ROBERT W HATTON

Sam Dan

Born in Elizabeth, NJ in 1964, I studied Judo for a short time in the late 1970s, including nunchaku and bo-staff basics. As with many people, school, work, family and life in general distracted me from Martial Arts for many years until my son’s friend invited us to visit Pocono Tang Soo Do in July of 2010. Recovering from back surgery earlier that year, I sat as a spectator for the first few classes while my son started training. It was not long before Master Richards convinced me that training could be adjusted for my physical ability and I have been training ever since. To date I have achieved my 2nd Dan, am a certified instructor and tournament judge. Both my sons have also achieved their Black Belt. Outside Tang Soo Do, I am a systems analyst for a pharmaceutical company, involved in Boy Scouts, enjoy all kinds of hiking and outdoor activities and work on my own cars.
Besides the physical training, my favorite thing about Tang Soo Do is that there is always something to learn – as an instructor, a new student can ask a simple question and introduce a new perspective on a familiar technique; as a student, I still have much to learn about the subtleties of things I have been practicing for years.