Oriental Martial Arts College Columbus Ohio Headquarters

Moogong Ryu

OMAC, the Oriental Martial Arts College, is a worldwide system of affiliated schools that teach the Moogong Ryu martial arts system. Moogong Ryu (Guardian of the Peace) is an innovative and holistic life skills system based on centuries old traditional Korean martial arts such as Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Gumdo while incorporating the best features of other Asian martial, healing, and philosophical arts that our Grandmasters and Masters have studied for over fifty years. These additional arts include Karate, Kung Fu, Jujitsu, Taichi, and Kimoodo.

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OMAC's holistic skills focus on personal growth through development of the mind, body, spirit, and emotion of the Moogong Warrior, the OMAC student practitioner. Fundamental to this growth and development are some of the first "Words of Wisdom" that all students are required to learn: innae, geukki, joen gyung, shin-nyum, sarang... patience, discipline, respect, confidence, love.

OMAC Central Ohio has 9 branches and clubs throughout Columbus, Reynoldsburg, Westerville, Minerva Park, Worthington, Dublin, Gahanna, New Albany, Hilliard, and Franklin County to provide you the greatest opportunities to learn martial arts in Central Ohio, close to your home. We offer multiple taekwondo classes each day, each designed for different ages (youth, adult), skill levels (beginner, advanced), and skill focus (sparring, conditioning, forms, self defense), although a student is free to attend any (or all) of these classes. We also offer other disciplines such as Gumdo, Hapkido, and Kimoodo on certain nights of the week.

OMAC Quick Facts

Sr. Grand Master Joon P. Choi started OMAC in 1971 and has taught over 25,000 students, including nearly twenty US national champions and four Olympic participants.

Sr. Grand Master Joon P. Choi coached the American Olympic Taekwondo Team in taekwondo's first Olympic games: 1988.

OMAC's World Headquarters has been in Reynoldsburg, OH for 26 years.

Sr. Grand Master Choi is a two time Korean National Champion.

Central Ohio Martial Arts Programs include: Taekwondo, Karate, Kung Fu, Hapkido, Weapons, Little Tigers, Kimoodo, and Women's Self Defense.

  • The 38th Annual Battle of Columbus - Martial Arts World Games XIII

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    May 25 2013
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    Apr 19 2013 5:30 pm
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    Kick Tournament Season into High Gear! Prepare for the Battle of Columbus, USAT National Championships, and the OSTA Buckeye Classic at the Moogong Ryu Spring Camp!

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  • Grandmaster Joon Pyo Choi Biography: To Haeng, part 12

    Submitted by melko on Sun, 02/03/2013 - 4:09pm

         During the summer break, I would travel just as I had as a youth. I had no money, so I hitchhiked across the country, seeking the Buddhist temples, so that I might extend my knowledge of Zen, Tao, and Confucianism. These three had come through China to Korea. Confucianism of course started in China. Zen came there from India, but through China first. Buddhism became very strong in Korea.

  • Grandmaster Joon Pyo Choi Biography: In the Navy, part 11

    Submitted by melko on Sun, 02/03/2013 - 3:50pm

         The college I attended trained its students to enter the Navy or the Merchant Marines. Even though I was on that course, I wanted to fulfill my military duty. So in 1967, I joined the Navy. Korea was very poor at the time, and we had just ended a horrific civil war. Military duty was brutal. The Korean military still used the Japanese techniques for training the recruits. Often, they would be killed during the training, it was so harsh. Technically, the south was still at war with the north. Entering the armed forces meant you were most likely going to war.

  • Grandmaster Joon Pyo Choi Biography: Dragon and Chicken, part 10

    Submitted by melko on Sun, 02/03/2013 - 3:15pm

         One summer, when I took off from school, I travelled the country to visit the masters, grand masters, and spiritual leaders I could find. In 1966 I visited one famous spiritual mountain, Gyeryongsan Mountain. Gye means "chicken" and Ryongson means "dragon". Thus the mountain was called Chicken and Dragon Mountain. On this famous mountain was a temple that had been there for 1000 years, called Kapsa. Kap was its name. Sa means "temple".

  • Grandmaster Joon Pyo Choi Biography: Visitor, part 9

    Submitted by melko on Sun, 02/03/2013 - 3:02pm

         In my eagerness to study martial arts, I often visited other schools to learn from the masters and students there. On one occasion, I visited a school down by the harbor. Pusan is a harbor city, famous at the time for its smugglers and gangs. This school was on the second floor of a building down by the ocean and was affiliated with a gang of smugglers. I did not know this at the time.

  • Grandmaster Joon Pyo Choi Biography: Kicker of Bugs, part 8

    Submitted by melko on Sun, 02/03/2013 - 2:36pm

         I slept in my room at the empty university each night. It was near the ocean, so always there was sea life around: fish, shrimp, clams, and the like. But no humans anywhere. There were however flies and mosquitos. I had no air conditioning in my room, so when I slept, hundreds of flies covered me. They landed on my face, nose, ears, and lips. They entered my mouth as I slept, and when I realized, I awoke and spat them out.

  • Grandmaster Joon Pyo Choi Biography: Acupuncturist, part 7

    Submitted by melko on Sun, 02/03/2013 - 2:10pm

         I had one student whose father was a famous acupuncturist. He brought his son who was 16 or 17 years old to me for instruction in Taekwondo. His son was giving him all kinds of trouble, and it was his hope that Taekwondo would give him discipline and self-control. In exchange for teaching his son, the acupuncturist taught me his healing arts.

  • Grandmaster Joon Pyo Choi Biography: Unversity Study, part 6

    Submitted by melko on Thu, 01/31/2013 - 10:24pm

         I entered Pusan National University in March as a freshman. I had not learned my lesson very well in high school however. As I had done in high school, I didn't study, and any chance I had, I spent my time practicing Taekwondo. If I had five or ten minute, I would step outside and practice kicking. My grandmaster was Byung Jik Ro, but he resided in Seoul, so I continued to study on my own.