About us
Meet Grand Master Joo-han Cha
Most schools put their instructor's credentials on a dusty wall plaque. Ours belong on the front page โ because who teaches your child matters more than anything else in this building.
Head instructor
Grand Master Joo-han Cha, 8th Dan
Before he taught a single Calgary kid to tie a belt, Grand Master Cha stood at the top of the most competitive taekwondo nation on earth โ four times a Korean National Champion, forged in a system where thousands of elite athletes chase a handful of titles.
He is also that rarer thing: a champion who can teach. Holding a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Physical Education, he builds classes on how bodies and attention spans actually develop โ not on drill-sergeant folklore. Since arriving in Calgary in 2005, he has personally taught every belt level in this school, from wobbling four-year-olds to national-circuit competitors. See his students in action on the programs page, or come watch the Calgary Open, the tournament Red Phoenix hosts.
- 4-time Korean National Taekwondo Champion
- 8th Dan black belt โ Grand Master rank
- M.Sc. & B.Phys.Ed. โ sport science in every lesson plan
- Teaching in Calgary since 2005; on the floor at every class
- Instructor in Haidong Geumdo, the Korean sword art
"Come as you are. Leave a little more sure of yourself than when you walked in. That is the whole art."
โ Grand Master Cha
Our story
A North-Central Calgary institution since 2002
Red Phoenix Tae Kwon Do opened its doors to Calgary families in 2002, and Grand Master Cha has led the dojang since 2005. Two decades later, we've watched white belts grow into black belts, black belts grow into instructors, and more than a few students return with kids of their own.
The phoenix in our name isn't decoration. In Korean tradition the bonghwang (๋ดํฉ) rises renewed from its own effort โ which is a fair description of what happens to a nervous kid over three years of training.
We're proudly a neighbourhood school: one location at 104, 620 - 46 Avenue NE, one head instructor, and families from Mount Pleasant, Tuxedo Park, Highland Park, Winston Heights, Cambrian Heights, Brentwood, Briar Hill and across north-central Calgary.
Values
The five tenets we actually enforce
Courtesy
Bow in, bow out, speak with respect โ to instructors, juniors and parents alike.
Integrity
Count your own push-ups honestly. Rank is earned here, never bought.
Perseverance
Ten belts, roughly three years. The curriculum is a promise: keep showing up and you will get there.
Self-control
Power is only impressive when it stops exactly where it should.
Indomitable spirit
Lose the match, keep the fight. The tenet that follows students furthest into life.
Come meet Grand Master Cha in person.
Watch a class or take one free โ the mats are ten minutes from anywhere in north-central Calgary.
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