When we moved back to Las Vegas, from another military base (Korea), we tried out ATF Academy for the shallowest of reasons: (a) great military family’s recommendations, (b) good reviews on the web, (c) son badgering us endlessly about taking martial arts and trying out ""taekwondo"" moves on toddler sister. We figured at the rate we were going either he was going to kill her or we were going to kill him, or maybe both.\r
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Given our motivations, we did not deserve to end up in such a great environment, but we did. The ATF Academy classes have been fantastic. Extra bonus points go to Mr. Melatti for reinforcing the message that kicking and punching is for the dojang only. So our son is now trying to teach his sister different stances instead of inadvertently beating her up.\r
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Mr. Melatti is amazing with the kids. My sense is that martial arts programs for little kids tend to draw what you might call a non-random sample. They all have ants in their pants. They are fizzy. Based on conversations with parents of my son's kindergarten classmates alone, I would say that we're all trying martial arts for a reason, and that is the hope that some of our kids' energy can be redirected without the use of prescription medication. This makes for a challenging teaching environment. It is very, very impressive to watch Mr. Melatti (et al) take these kids in stride and lead them to want to learn.\r
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Finally, they have an awesome program for military families, and it helped us tremendously. We just felt at home again. So we're all happy.\r
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