In November of 1775, the most respected and elite military force in this country was born. The United States Marine Corps is the most disciplined, most organized and most powerful entity of military might in the world. Now, in April of 2005 there is born an elite force in the Martial Arts world; an organization that finds its success in embracing the discipline, strength, courage, fortitude and attitude of the US Marine Corps. Combined with the values of the Marine Corps and the discipline that is the nucleus of Martial Arts training of the past, this organization moves into the future seeking others that wish to be something unique, something special, something amazing.  We are the SMA United Federation of Martial Artists (SMAUFMA). We are a federation of the elite. A federation made up of Martial Artists that have given birth to a vision and developed the resources to change the face of Martial Arts tutelage in the USA. We are a federation that seeks to put back into Martial Arts training what has been replaced by the pursuit of the “almighty dollar”.  We are a federation that seeks to reach out to other martial artists and schools and help them achieve a new level of excellence and to carry out this new standard in their training halls.   SMAUFMA is an independent governing agency that takes pride in the discipline and fundamentals of true Martial Artists. Too many schools lack the discipline, uniformity, and integrity that we pride ourselves on. Every member of SMAUFMA has an unshakable pride that pledges our organization.  We value our most important resource, our students. We create a culture that promotes common identity, modernism, mutual respect, accountability and teamwork to achieve efficiencies, effectiveness, operation and our mission. We accomplish this mission by awareness prevention not management. We teach our students to detect, deter and alleviate threats by and through practicalities. Self - protection is the fundamental reason students are here. We don’t train competitors. We train fighters, protectors and powerful men and women that are prepared to deal with the world in every situation.   Our success depends on our ability to act with total discretion and an ability to exemplify this throughout the school. Our mission requires complete personal integrity, personal courage, and physical fitness. We take pride in the level of difficulty and know our students accomplish things others cannot. We stand behind one another, and teamwork is the hallmark of our organization along with, integrity and quiet patriotism.   VISION –   The SMAUFMA has a very specific vision to not raise the standard of Martial Arts training, but to BE the standard. Our founding school prides itself on the level of difficulty that the unique curriculum poses. The SMAUFMA envisions implementing standards and quality control in all schools that desire to become a member of this organization. For a school to become a member of this organization, one does not simply fill out a form and pay an annual due. There is much more involved including the prospective school’s instructors putting themselves through the SMAUFMA training course. Much like the ISO (International Organization for Standardization), all schools that wish to be a part of our organization much first have their instructors go through and pass our training curriculum to ensure that the standard curriculum is being taught in every member ranking school across the country.   This means that a black belt from another discipline or another school in the same discipline has to start training from scratch. While we respect and honor every man and woman that has achieved the rank of black belt, in order to be a part of SMAUFMA, one must go through the training course that has been designed especially for current black belts and earn their new black belt rank in the disciplines that the SMAUFMA ranks all its members in: Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido. Why do we not just give a black belt a piece of paper and a training book with our curriculum and syllabus for teaching? Very simple – a high ranking officer in the Army, Navy or Air Force could not join the Marine Corps and maintain their rank because the training that the Marines offer and the skill level they require is beyond what the other military branches have to offer, so it is impossible to merely adapt. This high ranking officer must start from the beginning to learn how to be the best that this country has to offer. On the flip side, a high ranking Marine can leave the Corps and join any other branch of the military and maintain his or her rank, because they have learned from the best, therefore, they are the best and the other branch has much to learn from THEM. Not the other way around. So it is with the SMAUFMA; while no one can ever take away what a black belt has already accomplished, it is impossible for one to adapt to the curriculum that we have without going through the course themselves. In order to be the standard, a prospective member must work up to the standard. This means setting aside self-pride and embracing the challenges that we offer and the ultimate reward of being the new standard of Martial Artists in the 21st century.  Once an outside instructor that wishes to be a member has gone through the training course, they are then licensed to teach this difficult yet rewarding curriculum to their schools. From that point, the newly inducted school will be visited periodically from designated SMAUFMA auditors to make sure that the level of excellence and the uniformity of the organization are being maintained.   School by school, instructor by instructor and student by student the SMAUFMA will bring back the discipline and pride that so many American schools have lost in their desire to “churn-and-burn”, or to put out a black belt every year or year and a half and burn the money they brought in with their high price tuition without ever offering their students anything of true value.  While many western schools put out discipline for fear of being cold or not be “fun” enough, we say that believe that embracing the discipline brings about a pride that is shared among a family of students who are confident in what they have learned. Our students enjoy their time in class and they enjoy fellowship with each other in and out of class, but they know why they are in class. They are there to learn. They are there to become a mighty force of nature by reaching into the power that is within us all and forging ahead into each challenge that our school offers them.     WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU –   The SMAUFMA serves as an independent source for martial artist on topics of concern and works closely with other organizations in the community. With the combination of practical techniques and consulting methods, other organizations will follow and benefit from the knowledge and experience of this organization. SMAUFMA is an independent governing agency that takes pride in the discipline and fundamentals of true Martial Artists.  Here is what we do for you: 1. We will be your strategic partner providing accurate, comprehensive, and timely knowledge on how to run your school helping you create an environment conducive to how martial artists should be. 2. Your comprehensive consulting resource for Black Belt selection, credentials assessment, application development strategy, professional recommendations, and other appropriate support strategies of the business process. 3. Your resource for monitoring and evaluating students to make certain they achieve excellence.   MISSION STATEMENT –   To change the face of Western Martial Arts training through discipline, strength, courage and excellence. To be set apart by the standards which we have set for ourselves, and in turn can lead others too not set the standard, but to be the standard