Paragon Conifer Paragon Bailey
Lura Roberts, 5th Degree Black Belt
Head instructor of the Paragon Conifer and Paragon Bailey locations, Lura is a 5th generation Colorado native, she was born and raised in the foothills outside of Denver in Conifer, Colorado. A 30 time Colorado State Champion and a National Weapons Champion, she has gained a reputation for being one of the ATA's most meticulous instructors with some of the state's brightest and most promising students and young instructors and up-and-coming future World Champions.
As a child her physical pursuits included gymnastics, figure skating, hockey and swimming. The Olympics provided a rare treat to watch childhood heroes Nadia Comaneci, and Mary Lou Retton, both Olympic gold medalists. Roberts feels that by watching video tapes of these gymnasts every day, helped her develop an eye for style, quality and form that is so important in Taekwondo.
Instructor Notes:
Community service also started young with her playing the violin for seniors at the age of 5 years old. By age 12, she was making quilts for the non profit organization People Comforters, and at age 14 she became one of the youngest members of Park County Search and Rescue. At age 22, she founded and incorporated the Pilsung Youth Initiative, an organization dedicated to providing financial aid for kids who want to participate in martial arts training.
At age three Roberts started playing violin and at age four piano. In fact as a child, every time she visited Santa Clause, she would play him a short piece to thank him. Her passion for music developed the skills of consistency, frequency and duration; skills required by everyone to master their area of expertise.
Starting Taekwondo classes in Conifer on her 16th birthday, Roberts remembers being excited about the forms and structure of Taekwondo. Attending ATA World Championships for the first time in 1997, Roberts won the first invitation only weapons competition with single ssahng jeol bong. She repeated this win in 1998 and 1999 with two other weapons.
Roberts mother, a certified teacher in early childhood education and children with disabilities, played a huge impact on Roberts' childhood. "I remember learning as a child that with repetition, even kids with brain injury could learn to do things that most children took for granted. Often the repetition required would be in the 1000's or 10,000's. I really felt with the right teacher, and enough repetition, anyone could do anything!" Roberts eagerly jumped at the chance to change lives through Taekwondo and became a certified instructor in 1998.
aking over ownership of the Conifer school in 2004 as a 5th degree black belt, Roberts feels her greatest contribution has been in the area of, leadership development and weapons training. "2008 was a landmark year for the Paragon Schools with over 50 state champion titles" says Roberts. Roberts has recently launched the 1000 Smarter Safer Kids program to provide child safety training to over 1000 kids in the mountain area community.
