Our Founder

Master Spillmann has been training in the martial arts for over 40 years as well as operating martial arts school and consulting for many famous Grandmasters, Masters and martial art academy owners. He has been instructing for over the past 28 years and operating his own locations for the past 17 years.

Master Spillmann is sought after worldwide for his martial art and business knowledge and has been written about in dozens of new paper articles. Master Spillmann has also written dozens of articles for many magazines and newspapers. He has been seen on TV and in several movies. He has performed demonstrations, instructed self-defense seminars and consulted for many large organizations across the United States, including the U.S. military and motivational seminars for Mervyns, Universal Studios, Boeing, Edwards, CBS Studios and Mission Viejo Company.

He has also performed breaking demonstrations, taught self-defense seminars and offered his business consulting services in many countries including Austria, England, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Puerto Rico, India and Korea. Master Spillmann has trained with many more famous masters.

More History about: Master K.O. Spillmann

“In martial arts, like life, you need to set a goal, take action, and not give up. Dreams don’t come true by magic…you have to work hard. TaeKwonDo is a way of life in and out of the Dojang, not just a sport.” This philosophy has led him to where he is today. Master Spillmann began practicing martial arts at age four when his parents enrolled him in Judo and Korean Karate in NJ. “They were looking for something that created discipline and focus because that’s what I needed,” he says. Master Spillmann’s father was an Architect and Military Engineer, so the family traveled all over the world, giving him the opportunity to learn many styles from many famous masters. Now 40 years later, Spillmann holds ranks in TaeKwon-Do 7th Dan, Karate 4th Dan, Judo 2nd Dan, Aiki-Jujitsu 1st Dan, HapKi-Do 5th Dan, Rocian Gracie II Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 1^st Degree and continues to practice several other art forms. Master Spillmann has won many tournaments and full contact competitions. His academies have won 6 Grand Championships for sparring and forms and have had several State and National Champion students. Master Spillmann is a master breaker who holds the record for breaking 200 concrete blocks in 46 seconds. Even with all the trophies, plaques, media, television and print coverage he has received, nothing gives Master Spillmann more pleasure than seeing his students excel in their leadership skills, academics and in life.

He believes that any child can benefit from a martial arts education because of the discipline and positive leadership direction it provides. “If there is good communication and trust between the parent and instructor, any child can do well, but when parents let children make all the choices and decisions, it doesn’t work. It’s important for parents to lead the child fairly when needed.” He feels many parents give up their responsibilities and leadership skills. “It’s as if some parents are saying, we only want our children to have fun, not self-discipline, respect, goals nor values. Well, life is not all fun and has rules and consequences. We as parents should be teachers, not a shield to the world of sadness and failures, because we all have to learn to handle the real world and in that real world there is stress, failure, sadness, sickness, bad influence, violence and hate.

As there is good, there will always be evil. We need to teach children the difference between good and bad, the conquering of fears, belief in themselves, persistence, perseverance, goal setting and how to overcome obstacles. Parents cannot be there forever. We can change today, by setting a good example and incorporating positive leadership skills and love, or face medicating children and depressed adults tomorrow, it’s up to us parents. Always remember TaeKwon-Do is a leadership education for life.

Master Spillmann” explains a person is like a beautiful tree as that tree grows; one must continue to shape, prune and even cut the bad leaves off the tree, so it can grow strong and healthy. Just as with trees, some humans have more bad leaves than others, but unlike a tree, we don’t have several hundred years to grow and change. So we must look hard and act fast to cut away our negativity, so a positive person can grow.ATC is one place that children can learn to be leaders and everyone can continually develop a positive mental attitude. Master Spillmann also integrates the teaching of values, character and ethics with the students he teaches. Master Spillmann believes TaeKwon-Do is for all ages. Philosophically and mentally the art can be used as a mirror; polish the mirror to see who you are, embrace and love who you are and make changes as you wish.

You will learn to face your fears, feed off them and use the martial arts philosophy to conquer them. All ATC instructors teach these techniques and philosophy; they also encourage and motivate.

However, it is through self-discipline that the students achieve their personal goals and growth. Grandmaster Spillmann says, “You must face who you are and achieve harmony with that person you see in the mirror, before you can ever hope to truly succeed at anything in your life; Or you can run and blame others for your failures and the stagnant life your negativity creates.”

Throughout his martial arts education, Grandmaster Spillmann has trained and learned from the best of the best. TaeKwon-Do Grand Masters like: Young Kun Kim (ATF), Suk Jun Kim ( WTF-ITF- TI), Hun Kyu Lee (WTF), Lee Chung Woo (Jidokwon -WTF), Tung Suk Chun (WTF); HapKi-Do Grand Masters like: Kwang Sik Myung (WHF), Lee Jae Won - Jung M Park (KHF); Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Professor, Rocian Gracie II (WBJJF) and many other world famous grandmasters. Grandmaster Spillmann has trained in many countries, including Japan, China and Korea. Grandmaster Spillmann also trained at the Seoul Physical Education University and at The World TaeKwon-Do Academy at Kukkiwon Headquarters in Seoul, Korea.

TaeKwonDo Early Days

Master Spillmann had traveled to many countries with his family and practiced many martial arts (Korean Karate, HapKiDo, Judo). At the age of eight, his family moved from New Jersey to Daytona Beach Florida where he continued his training in Martial arts. By the age of 17 he had attained a black belt in Korean Karate, HapKido and Non-Sport Judo. Upon graduating High School, he moved to Orlando Florida to attend college and looked for the best academy. That is when he met World-renowned Grandmaster Y. K. Kim (JiDokwon –WTF -ATF), who became Master Spillmann’s mentor and teacher for 15 years. Master Spillmann had to work hard as he did not have much money for classes. He did odd jobs around the Dojang such as construction, cleaning and painting to help pay for tuition. Grandmaster Y.K. Kim noticed his burning desire to become an instructor. So at 18 years of age, he was offered a Training Instructor position, where he worked his way up to eventually becoming chief instructor and managing all of Y.K Kim’s TaeKwon-Do Schools. He was working, studying and training an average of 90 hours per week running five TaeKwon-Do schools for Grand Master Y.K. Kim in Orlando, FL. It was very tough because Master Spillmann had to work 2 jobs to have the funds for college, at times, only had 3 hours of sleep and had to sleep in the Dojang because the pay was not sufficient to maintain an apartment.

An apartment was a luxury as it seemed useless for a college student only sleeping 3 hours per night to spend the money for just those three hours. Overtime, the pay got better so Master Spillmann could quit his night job, and he had extra income. Instead of going out partying with friends, he chose to use his free time to train in several other styles (Kyokushinkai, Aikido, KungFu and Boxing) only coming to the realization TaeKwonDo was his true passion.

During that same time in he 80's, he also met World Renowned Grandmaster S.J. Kim, an ITF Master and Demonstration Team Member under General Choi. This gave Master Spillmann an opportunity to continue to learn his advanced ITF patterns, hone his fighting skills and receive certification under Grandmaster S.J.Kim the President of TaeKwonDo international.

In conclusion, Master Spillmann says, “It’s all about teaching respect for Dad, Mom, community, country and self. You deal with one person your whole life - yourself. Compete only with yourself and respect others. TaeKwon-Do is about developing and culturing a better self and stronger leader for tomorrow.”