Tae Kwon Do to Overcome Hardship, One Man’s Business
(Washington Post) — The advanced tae kwon do classis winding down at Coles Martial Arts Academy in Bethesda; there is only one more sequence of movements that Master Michael Coles wants his brown- and black-belt students to perform. A few elementary-school-age boys and girls, beginner-level students for the next class, are already filtering into the studio.
In the first row of chairs by the front doors, a 10-year-old named Ray plays a game on a cellphone, glancing up from time to time to watch Coles lead the class. Ray is wearing a white uniform and a white belt, ready to join the session that starts in 15 minutes. It is his second tae kwon do class, which he is taking at the encouragement of John and Laura Elsey, a British couple who are adopting Ray through the D.C. foster-care system. The Elseys are hoping that martial arts can serve as an anchor among the many changes in Ray’s life, as the sport once did for Coles, who teaches tae kwon do less as an art of aggression and more as a way of living.
