Dahmanegi

Stretching is important, and in the end, will give you the best result. Another reason may be technique... I've noticed a lot of beginners believe a side kick is just raisng their leg to the side. First, let me say I dont have the best kicks either...and when i kick slowly, I could manage to get my foot around shoulder height. But when i kick full force i definately can push myself to head height. Anyways, when side kicking you should first bring your kicking leg over in front of you, and then thrust outwards to perform the side kick. This adds a lot of force to the kick allowing your muscles to stretch a lil farther. Also in doing this...your body should be more kicking backwards rather than sideways. I find this a lot more comfortable..especially when you dont have lots of flexibility. A lot of beginning mistakes and injuries are result of wrong technique. Technique also varies from teacher to teacher, so another suggestion for better kicking performance, would be to ask your instructor.

Jhoon Rhee is the father of American TaeKwonDo. Karate and TaeKwonDo are completely different arts. One thing that may have you confused, is that when taeKwonDo was first introduced, it was called Korean Karate by americans.