Credentials & Achievements
Grand Master Frank R. Nelson BSN, MA
Vice President - World Taekwondo & Hapkido Association
9th Dan World Taekwondo & Hapkido Association
Kukkiwon Certified International Master
Kukkiwon Certified Poom/Dan Belt Examiner
9th Dan Korean Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan
9th Dan World Taekwondo Jidokwan Federation
First Class Taekwondo Jidokwan Master
8th Dan World Taekwondo Chungdokwan Federation
7th Dan Korea Hapkido Total Association
7th Dan Korean Hapkido Jin Jung Kwan Association
6th Dan Korea Hapkido Federation
President Central Florida Association of Korea Hapkido Total Association
Retired US Army Captain and Combat Veteran
✱
GM Frank R. Nelson is one of the highest legitimate multi Kwan officially ranked Masters in the world, an original student of Moo Duk Kwan GM Chong Soo Hong and GM Jae Sun Do, Chungdokwan GM Edward B. Sell and GM Hae Man Park, Jidokwan GM Oh Joo Yul and GM Dong Kyun Lim, the KTA, WTF, the Kukkiwon Academy, Korea Hapkido Federation, Korea Hapkido Total Association, Sin Moo Hapkido, Jin Jung Kwan Hapkido, American Hapkido Association, and several others, and Co Founder and Vice President of The World Taekwondo & Hapkido Association.
A retired U.S. Army Captain with 25 years of active duty around the globe including multiple combat tours. Master Nelson taught elements of the US Army First Infantry Division "in theater" during the Persian Gulf War (ODS/DS) 1990/91, and Iraqi Translators, U.S. & British Special Forces, and Ugandan Republic Military Guards "in combat theater" during the Iraq War (OIF/OEF) 2008/09.
Master Nelson taught Taekwondo in several community settings as well as an adjunct professor at Valencia Community College in Orlando Florida where he was also a State College Campus LEO.
Grand Master Nelson is Vice President of The World Taekwondo and Hapkido Association and President of the Central Florida Association of Korea Hapkido Total Association.
Grand Master Frank R. Nelson was born in Miami Florida in 1960. He began his Korean Martial Arts training in 1975 practicing "Korean Karate" aka "Kong Soo Do/Jidokwan."
In April 1977 Master Nelson entered the post Vietnam War U.S. military service where at that time a combination of Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Judo "Hand to Hand Combat" training was a standard Basic Combat Training requirement.
Upon completion of Basic and Advanced training Master Nelson went overseas in September 1977 and began formal Taekwondo and Hapkido training in Sung Moo Kwan and Sung Do Kwan. Following the death of his teacher in 1980 Master Nelson studied ITF Taekwondo, and both Ishynryu Karate and Wushu Gungfu for approximately one year each before returning to Taekwondo and Hapkido.
In July 1991 Master Nelson met the former Pan American Moo Duk Kwan Secretary General, Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan GM Jae Sun Do (a former student of GM Hwang Kee and GM Chong Soo Hong) and began training under his direction leading to a relationship with his teacher GM Hong Chong Soo (former Kukkiwon Vice President and second Korea Taekwondo Moo Duk Kwan President) who visited, taught, and lectured on occasion between 1991 until his passing. This is when the passage of the WTHA system began.
In April 1993 Master Nelson opened the Central Florida Taekwondo & Hapkido Academy. Master Nelson taught for fifteen years before closing his Dojang due to military deployment requirements.
From 2007 to 2009, Master Nelson deployed to Iraq in the Global War On Terror. While deployed, Master Nelson taught Taekwondo and Hapkido to U.S. and British Special Forces, Iraqi translators, Ugandan Republic Military Guards, and Soldiers at Combat Operation Base Speicher, Tikrit Iraq.
In September 2013 Master Nelson returned for medical care and was subsequently medically retired in September 2015. In January 2016 Master Nelson opened the Korean American Martial Arts Academy in Orlando Florida.
Since 2017 Master Nelson re-established Taekwondo, Kukkiwon, Kwan, and Hapkido Kwan relationships subsequently attending multiple USAT Masters and Referee Clinics, World Taekwondo Masters Union and Kukkiwon Masters courses, Taekwondo tournaments and seminars as well as Hapkido training with such notables as GM Inwan Kim, GM Shelton Moreland, GM Will Widmyer, GM Larry Dorsey, and others.
GM Nelson hosts WTHA President GM Jae Sun Do in Orlando Florida every year since 2017 for Annual Academy and Association Seminar, training, annual Black Belt Testing, and the annual Florida Masters Association Reunion.
As a result GM Nelson having exemplified the highest standards of loyalty, discipline, etiquette, protocol, trained in and maintained the highest standards of curriculum and performance in each associated Kwan, and integrated this multitude of disciplines, education, knowledge, skill, technique, philosophies, and wisdom in his continued teaching and sharing these Korean Martial Arts, GM Nelson was qualified to test and passed with superior performances in each of his associated Kwans and was promoted to his current ranks across multiple prestigious organizations.
