Taekwondo Life Magazine

Pete Alonso is the 2019 Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year. He was also the 2019 MLB Home run Leader, the single-season leading home run leader by a NY Met, and the all time home run leader (53) in a rookie season in Major League Baseball history. While these facts may be known to baseball fans around the globe, what is less known about Pete Alonso is his love for Taekwondo and his history with the martial art. Pete Alonso talks with host, Marc Zirogiannis, about his life and...

Samery Moras is a 4th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo and former US Team competitor. She is a 6-time US Collegiate National Champion and Team Member in Olympic-style Sparring. She is also the owner of AMYS Martial Arts, which has two locations in Utah. Samery has one of the largest Taekwondo channels on YouTube where she shares her passion of Taekwondo through tutorials, training tips, and Taekwondo vlogs. In 2018 she was selected by YouTube as a NextUp Creator and was invited to a week-long...

Justin Faiferlick is the inaugural head coach for the Iowa Central College Taekwondo program. Faiferlick led five Iowa Central students to state championships in the spring 2015 through Faiferlick Martial Arts before ICCC started their program. Faiferlick talks with Marc Zirogiannis about his over 32 years of Martial Arts experience and his work for the Iowa Air National Guard. Justin is a 6th degree black belt in Taekwondo and holds a black belt rank in Sogo Ryu Bujutsu. He has competed at...

Jesse V. Johnson is a martial artist, writer, and Director. He is a "Triple Threat" of the the action-film genre. From competitive martial artist to Stuntman to filmmaker he has embarked on a journey to change the way people view martial arts action films. Together with Scott Adkins, Taekwondo action star, he has combined great scripts, solid stories, and beautiful cinematography with realistic fight scenes to make the next generation of martial arts action films. He talks with Marc...

Steven Lambert is one of the most famous stuntmen to have ever worked in movies. He never dreamt of being a Hollywood star when he grew up on streets of Brooklyn, NY in the 1950's. After moving to California it was his practice and training in the martial arts, first with Taekwondo, and then onto Kung-Fu, that paved the way for his Hollywood journey. In this episode he talks to Marc Zirogiannis about his new book, From The Streets Of Brooklyn To The Halls Of Hollywood, which chronicles his...

Anastasija Zolotic is a rising star in the competitive Taekwondo landscape. She is one of the exciting young stars of the USA Taekwondo program. While her future is bright, and her career is just beginning, she has already amassed an impressive record. At just 17 years old she has already had a Gold medal winning performance at the Pan Am games. Her medal winning performance at her very first Senior Grand Prix made her the youngest Taekwondo athlete in the world to win a medal at a Grand...

November 2019 marks the 30th Anniversary of the release of the martial arts classic film, "Best of the Best". This is the most influential Taekwondo movie ever made. The film was the passion project of second generation Taekwondo practitioners, Phillip and Simon Rhee. Phillip Rhee's 1980 representation of the United States' Taekwondo Team against the South Korean team in the championships of the Asia Games formed the basis of his screenplay for the film. Master Simon Rhee was the stunt...

Team-M is a world class Taekwondo demonstration team that started in San Jose, CA in 2004. They started out as a small group of athletes in a garage dojang. Since their inception they have become an international sensation, participating in over 300 events worldwide. Team-M was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame in 2007. The late, Grandmaster John Rhee, father of Taekwondo in the U.S., personally complimented Team-M for a job well done at our New Jersey performance. Team Captain and...

What drives Assemblyman Ron Kim? Ron Kim is a Korean born immigrant who, when elected to the NYS Assembly in 2012, became the first and only Korean-American elected official in New York State. After working in his family's small business in Queens, NYC Ron went on to college and graduate school before entering the public service arena. He worked in government, behind the scenes, before running for his current seat. Ron discusses with Taekwondo Life Magazine the challenges of living,...

Age is just a number. This is the philosophy of 67 year old, 3rd Dan Black Belt, Angelo Bonilla. Bonilla, born and raised in New York City, went on to become a NYC bilingual education teacher with the NYC Public School system in 1986. It was not until Angelo turned 55 years old that his Taekwondo journey began. It was at that age that he turned from parent and grandparent of a Taekwondo student to a student himself. Now, more than 12 years later, he is on the road to earning his 4th Dan,...

Mastery and the Mindset to Succeed is the topic of this episode. Taekwondo Life Magazine's Marc Zirogiannis talks with Chandler Walker, the founder of Chan's Logic and Stone Age Fuel. Chandler studied Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Nevada Reno. Diving deep into the gut and brain connection, and Epigenetics, or why we think and feel the way we do, and how our lifetime interactions make the brain create shifts in our thinking. In Chandler's nearly 10 years of martial arts...

Master Ali Ghafour is a 4 time Canadian National Taekwondo Team member, 2008 Olympic hopeful, entrepreneur, and CEO of 20/20 Armor. After being in and around the competitive Taekwondo arena since the age of 13 Master Ghafour has now embarked on a journey to raise the level of credibility and visibility of competitive sparring. Through the implementation of his "easy to use" electronic sparring equipment he is speaking to athlete's in the language of today's generation; the language of video...

Step on the Mat is the new book by martial Artist, author, and family man, Ninja Nguyen (pronounced "Wynn"). Ninja joins Taekwondo Life's host, Marc Zirogiannis, for a discussion of his life and training, as well as his recent book release. Ninja Nguyen was born in Vietnam and fled to the United States during the height of the Vietnam Conflict. While he studied fighting it was not until the birth of first child that he truly began the path to becoming a martial artist. Now with the...

Mindy Kelly is skilled at the art of self-defense. She began her martial arts journey at the age of 4. Her intense love for the martial arts lead her to multiple world titles, work in music videos, and, eventually, fight choreography in major motion pictures. In 2019 her life's commitment culminated in her assumption of the role as lead stunt and martial arts fight coordinator on the Riley Stearns black comedy, The Art of Self Defense, starring Jesse Eisenberg. She talks about her career,...

Ronnie Malina is a 5th Degree Black Belt and 17 year law enforcement officer in Rosenberg, Texas. He is also the author of a Listening to the Masters: Insight, Knowledge, and Wisdom From Today's Martial Arts Masters (2019). Ronnie talks with host, Marc Zirogiannis, about his childhood drive to train in the martial arts, his martial arts journey, and his heartfelt desire to honor his teacher, master, and mentor, Grandmaster Ralph Jaschke. The result of this passion project was Listening to...

Grandmaster C.M. Griffin reveals five "must see" martial arts films in this episode. Kwanjanim Griffin is a Grandmaster in the Korean art of Hwa Rang Do, as well as a practitioner of Taekwondo and Jiu-Jitsu. Additionally, he is a lifelong film and television professional. The combination of these two passions has resulted in a series of wonderful submissions to the print and digital version of Taekwondo Life Magazine over the years. In the this episode he explores five essential martial...

Marc Zirogiannis is joined by Dr. Robyn Odegaard and Russ Bruzzano, the founders of the Whole Food Muscle Club and the authors of a new book, How to Feed a Human: The Whole Food Muscle Way. They discuss understanding people's relationship to food as part and parcel of embarking on a plan to achieve maximum health and fitness through diet and exercise. As former competitors in volleyball and bodybuilding, respectively, Dr. Robyn and Russ understand the real challenges Taekwondo athletes and...

Eddie Cha talks with host, Marc Zirogiannis, fresh off his coaching victory of Chan Sung Jung, "The Korean Zombie", at UFC's Fight Night 154. Eddie Cha is a martial artist and west coast fight coach, having trained some of the highest level UFC and Bellator MMA combatants. In this episode he discusses his life and career. He shares his thoughts on tailoring coaching protocols to meet the strengths and weaknesses of fighters, as well as the need to help fighters develop their "Fight IQ". He...

Join Coach Jim Haxton as he takes us on a behind the scenes look at the 2019 USA Taekwondo Nationals from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Coach Jim is the staff photographer for Taekwondo Life Magazine, a Taekwondo Black Belt, and the father of a nationally ranked sparring competitor, Jillian Haxton. Coach Jim gives us a 4 day look at his trip to the Nationals, his perspectives on the level 1 Coaching seminar he attended, a view of the weigh-ins, and his take on competition day. For those...

On June 14, 2019 Master Valerie Loureda proved to the Mixed Martial Arts world that she is a legitimate force to be reckoned with. Loureda, on only 8 weeks notice, engaged in her 2nd professional bout in six months, at Bellator 222. In that fight she outlasted and outfought her opponent, Larkyn Dasch, for a decisive and unanimous 3 round decision on the biggest stage in professional sports, Madison Square Garden. Taekwondo Life Magazine's host and Editor, Marc Zirogiannis, joined by Master...