The Michigan Academy of Taekwondo is Metro Detroit’s premier Taekwondo school, located conveniently in Downtown Northville.
The Academy of Taekwondo was originally founded by Master Dan Vigil in 2004. After many years of positively impacting the community through the power of martial arts, Master Vigil sold the school to Master Paul Rose. In January 2015, Master Rose rebranded the school and called it the Michigan Academy of Taekwondo (“MAT”).
The Academy’s original location was on Five Mile Road in Plymouth. Once the Academy outgrew that space, it moved to a new space on Seven Mile Road in Northville. Then, in 2010, when we outgrew the Seven Mile location, we moved to the Waterwheel Centre in downtown Northville, where our dojang makes its home today.
Our facility sports over 3,000 square feet of Swain hybrid mats. Our training equipment is state-of-the-art: Century Wave Masters, Adidas air shields, and Adidas kicking paddles. Our staff is committed to our students’ success, so we make sure our arsenal of equipment is the best.
To learn more about the history of our school, our teaching philosophy, and some background on Master Rose’s family, read on!
Our Teaching Philosophy
Our uniqueness is our narrow focus. Our curriculum is centered around self-defense, fitness, and character development. Through the martial arts, we teach children how to be kind, respectful, confident, disciplined, and tough so that they grow to become successful adults who can face life’s challenges.
We believe that if our teachers are respectable role models, the life lessons — taught through martial arts — will resonate in and through the students. Our teachers are hand-picked by Master Rose, and all instructors regularly participate in leadership training. Our staff members and instructors are welcoming, helpful, and dedicated to the success and growth of the students. It all makes for an environment that is fun and easy to learn in.
Our Student Creed
I intend to develop myself in a positive manner and to avoid anything that would reduce my mental growth or physical health.
I intend to develop self-discipline in order to bring out the best in myself and others.
I intend to use what I learn in class constructively and defensively, to help myself and my fellow man, and never to be abusive or offensive.
About the Rose Family
For over 40 years, the Rose family has been teaching martial arts in southeastern Michigan. It started in 1968 when Ronald Rose walked into a Karate school near his parents’ home in Detroit, seeking out self-defense classes.
After just a few classes, Ron Rose fell in love with the martial arts — the camaraderie with his classmates, the martial arts mystique, the role models that were his instructors. Within just a couple years, Rose was a 17-year-old brown belt who taught afternoon after-school programs four days a week. In the evenings, he would train. He fell in love with teaching, too. He found reward in having a positive impact on the lives of others. For Rose, martial arts had become not just a hobby, but also a way of life.
In the mid-seventies, Ron Rose met and fell in love with a lady named Christine. They married and, shortly thereafter, Christine, too, began practicing martial arts. In 1977, the Roses decided to open their own martial arts school in Wayne, Michigan. They called it the Wayne Karate Studio… even though the martial art they were practicing was Taekwondo. During the 1980s, as Taekwondo became a more commonly-known term, the Roses changed the name of the school to KICKS Taekwondo.
The Rose family began to grow. Over the span of 15 years, four boys were born: Paul, Eric, Marc, and Michael. The entire family trained together, enjoying each other during good times and supporting each other through challenging times. The entire family enjoyed the benefits of an active, fulfilling martial arts lifestyle.
In 1991, Ron Rose formed the Korean Taekwondo Association of America (“KTAA”). The Association sought to spread the benefits of martial arts throughout the United States and the world. Over the span of several decades, the Roses taught and trained alongside thousands of teachers and athletes in 40+ states and in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Today, the KTAA includes KICKS Taekwondo, the Michigan Academy of Taekwondo, and several satellite programs in Michigan, Arizona, and North Carolina. Grandmaster Ron Rose is the President of the Korean Taekwondo Association of America.
The Rose family has dedicated themselves to sharing the benefits of martial arts with people of all ages — children, teens, and adults. All members of the family have competed and succeeded in local, state, national, and international tournaments. They consider it a blessing to bring positivity to peoples’ lives. The Roses believe that the healthy, disciplined lifestyle yields great reward.