Mr. Chris Howes 5th Degree Black Belt and Mrs. Sonya Howes 4th Degree Black Belt
Mr. and Mrs. Howes have been running the Lightning Family Martial Arts Club in Calgary Alberta since the clubs inception in 1998.
Mr. Chris Howes, promoted to 5th Degree Black Belt in 2005 by the International Taekwon-Do Federation has spent his entire life training in the traditional style of Taekwon-Do and has had the tremendous privilidge to be a personal assistant to Grandmaster Choi, Jung Hwa for several years and attend him at Seminars around the world, including Moscow, Russia, Rio De Janero, Brazil, Bochum, Germany and Buenos Ares, Argentina. Mr. Howes has also been featured on the ITF Master's Class DVD featuring many prominent instructors of Taekwon-Do and has had the pleasure to train under such Pioneers of the Martial Arts as General Choi Hong Hi himself, the founder of Taekwon-Do, First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha, Grand Master Kong Young Il and Grand Master Park Jong Soo to name a few. Mr. Howes also served a tenure as the Head Coach for the Canadian Taekwon-Do Team for both the 2002 World Championships held in Daejon, South Korea and in 2006 in Geelong, Australia. Mr. and Mrs. Howes attended the recent World Cup in Italy with a Delegation consisting of exlusively Lightning Students. At the first inaugural International Instructors Course of the ITF-TAO in 2012 Mr. Howes was accepted as a direct student of the First Grandmaster of Taekwon-Do Rhee Ki Ha 9th Dan Black Belt, a tremendous honor. Mr. Howes is extremly active within the Taekwon-Do Community of Canada and continues to train by teaching every day to his pre-teen and Adult Classes. Mr. Howes oversees all promotions within LFMA.
Mr. and Mrs. Howes with Canadian Mens and Womens Taekwon-Do Teams of 2002
Mrs. Sonya Howes, promoted to 4th Degree Black Belt in 2007 by the International Taekwon-Do Federation, has been training for 12 years, having been one of the first Black Belts at LFMA, Mrs. Howes showed a flair for the martial arts from the moment she began training, reaching her Black Belt level early in her career, she was quickly named to the Canadian Team and went on to compete at the World Championships in Daejon, South Korea with her husband, Mr. Howes as her coach where she recieved numerous medals in all divisions, with the highlight being a Silver Medal in the Womens Black Belt Patterns Division. Mrs. Howes also competed in the World Cup in Italy along with coaching LFMA students. Mrs. Howes currently instructs all of the LFMA Kinder Age Lightning Strikes Programs as well as the Thunderbolt Kids Program, along with her husband.
Mr. and Mrs. Howes after her Patterns Silver Medal Award in Daejon, South Korea 2002
Mr. and Mrs. Howes have been profiled in magazines as Canadas Taekwon-Do couple, together they run LFMA and raise two young children of their own.
Mr. and Mrs. Howes featured in Kickstart Martial Arts Magazine