The A-List Awards are based on more than 55,000 votes from individuals in the local Milwaukee community.

In 2017, JK Lee Blackbelt Academy was voted as the #1 martial arts school in the Milwaukee area. This was also true in 2016, 2014 (no vote in 2015), 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009. In 2008 — the first year of this contest — we were voted the 2nd best martial arts school.

For seven years running, we’ve received more #1 votes than every other school in the Milwaukee area.

The American Sabumnim Association (ASA) is a global network of professional martial arts schools dedicated to raising the standards of the martial arts industry through self-regulation.

ASA offers a number of certifications that provide evidence that a martial arts school meets ASA’s demanding standards.

We are proud that we’ve earned several of these certifications and, as a charter member of ASA, we are committed to working with other members to ensure that martial arts is viewed at the #1 activity for kids and families.

The Better Kids Institute is a global organization with the goal of helping parents bring up better children — via two areas of focus:

• Working with child development experts from throughout the world to provide valuable content for parents on how to bring up better kids.
• Identifying the best resources in local communities throughout the United States to help parents find great activities for their children.

We are honored to have been selected to be listed on the Better Kids Institute website as both an expert and as a local resource to parents.

Kukkiwon World Taekwondo Headquarters is the official taekwondo governing organization established by the South Korean government in 1973.

Kukkiwon administers the Poom-Dan Promotion Test, which measures a trainees commitment to personal growth in Taekwondo. Certificates issued by Kukkiwon are held in high esteem and are required to participate in events supervised by World Taekwondo, the international federation governing the Olympic sport of taekwondo.

We are committed to having our instructors certified by Kukkiwon.

US Fighting Systems is a training institute founded by Dave Young, a recognized authority in family safety and real-world self-defense training. Dave is also an internationally recognized defense tactics trainer who has been training police, corrections and military professionals how to stay safe and defend themselves since 1980. Dave is a co-founder of Vistelar, a leading conflict management training institute that addresses the entire spectrum of human conflict.

Dave has been featured in People Magazine and CNN. He also hosted the National Geographic documentary Crash Test Human for three years.

Dave Young regularly visits JK Lee Black Belt Academy to put on special programs on family safety and self-defense and to certify our instructors in US Fighting System’s training programs.