Letter to Parents
Dear Taekwondo Parent,
It is no secret that it is now more difficult than ever to strip kids away from video games and get them into healthy practices like sport. As parents and coaches of children of all ages, the founding team of 20/20 Armor understands this struggle of encouraging children to be active and pursue a positive healthy lifestyle. This constant battle of physical vs digital is one that is not going away, and while sport develops slowly, the grips of digital media vices are becoming stronger and more enthralling to children at an unprecedented pace. It is time that sport addressed the digital era.
This is one of the guiding inspirations for the creation of 20/20 Armor. While most companies are trying to take the real world and put it on a screen, we aim to go the other direction and bring the video game to life. The biggest difference between the two is where the accomplishments happen and if they matter. Let’s take the latest digital media craze, Pokemon Go, as an example. I can play the game to it’s fullest extent, put in hundreds or thousands of hours into my Pokemon arsenal, and be the best Pokemon Go player. But when all is said and done, my accomplishments cannot transfer to the real world. My sense of accomplishment is false and in all likelihood my real world accomplishments may have been hindered or delayed as a result. It is entertainment without substance.
But with 20/20 Armor, the opposite is true. Our system is built using the universal format of fighting video games, brought to real life. The player’s method of becoming more enticed with the game is to practice it in the real world and develop real skill. The beauty in this is that their accomplishments exist in the real world. It is not the child’s character that gets faster, stronger, smarter, nor is it the character that builds an indomitable spirit or learns to persevere; it is the child.
20/20 Armor is designed to bring the immersion of instant feedback that kids find so satisfying in video games into the real world. We can now use the same methods that digital media use to create couch potatoes and apply them towards growing our children into more effective and healthy people. We do it through games and challenges, with each providing live scores and performance feedback. 20/20 Armor ships with seven different game modes out of the box. Let’s talk about the one we call “Reflex”.
Reflex is all about quick reactions to stimuli. At randomized intervals, the unit will flash and emit a tone. It will then display a randomized amount of health in the health bars that the player must deplete within a very small window of time. If the player misses the hit window or doesn’t fulfill the impact requirement, they fail that task. The player may use whatever kinds of attacks they find most interesting or want to practice on, and at the end, the unit displays and reads out a score that the player can compare with friends and aspire to beat. The end result is a fun, task based workout that builds specific skills, is unique and entertaining every time, and can be done with or without a partner, in the gym or at home.
20/20 Armor is based on the natural practice of learning through games. It is easily the most attractive form of development. And while sport is about hard work and development, we do not believe that means it must come at the price of enjoyment. We can have it all.
Welcome to the New Era of Taekwondo!
Tony Kook,
2020 Armor VP Sales
Owner of 4 clubs and over 1,200 students
