(This is part one of a two-part series on Sonoma Martial Arts School.)
Robert Morley, CEO and head instructor at Sonoma Martial Arts School, said his martial arts students often faced bullying in middle and high school because of their independent thinking and non-traditional clothing and hairstyles.
He would often avoid or run away from kids who would bully or push him. He was very shy, but he practiced hard and would always ask why certain martial arts techniques were used.
“One day during training, some students were taunting him in the school courtyard, so he went over to them and confronted them,” Morey said. “He wanted to know what problem they had with him and why they were always bothering him.”
“He now had the confidence to stand up to his enemies. They were in trouble, and for no good reason at all. He pointed this out to them, and they decided there was no reason to bother him anymore. He found the courage to stand up to his bullies.”
This incident illustrates one of the main emphases in martial arts training.
“People think we're teaching students to fight,” Morley says. “Quite the opposite, we're teaching students not to fight,” he says. “In our school, if a student starts a fight, there may be a backlash if we know how it started and how they responded. We teach students how to fight, and then we teach them de-escalation techniques. They should only fight if their life is at stake.”
“We hope this gives them confidence that they don't have to fight unless absolutely necessary.”
He said the school values positivity and encourages students to do their best.
“We have zero tolerance for discrimination or bullying of any kind and welcome everyone to train in a safe space,” Molly said. “We are a full-time school, open six days a week. We are not a program or after-school activities, we are a real martial arts school with 1,400 years of tradition. We see ourselves as a martial arts community.”
The five tenets of taekwondo, a martial art and combat sport that originated in Korea, are honesty, courtesy, self-control, perseverance and fortitude. Morey argued that these tenets “say everything about the benefits of the practice.”
“Through continuous training, our students learn self-confidence, focus, honor and respect,” he said. “While many sports focus on winning at all costs, we focus on winning with honor. We teach our students to be humble and not arrogant when they win, and to be grateful when they lose, vowing to learn more and try harder next time.”
Master Martin Marcus, a well-known martial arts teacher who was recently hired to teach at the Sonoma Martial Arts School, said practitioners of taekwondo and other martial arts can, among other things, improve their health.
“Stretching gets the blood flowing, movement improves balance and application helps build confidence,” he said, adding that with the right instructor, all other life experiences are improved as well.
Sonoma School of Martial Arts has been in Sonoma since 2022, but began in 2010 as a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization.
Molly was the California State Champion in two forms of Taekwondo and sparring in 2002, 2003 and 2004, but injuries eventually prevented her from competing.
“After several years of recovery, I opened the school because I wanted to pass on to the next generation the joy and fulfillment I had found through martial arts training,” he said.
The school began renting space at the Boys & Girls Club of Napa in 2010, but classes switched to Zoom when the pandemic hit. In 2021, it began offering martial arts classes at Sonoma's Yoga Community and moved to its current full-time location at 1247 Broadway in Sonoma the following year.
Sonoma Martial Arts School has nine instructors and regular students practice taekwondo, hapkido (a judo/jiu-jitsu martial art) and gomdo (a form of Korean sword art). Two instructors with black belts teach Brazilian jiu-jitsu as a separate program.
And Rock Steady Boxing, a cardio kickboxing program for people with Parkinson's disease, rents out space to offer classes at the school.
Sonoma Martial Arts School is a member of the Northern California Taekwondo Association, which includes over 40 affiliated schools.
“In terms of tuition fees, we are the cheapest,” Molly says. “Most schools charge between $150 and $200 per month, but our tuition is between $84 and $109 depending on the classes you take. We offer scholarships to students in need.”
Class sizes are capped at 20 in the school's large classrooms and 15 in the small classrooms. Students range in age from 4 to 71 years old.
Sonoma Martial Arts School also hosts weekly “Mat Chats” focusing on topics such as college admissions, healthy eating, bullying, community service and learning by teaching.
The school also hosts birthday parties, an annual blood drive, an annual family potluck and barbecue, monthly free on-campus Nerf gun battles, monthly elite team training and self-defense classes on the Broadway campus, and an annual tournament at Sonoma Valley High School.
“We're focused on the local community and we'll do whatever we can to support that,” Morey said.
Reporter Dan Johnson can be contacted at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.
