Mend

Tang Soo Do, generally speaking, does have throws and quiet a few sweeps. As mentioned earlier, it all depends on what school or organization you're apart of. I know in the ITF, Red Belt Ho Sin Sul and Il Soo Sik Dae Ryun has a few sweeps. Black Belt has both sweeps and throws depending on the level of self defense you're up to. In the ITF, self defense routines can change. Forms however will never change. That being said. I've seen color belt Ho Sin Sul change once in the last 10 years. I believe the ITF doesn't teach throws early on because it's very easy to hurt your partner while training, only Dan members train in these techniques. Gichin Funakoshi himself even refrained from teaching some of the more deadly abilities such as throwing to his students for this very reason.

Is a Red colored "Cho Dan" arm patch different then a Green colored "Cho Dan" Arm patch? This applies to the Int. Tang Soo Do Fed. I've noticed different colors in class - wondering if this is like our belt system and Green is the "Junior" to the Red or vice versa? Thanks.

I have personally seen the effects of discipline-focused training in my school's children's class and the effects are profound. You should not be paying for a day care, fun time school. Traditional martial arts are in fact Martial. Arts. They're steeped in Focus, tradition, respect, humility and honor. These are virtues difficult to train a child but my teacher treats them as young adults. If you act up you do push ups, if you talk or laugh excessively, its followed up by a discipline talk and or push ups. Martial Arts for a child can be difficult but starting to enforce those virtues I mentioned above at a young age has a huge impact on the children as they grow up. Their confidence and understanding of life is through the roof, they're more mature and structured vs. kids who don't have this in their lives. It's my experience that this is the ideal training and that it's very hard to find schools this traditional and disciplined - the parents love it and our teacher really makes them work and show respect. Some people will say anything is better than nothing and that's true to a certain degree, but it cannot be overstated how much traditional martial arts instruction can improve one's life. I wish you luck in finding a place like this.

Thank you very much, I look forward to contributing where I can.

In the International Tang Soo Do Federation I was told not to wash my belt. Your Dee represents everything you've gone through, and should reflect your journey, dirty or clean. It's proof of training when the belt ends sag or have been tied so many times they hang like string. Most of our older, higher ranking Dan members have ratty belts, the time and number of ties it takes to look like that can take a decade or more. That being said - my belt does not have any particular odor to it. It smells like my gear and cotton. I'm fortunate in that my sweat doesn't smell terrible, I know others have smelly sweat and/or they don't wash their uniforms often enough and that can effect the belt. For those who honor this request but have a nasty belt, I'd try to condition it with Febreeze or another form of deodorizer.