To effectively teach the skills of Hapkido requires many, many years of study, practice and dedication.  One of the most important decisions one makes when starting out in the martial arts is choosing an instructor.

  The man regarded as the founder of modern Hapkido, Yong Sul Choi, had taught all of the techniques of the art to only a select few of his students before his death in 1986. However, in the Western World today there seems to be numerous people claiming to be "Masters" of Hapkido.  In recent years, there seems to have appeared many martial arts schools claiming to teach Hapkido as part of another style.  There appears to be many innocent and well-meaning  instructors advertising themseves as "Masters" in Hapkido but in reality they are misguided and only have a limited knowledge of this complex art.

  So how do you find a genuine instructor?  How does the unsuspecting public determine the qualifications of a prospective instructor?  The techniques of Hapkido literally number in tens of thousands and most black belts who have reached 1st or 2nd Dan have probably learned only two or three hundred of these.  We can now see that an instructor in another martial art, who has learned a few Hapkido techniques to complement his self-defence teachings, does not qualify for the title of Master.