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AMERICAN TAE KWON DO ACADEMY

20 White Oak Drive, Asbury, NJ 08802 (908) 730-7151

Frank R. Coppola III-President
ATKDA@earthlink.net

FRANK

COPPOLA

A fifth degree black belt, Frank Coppola has been practicing Tae Kwon Do since 1986. His introduction to martial arts came through a chance encounter with the sport, but, once involved, he was hooked for life. As many enthusiasts can understand, sometimes the union between avocation and vocation can be a perfect fit. For Frank, sharing Tae Kwon Do through his American Tae Kwon Do Academy has been rewarding beyond any of his expectations.

Growing up in New Jersey, Frank was your typical nice kid, and often got picked on for being too easy-going. Not aggressive by nature, he tried to avoid conflict at every turn. As a teenager, Frank was once assaulted by four classmates and narrowly escaped serious injury. He describes the incident as one of the scariest moments of his life, a feeling of pure terror and helplessness.

The karate movies and other martial arts sports he watched on Saturday morning television appealed to him, but, with no martial arts schools nearby, he wasn’t able to turn that interest into action. It was in 1986, upon entering Gettysburg College, where the opportunity finally presented itself. At school, he noticed a flyer advertising Non-Contact Korean Karate taught by Ted Hillson. Frank went to investigate a class and walked in to see Ted fighting a man easily twice his size. Although Frank was intimidated at that first live glimpse into martial arts as a sport, he returned to try the class, and the rest is, as the saying goes, history.

From the moment he learned a basic Rising Block, Frank was hooked. At first it was simply a chance at a fresh start. The blend of mental discipline, physical rigor, focus on process, and skill-building inherent in Tae Kwon Do matched Frank’s nature so well he was soon taking classes four times a week with Ted at Gettysburg as well as traveling into New York City during school breaks to train with Ted’s instructor, Grandmaster Son Duk Sung. As Frank progressed through the ranks of belts, he helped instruct lower belts and discovered his natural talent for teaching.

Upon graduation from college, Frank found himself back in New Jersey and frustrated by the local martial arts schools now in the area. The disinterested teaching, high costs, and inferior workouts stood in sharp contrast to the four years of instruction Frank had received with Ted and Grandmaster Son. A co-worker, John Love, suggested to Frank that he start his own program. In November 1990, Frank established the American Tae Kwon Do Academy and signed on John Love as his first student. For three years, Frank taught class twice a week in Clinton, New Jersey while continuing his own training with both Ted in Gettysburg and Grandmaster Son in New York City.

Word spread about the school Frank began, so much so that, from 1993 through 1997, he taught Tae Kwon Do full time, teaching 27 hours each week in as many as 13 different locations throughout central New Jersey, including classes at AT&T, J&J, Beneficial Corporation, the Somerset Hills YMCA, and at his own studio in Bernardsville. One Friday a month, Frank would take his senior students into NYC to attend a special black belt workout with Grandmaster Son’s school. In 1996, Ted Hillson and Frank decided to separate from Grandmaster Son’s World Tae Kwon Do Association and operate independently under Ted’s South Central Tae Kwon Do Association, headquartered in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.

In 1997, one of Frank’s students, Brian Kelly, offered him a chance to begin a career on Wall Street as a coffee trader at the Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange. Frank closed his studio to pursue this venture. After a few years, he accepted another challenge through another student, Pat Shallis, to join First New York Securities as an international equity trader, where he remained until 2004. During this time on Wall Street, Frank continued teaching Tae Kwon Do part-time at Xercise in Bedminster and the Somerset Hills YMCA.

In 2004, Frank decided to focus more energy into his school and to lead a less stressful life by leaving Wall Street. In March of 2005, Frank established his own construction company, Coppola Brothers LLC, named after his two sons, Mitchell and Joseph. Frank’s senior students, many of whom were by now third degree black belts, began teaching classes at other locations, and quickly the program’s membership exploded. As the school grew into hundreds of students, Frank’s early lessons in sharing knowledge through students teaching others, remaining humble, and being supportive of all fellow students regardless of skill level or ability had become cornerstones of the American Tae Kwon Do Academy. The fellowship, camaraderie and family-friendly atmosphere of the school mean that students of all ages can enjoy the workouts in an environment that fosters confidence and encouragement. The entire school takes very seriously its mission statement: Family Exercise with a Purpose. Currently, Frank teaches three classes each week and his wife, Miranda, a second degree black belt, teaches her own program for small children, aptly named “Tot” Kwon Do.

In May 2004, Frank was awarded his fifth degree black belt by Ted Hillson. During his promotion ceremony, Frank was required to spar simultaneously four third-degree black belts in self-defense. The helpless, scared kid no more; Frank calmly faced his opponents with the knowledge, skill and experience of 18 years’ of Tae Kwon Do training. To date, Frank has taught over 5,000 people the art and artistry of Tae Kwon Do. John Love, that first student who had encouraged Frank to start his own school in 1990, received his fourth degree black belt from Frank and Ted in November 2005; fifteen years to the month after Frank started the American Tae Kwon Do Academy. Frank is proud to offer students the same opportunity Ted offered him: a chance to learn self-defense and get in shape or, as in Frank’s case; an opportunity to make history.