Tae Kwon Do and Karate in Cedar Park Texas over the years.

The first instructors to start a school in the Cedar Park area were champion Danny Michael and Robert Foster around 1980. The school was located originally at the shopping center at Spicewood Springs Road and moved to a small office complex near Shenandoah subdivision on RR620 in Cedar Park, Texas. The school was called Austin College of Tae Kwon Do. Master Kaufman attended this school after spending time in Austin training.

(note: The Picture left is Master Kaufman balancing on a fence post on the land he grew up and taught classes. It was 756 acres of beautiful land that has now been developed).

As a young man growing up in Cedar Park prior to 1980 you had to go to Austin to attend any type of martial arts school. There were no Tae Kwon Do schools in Leander, no Tae Kwon Do schools in Cedar Park. There were no Karate, Kung-Fu schools either North of Ranch Road 620. Although in 1970s-1980s there were a few schools in Central and South Austin, there were none North. In the early 1990s schools in the Northern Austin Metro area began to grow. Now, there are martial arts schools near just about every subdivision in Cedar Park/Leander proper.  Some schools that existed before the 1990s in Cedar Park/Leander were 259-CHOP ran by the Gilliam family and Austin Society of Karate ran by Mr. Greg Beaver and Mr. Kaufman ran a small group called White Tiger TKD. In the 1980s Master Kaufman also trained at KTA under the leadership of Brad Dubey and champion Rick Lancaster he also studied Master Martial Arts in Austin with several Korean masters and Grandmasters such as Grandmaster Mu Gil Lee and Master Sam Um and other Korean masters that came as guest at the school.

Master Kaufman ran his White Tiger Academy starting in Cedar Park in the late 1980s. He moved his operation in North Austin before moving back to Cedar Park in the 1990s. In the 2000s Master Kaufman changed the name to something more original since the White Tiger name was used by many schools across the USA. This is how Magnum Force TKD was born.

Back in the day it seemed more young people were more involved in the martial arts than today. The training was a lot tougher. The curriculum was harder to test for belts and you earned a belt by sweat, bruises and other injuries. Most good schools had to do all your requirements from white belt to black belt when testing for a the black belt. Most schools do not do this today. Magnum Force TaeKwonDo is happy to keep the old traditions which is why our students have been known to have superior knowledge and excellent tournament record and we continue to make real black belts. We train hard with safety in mind to avoid injuries like long ago.

My old instructors remembered a day before martial artist wore any protective equipment fighting. I first started in point style fighting. Later around 1982 I started attending Olympic style tournaments. Back then we had tournaments as many as 1700-2000 competitors with divisions as many as 30-50 people. Which meant to get 1-3 place you had to defeat multiple people to the top 3 to win anything. This is why a good competitor had to be in great shape. These days they make sub-groups of 4 where more students win. How things have changed. 

Since the establishment of Magnum Force TKD we have been one of the most successful schools in Cedar Park, Leander and North Austin. We have touched many lives in the arts. Raised many State, National and International Champions in sparring, forms, weapons, group forms and breaking.