Lima Taekwondo & Martial Arts Academy

This is the worse place to do business. The owners only care about money not the child’s outcome or interest. At first I thought it was a good place to take my son. As the relationships developed I was very disappointed. This is a small business and I have found better places that the owners take the time to work with the kids and parents. This is my experience with this place i highly recommend doing your homework and searching for other places with better communication skills.

I was introduced to the Lima Academy as a Black Belt where I have trained since about 2005. I had the honor of earning my 4^th Degree Black Belt from the Lima’s. The Lima family really opened my eyes to martial arts. They really went out of their way to help me take my training to another level and exposed me to the highest levels in the martial arts community. I learned what was possible with hard work and dedication. The personal attention to detail, family oriented environment, and down to earth atmosphere really puts the school in a class of its own.

What a great school!
My nephews and niece have been attending classes here since they were around 3 – 4 years old. They have now been with the school for about 6 years and have done quite well in competitions. The instructors are very patient and great with working with students of all ages.
I was able to take classes for a while when my work schedule permitted. I’m not very good at TKD but it is great exercise and I like the instructors I’ve worked with. The owners are also very professional and have impressive TKD resumes!
This facility is smaller than the Torrance location and it can get crowded in the viewing area during belt tests.

My family has been enrolled in this academy since 2006. I now have 3 children enrolled — ages 6, 8, 10. I even take classes here whenever I can. They offer a wide variety of classes that works to accommodate everyone of all ages… and people with varying/​busy/​unpredictable schedules.
Summary:
1) Incredibly wonderful, experienced staff
2) Top quality skills training
3) Success based on merit, not duration of participation
4) Respectable and very accommodating business owners
5) Maintains high values and morals
6) Community supporters
For details on each of the above, continue reading…
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STAFF: The combined skill and experience of the staff results in top-​notch instruction. They combine just the right combination of teaching skill, discipline and encouragement to kids and adults of all ages. The instructors take the time to point out the finest of details to help you hone this craft. They pay such careful attention to each and every student (both kids and adults) to ensure that they continue to see improvement and growth among everyone.
SKILL TRAINING: All my children have all competed for the last few years; none of them have ever placed less than 2^nd in competition. My 6-​yr-​old competed in her first tournament this year and left with 2 gold medals (one for sparring, the other for forms). My children simply do not know what it is like to lose; they have been trained to achieve the highest of standards by arguably the best TKD instructors in California. Most importantly, students are trained and prepared with the right balance of skill and confidence to feel excitement, not pressure, to win.
EARNING YOUR STRIPES: The Lima Academy produces only SKILLED martial artists. I appreciate that they promote based on skill, not time served. I want my children to earn their promotions based on hard work and ability. The worst thing you can do is give students a false sense of skill… they could end up really getting hurt. I’ve seen plenty of young kids from other schools who have black belts… and ask myself, «How is that possible?» …they must care more about the color of their belt than their actual ability. I spend my money so my kids LEARN a skill … not move up the ranks based on belt colors to claim bragging rights.
OWNERSHIP: I find that the owners have been nothing but accommodating to my family’s needs. With 3 children (and my own desire to train), enrolling in extracurricular activities/​sports can get very expensive. They offer discounts, payment plans and have never made me feel pressured to enter into any agreement that I felt would ever pose a challenge for me. They’ve worked with me to make sure my children don’t ever lose out (as a result of financial strain or busy schedules). On a couple of occasions, they have been sympathetic to whatever challenges I faced and have offered a little extra training to my kids (outside of our agreement) to help if they’ve fallen behind. They really care about their students.
HIGH MORALS AND VALUE: At one point, I was being harassed by a parent whose children were attending the academy. Needless to say, I felt very uncomfortable and brought it to the attention of the owners. They assured me that they would remain mindful of the situation. After they witnessed inappropriate behavior from this «parent,» they took it upon themselves to inform him he was no longer allowed in the academy and to take his children elsewhere — I never even had to ask them to do anything. This is a testament to the fact that the owners will NOT tolerate disrespect of any kind to anyone in that school; they’d rather not have their business. I have so much respect for the fact they couldn’t care less about losing out on a couple students’ tuitions if it meant upholding the values behind which they stand and maintaining an utmost, positive environment for everyone who sets foot in that school.
COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS:
They are active participants in the community and have donated classes/​uniforms to community fundraisers (raffles, silent auctions). It’s nice when business owners give back to the community that supports them.

I’ve known the Limas for about 10 years now and trained with them for 7 years. It was my first time in any type of martial arts and they were very patient (and strict! — in a good way) in training me. The best part of Lima Taekwondo is they pretty much cater to what your goals are. When I first started, I just wanted to train to stay in shape and just for fun. Later on, I got more serious and wanted to compete. When I mentioned that to them they gathered a group of us who wanted to compete and would set aside specific sparring classes for us in addition to the regularly scheduled classes. The trainers took time out of their schedules to provide us advice and help us with technique (whether for the forms portion of competition or sparring).
Additionally, they are very understanding of your financial situation if needed. Loyalty definitely pays off with them and they really are more like a family. Even to this day I consider them more like family than an organization I used to train with even though I no longer train with them. I know that if I walked in today they would be just as welcoming as if I never stopped training with them.

Watch out for their contract the owners suggest you sign to take automatic payments out of your account to join. I thought it was for convenience sake only. When I tried to cancel for 2 months while we took a break, I was informed that there was a 90 day cancellation clause and 3 more payments of $ 149 would be taken from my account. Why would they have a clause like this, who could determine 90 days in advance if their child wants to quit? And, at least be upfront about it!