Konrad Salata

Konrad Salata was born in Glogow, Poland on April 7, 1987. Two years later his family moved to Greece, before moving to and settling in Canada two years later. He began training Taekwondo at the age of nine, under Robert Leszczynski (5th Dan) at the Mudokwan Taekwondo Academy in Toronto. Since then he has also trained under Song Yeub Rim (7th Dan), under whom he earned his Black Belt and under whom he was later was certified by the Kukkiwon as a Second Degree Black Belt. At this time, he began his undergraduate studies in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program at McUniversity in Hamilton, Ontario and was unfortunately unable to continue training. In 2009, Salata graduated the program with honours and distinction, and is currently applying to medical school to acquire his M.D. and then move on to do a residency in surgery. With this temporary break in his education he has resumed training and has the added privilege of taking on an instructional role at the Mudokwan Taekwondo Academy in Mississauga.

For Konrad, Taekwondo began as a means of physical fitness. Over the course of training, it continued to serve as such, but also developed into a source of stress relief and further helped to build discipline, determination, and confidence. It is these characteristics that have helped him to excel in other aspects of life, in addition to Taekwondo training. As an instructor, he hopes to extend his physical and psychological knowledge of Taekwondo to those taught so that they too are able to develop not only physical strength and technique, but also psychological strength. With that, his advice to Taekwondo students centres on commitment. Only through complete physical and psychological commitment, can one achieve success in Taekwondo and develop skills and characteristics that transcend into other aspects of life.