Way Martial Arts

Way Martial Arts Traditional martial arts in Mattawan, Michigan. Structured programs for kids. Meaningful training for adults. Built on a philosophy of Truth Through Training.

Chung's Martial Arts Academy is dedicated to the enrichment of its students through martial arts. We teach the traditional arts of Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do and Hapkido/Aikido.

09/10/2026

It looks like a game. It’s actually a sparring drill.

In paddle sparring, one student uses the paddles to create attacks while the other practices the defensive side of Taekwondo sparring: moving, covering, avoiding attacks, maintaining position, and recognizing openings.

Then they switch.

It gives students a chance to develop real defensive instincts in a fast-moving exercise that also happens to be a lot of fun.

09/08/2026

If most of what you’ve seen from us is our children’s program, you may have the wrong picture of what our adult training looks like.

Our adult program is built around a different kind of study.

There is less emphasis on high-impact, highly dynamic movement, and much more time spent on timing, balance, structure, efficiency, control, and the small details that make martial arts work.

It is not simply the same curriculum taught to older students.

It is training designed around adult bodies, adult interests, and the kind of technical depth adults are able to appreciate.

Quiet on the surface. Deep underneath.

09/03/2026

Sometimes martial arts training is just plain fun.

Flying side kicks are a pretty good example.

Kids get to run, jump, and launch themselves through the air while still practicing real technique, control, and coordination.

Training can be challenging, rewarding, and a lot of fun at the same time.

09/02/2026

Sometimes domination is physical. Sometimes it hides behind rank, seniority, or authority.

Either way, a culture built around proving who is stronger, tougher, or more important eventually becomes toxic.

The best training environments are filled with people primarily concerned with improving themselves.

Better technique. Better discipline. Better character.

That’s the kind of culture worth looking for.

09/01/2026

High level Taekwondo skills 👊

08/27/2026

“Once I’m in better shape, I’ll start.”

It sounds reasonable. But it can become a finish line that keeps moving.

You don’t need to arrive at your first martial arts class already strong, flexible, coordinated, or confident. Those are things we develop through training.

Being a beginner doesn’t mean you failed to prepare. It means you’re ready to begin.

08/26/2026

This is kata—not a simulation of a fight.

In this exercise, one person reaches for a training knife while the other controls the arm to prevent the draw. The sequence that follows explores several ideas at once: changing the angle of the grip, disrupting balance, controlling the arm, freeing the weapon hand, and maintaining the ability to use the weapon.

In live practice, it probably wouldn’t look this clean.

You might only see one small piece of the sequence—a turn of the wrist, a change of angle, a moment of control.

That’s one of the purposes of kata. It gives us a clean model where principles can be studied clearly before we go looking for them in the messier world of resistance.

Kata gives us the vocabulary. Live training teaches us how to speak.

08/26/2026

One of the most common worries before starting martial arts is:

“Everyone else already knows what they’re doing. Am I going to hold the class back?”

No.

For adults, working with someone more experienced is part of the process—and teaching and helping newer students is valuable training for the senior student, too.

For children, we have multiple instructors on the floor and classes designed so that new students can join throughout the year.

You don’t need to catch up before you start.

You start. Then we help you catch up.

08/24/2026

Some martial arts techniques look much more dramatic than they feel.

This one is almost the opposite.

From the outside, there isn’t much to see. A small movement of the hand and wrist, a change in angle, and suddenly the other person is heading toward the floor.

What you can’t see is the intense pressure being transmitted through the wrist and into the arm. When applied correctly, it creates a very immediate kind of discomfort that makes standing there and ignoring it extremely difficult.

That’s one of the interesting things about joint-control techniques: the visible movement can be surprisingly small compared with what the other person actually feels.

08/22/2026

Today (8/22), Chung’s Martial Arts Academy becomes Way Martial Arts.

This is a change I have been thinking about for a long time, and I’m excited to finally share it.

Over many years of teaching, training, and continued study, the academy has gradually developed an identity of its own. Changing the name is simply a recognition of that growth.

I also want to make something clear: this change is not a rejection of where I came from or of the teachers who helped form me.

I remain grateful for the instruction, opportunities, and foundation I received. That history remains part of who I am as a martial artist and teacher.

The name Way Martial Arts reflects where my understanding of martial arts has gradually led.

There is a character found at the end of both TaeKwonDo and AikiDo:

道 — Do — “Way”

It is the same character commonly rendered as Dao or Tao in Chinese.

At its simplest, it means “way” or “path.” But historically, the idea carries more weight than simply choosing a road to follow. Dao can point toward the underlying order and pattern of reality itself, and toward bringing one’s actions into harmony with that order.

There is an interesting connection here for Western readers. The opening of the Gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the Word.” The Greek word translated as “Word” is Logos, a term that also carries the sense of reason, meaning, and order. In well-known Chinese translations of this passage, Logos is rendered using this same character, 道 (Dao).

I think that helps capture something important about the word “Way.” It is not merely a personal journey or a path we invent for ourselves. It suggests that there is an order to reality that we can gradually learn to perceive, understand, and bring ourselves into greater alignment with.

That is increasingly how I understand martial arts training.

Training constantly confronts us with reality.

Balance either works or it doesn’t. Timing cannot be forced. Strength has limits. Tension has consequences. Another person will not cooperate simply because we want them to.

We act, reality answers, and we make corrections.

Over enough years, that process begins to shape more than technique.

We become better at seeing clearly. Acting decisively. Remaining composed. Using only the effort necessary. Recognizing our weaknesses. Exercising restraint.

The goal is not merely to accumulate techniques.

It is to use training as a means of discovering what is true and gradually bringing ourselves into better alignment with it.

That is the idea behind the name.

Way Martial Arts

Truth Through Training.

I’m excited for the next chapter.

-Paul Van Schoyck

Address

52362 N Main Street
Mattawan, MI
49071

Opening Hours

Monday 4pm - 8:15pm
Tuesday 4pm - 8:15pm
Wednesday 4pm - 9pm
Thursday 4pm - 9pm
Friday 4pm - 7:30pm

Telephone

+12696242211

Website

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