aefibird

Just to let you know (if anyone cares ) that.... I PASSED!! w00t! The grading was very hard, very tiring and very long. It was also very hot in the hall, which made it twice as worse. Anyway, that's another milestone out of the way... just gotta pass that next TKD test at the end of May and it will have been a great month! Thank you all for your kind words and good luck wishes. Much appreciated!

Good luck! I'm sure you'll pass with flying colours!

Thanks...D-Day is nearly here! Testing is tomorrow from 10:00am GMT. *gulp*

I was once told that it was because of the force of the kicks in sparring. WTF is full-contact and a reason for lowering the guard is (supposedly) to prevent injuries, as there would be too much damage to the defenders arms if they tried to block. Instead of using their arms to avoid getting hit, WTF fighters are supposed to use their footwork to get out of the ay and not rely on blocking. I don't know how true that explanation is, but it's as good as any, I suppose. However, I train WTF and when we are sparring Olympic rules (in fact, generally when we are sparring, whatever the rules) SBN tells us all to keep our guard up. You get push-ups if you don't!

Not everyone goes into martial arts with the intention of purely learning self defence. People train for many reasons, SD just being one of them.

Yeah, but why join WTF (or wish to join WTF) if you don't like the sparrring. WTF is primarily Olympic style sparring. As for the BTCB, there's plenty of other governing bodies out there. BTCB is the Taekwondo Control Board for BRITISH OLYMPIC Taekwondo - just that sort, not any other TKD type, so naturally the BTCB is going to have its website about its primary concern - Olympic style sparring.

Sounds like you already want to do Judo, so go for it! Give it a go - you've nothing to lose. If you don't like it then you can always try something else. I'd start as a beginner (white belt), though. TKD is a completely different style to Judo and wearing a blackbelt in a Judo class would kind-of make a mockery of Judo blackbelts having to do the dan grading.

http://www.natkd.com/tkd_forms.htm Lots of TKD and TSD forms on there. However, if you're bored, ask yourself why. Perhaps you need to think about why you train in martial arts and why you're attending the school that you do. It sounds to me like you need to adress your root problem, rather than just simply trying to learn new forms off the internet (which is never a good idea anyway, IMO).

Yes, good luck! I'm sure you'll pass with flying colours. Thank's all for the good-luck messages. Parkerlineage, I'm a "ma'am"!

Good luck Laurie! Sounds to me like you've made the right decision. Good luck also to Heidi - you're gonna need it with Laurie at your school! lol, j/k Laurie!!

My dad and older brother were/are Judo blackbelts and one of my first memories is of them rolling round the front room together, practicing techniques. Karate Kid was also a big influence and exposure to MA for me.

I can't see as it makes any difference. Just because a person is homosexual doesn't mean that they think about sex all the time, or try it on with every person they meet. People at a dojo/dojang are there to train, it shouldn't matter what race or sex a person is, just in the same way as it shouldn't matter about a person's age, choice or religion or sexual preference.

Well done Aodhan! Maybe it's not a McForum, maybe you just have too much time on your hands!! (slinks away before anyone notices my post count...)

If anyone in the Uk gets "TKD & Korean Martial Arts" magazine then there's a good article about Taekkyon in this month's issue.

Same here. Some are better than others. I go to them all for different reasons. I like this one because there's plenty of members and most folk are knowledgeable and helpful.

In my school/organisation you have to be a red belt, black tag (1st Kup) in order to learn Koryo, although SBN will occasionally teach it to deserving 2nd or even 3rd Kups.

Yes, I've heard of her!! My knowledge of equestrian history is legendry - I have so much "useless" horse-related info in my brain it is unbelievable. I used to compete as a teenager and young adult. I stopped about 6/7 years ago because I was fed up with the politics of it all, especially the team selection process. Pushy parents - sheesh! I know some of you think that "Karate/TKD mums" are bad - horserider parents are 10x as worse!

We obviously scare people off!

Hah, yeah.

Yeah, same here. They really "do my head in", especially the horse-kicking myth. I'm a regular horserider and used to compete when I was younger. I even used to enter no-saddle jumping contests with my mate (because I'm crazy like that), so I know that if someone has half an ounce of riding knowledge then it is hard to unseat them. Good riders would be the cavalry riders - poor riders would either be dead or walking. Anyway, I'm preaching to the converted here, so I'll shut up.

41 - you're just getting into your stride! If people can get dan grades in their 70's then there's hope for me yet... I'm taking my Nidan soon, so I hope I shall put up as good a show as the 74 year old gentleman in frightmaster's class.

Heh, that is a wierd sparring animal!! Yeah, kids are strange. In my karate class we used to have this one lad (about 10 years old) that was big and powerful - looked like he could make mincemeat out of anyone - but when he entered his first competition he was scared stiff and ended up running around the ring away from his opponent (who was a girl and was kicking the you-know-what out of him). Appearences can often be deceptive...

Do I detect just a *little* hint of sarcasm there?? Get yourself a coffee, quick sharp!!

Yup, even in WTF schools there's not that many clubs that just teach WTF sparring and nothing else. Clubs in the UK that are members of the BTCB (which you basically have to be if you are a WTF club and want to enter WTF rules competitions in the UK) have a set syllabus for grading, which includes various aspects of TKD including several types of sparring - not just Olympic rules - as well as breaking, patterns, self defence and other things.

Well good luck to them anyway. Hope it's a good event.