A weather warning is in effect due to the ice. It rarely snows in Oxford, Miss. Master Ra pulls up in the parking lot in his E-Class Mercedes Benz but he doesn’t park in front of the academy. He parks in the back, right next to the dumpster. He grabs a laundry bag full of clean dobok (Tae Kwon Do uniforms) that his wife had washed for him and his elite students and tip toes his way towards the academy.

With four big leaps like a frog, he avoids the puddles and reaches the academy door. As soon as he enters the door, he seesInstructor Kirkland is laying awkwardly in the middle of the mat.

“Wow! It’s cold in here,” Master Ra says. “Are you sure you turned on the heater?”

“Yeah! I turned it on!” Instructor Kirkland says, still staring at the ceiling.

“Ahhh, it’s probably because this building is metal…”

Instructor Kirkland, a junior at Lafayette High School, had been learning from Master Ra for nine years now. He recently received his first-degree black belt. Only those who started learns from Master Ra can become an instructor at TEAM RA Martial Arts. Kirkland was sometimes a mischevous prankster as a student.

If, Master Ra got angry about it, he never showed.

Instructor Kirkland is an example of how TEAM RA can change kids. When he was a brown belt just three steps below black few years back, his poor behavior and low grades got him immediately stripped down to white belt, the lowest belt rank. That was three years ago and now he had earned his black belt just a month ago.

Belts are important in the academy.

Instructor Kirkland is wearing Dan Jones’ belt. The chancellor of the University of Mississippi received an honorary black belt. But Instructor Kirkland took the belt from the academy and wore it. He had forgotten his but it wasn’t much different from his besides the name. The belt was dark, new, and all the fibers were in tact. It was a stark contrast to Master Ra’s belt. Master Ra’s had his name in yellow on the faded black cotton. The fibers were loose on the edges from wear. Master Ra was a fifth-degree black belt.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

“Hello, this is TEAM RA Martial Arts.”

A parent had called.

“No maa’m. We will not cancel today. Do you use Facebook? We will post something by 2:00 PM.”

Master Ra is 34 years old but just as technologically excited as a teenager getting her first smartphone. Four iPads, one Apple TV, a Macbook Air, a Macbook Pro, and a Mac Mini. He wanted to be modern in his martial arts academy and also maintain a social media presence saying that the second generation Korean Tae Kwon Do masters barely even know about Facebook.

He wasn’t second generation, though. His father wasn’t a Tae Kwon Do master either but a professor at a Korean university. In 1995, his father came to Oxford for a faculty exchange program. Master Ra, or Sung Yol back then, was 14 years old with a second-degree black belt and had done Tae Kwon Do for 10 years at that point. Still, when he got to Ole Miss he was given a white belt to wear because he was of higher status than the instructor. Shortly after, he took over the Ole Miss Tae Kwon Do club and began teaching college students while still in high school.

During college, he was on F-1 Visa, a type of visa foreigners need to have in order to study in the United States. Without the F-1, foreigners are limited to only working on campus. He wanted to open a dojang-Korean name for martial arts academy-but in order to do that, he needed a Green Card, a permanent resident status. After receiving a Green Card, a person can apply for US citizenship after five years. There are many ways to receive a Green Card like marrying a US Citizen, job sponsorship which means a company will be paying a lot of money, through immediate family members, and through a lottery. Finding a job is hard by itself but landing a job that could provide a Green Card is like trying to apply for a job without a resume. The moment employers see that the candidate needs sponsorship, they often get ignored.

Sung Yol did not receive his Green Card through any conventional method. In high school, he was adopted by a Korean pastor that lived in Memphis. It was legal to be adopted by a US citizen until the age of 18 and Sung Yol was 16. Sung Yol paid all fees associated in applying for the Green Card and went on to chase his dream by opening a dojang upon college graduation.

He filed for bankruptcy a year later.

Master Ra hated the time period from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was when he received the most phone calls, visits from debt collectors, rent owners and requests about other bills.

“I remember waiting in front of the door of my neighbors for hours sometimes to see if I could borrow some money.”

Things had changed.

Bamboo railings surround the academy while dozens of metal weapons connected by chains hang on the railings. Medals won from competitions around the nation glisten. A plaque for winning gold in the Junior Olympics hangs next to the medals. Black belts are displayed on poles that can be seen through the glass encasing them and behind them, the Korean flag and the American flag. Before every class, students pay respect to both flags.

Each student’s posture is disciplined and upright as each pays respect to the instructors and flags. Their fingers are clenched and their eyes are only focused on the instructor’s mouth.

Asian music plays lightly in the background as one of the high ranked belts lead the warm-up.

“PROTECT YOUR ANKLES!”

“YES SIR!”

The students rotate their ankles in circular motion to prevent any injuries.

“BEND YOUR KNEE AND LEAN BACK!”

“YES SIR!”

Tae Kwon Do, a Korean martial art, literally means in Korean “kick,” “fist,” and “way,” but to Master Ra, it means, “respect, respect, respect.” That’s what is taught at 1620 University Avenue.

Just a little after 8 p.m., after the adult class, Master Ra stands in the center of the martial arts academy and inquires about a schedule change.

“I want to do what’s best for the team and I’ll do whatever I can but how do you feel about it is the question,” Master Ra asks in a low, humble tone.

“It seems like you want to split it because of the mass that you have on occasions,” says an older man with an orange belt.

“I think it’ll be better in the long run.”

“We can do 4 a.m.?” The man with the orange belt replies, a big grin on his face.

“I CAN’T DO 4 AM! I HAVE SCHOOL!” Instructor Kirkland proclaims loudly.

The crowd erupts into laughter as they continued discussing the possible schedule change.

The schedule for the adults, Tuesdays and Thursday from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., has been set in stone since the start of his first academy. Several students have been through all the four relocations. Master Ra’s recent success comes from his passion but is also supported by the small, close community of Oxford.

“If you think about it 6:45, maybe it’s a lot of people’s family dinner time. I never thought of it like that because I never ate till nine, for many years.”

“You are so Asian,” says a white belt suggesting that all Asian ate after 9 p.m.

“Ha!”

“So am I interrupting with your dinner time by doing at 6:45 or 6:15?”

“One thing you have to realize is that you’re not going to please everyone,” says Chris, one of the black belts who have been with Master Ra since the first opening.

It’s below freezing and belt promotion day is today. Dozens of students practice their forms while counting numbers in Korean.

“Hana, deul, set, net, da-sut, yeo-sut, il-gop, yeo-dul, ah-op, yeul!”

Master Ra continues to get calls from parents asking about cancellation but the show must go on.

All the candidates for belt promotions line up by color. White and yellow in the back, blue and purple in the middle, red and black in the front. Master Ra and Instructor Kirkland, in suit and tie, sit behind the desk judging the candidate’s forms, Korean language skill, and creeds they had to memorize.

It is 5:03 p.m. but the sky is already lugubrious partly due to the cloudy sky. The temperature is below freezing and it had been raining for most part of the day.

“I’m sorry to say this, but we will do the rest of the testing next week Tuesday,” says Master Ra with a sigh. “It’s just that the weather is not so good and we want everyone to be safe.”

It rarely closes early in TEAM RA Martial Arts but a master must always look out for the safety of his students.