all ages and even classes for families to take as well. The programs will focus on the basics of Taekwondo and some of the fundamentals of self defense as well.
Those interested can sign up for classes at https://keizerata.com/