MichiganTKD

In Marked for Death, when Steven Seagal crashes his car into the department store (bank?), and proceeds to beat the hell out of the 5 Jamaican guys with various aikido techniques. Sorry, I've always been a big Steven Seagal fan. I don't care how big of an * he is.

Whoever it is will probably be either Korean or Korean-born. I don't think the WTF or the Korean gov't is ready to appoint a non-Korean to the position. I'm sure they want the balance of power to remain in the birthplace of Tae Kwon Do, if nothing else than for symbolic reasons.

I don't know... Personally, I like to be able to point to the various blood stains and discolorations and say "I got this one sparring so-and-so and broke his nose" or " I got this one free fighting outside and was swept onto the grass". Those are real free fighting trophies

True story-same guy. He was at another testing awhile back, and our Instructor asked him if he could break a board with a jumping front kick. I think it was to show what a good jumping kick looked like. The board was held at a height of about 10 feet, and the guy kept trying until he finally succeeded. He is only about 5'8" by the way. His problem was that his Tae Kwon Do technique was exceptional, and the Instructor kept testing him to see what he was capable of.

Another student in my class and I made 1st Dan about the same time, and attended the same high school together. I think we were literally the only two black belts in our school. Naturally we practiced together all the time. We became known as the "Karate twins", almost kind of freaks, because nobody in school really knew what Tae Kwon Do was about. It didn't help with meeting women. Women understood football and soccer. They didn't understand martial arts. One of the reasons I was so dedicated was because I couldn't get a date.

What I would like to see happen is an Instructor who actually practices and understands Tae Kwon Do ascend to the head of WTF. Hopefully it won't be another sports administrator or non-practioner appointed by the Government. I really would like to see WTF TKD pull back from the sport style it emphasized and go back to its roots.

I generally use standard 1x12x12 spruce boards for regular beaks. For special breaks, such as high or long jumping, I will have them cut a little thinner. For patio blocks, I just go to the home improvement stores and get 2" blocks. Nothing fancy.

Our Instructor told us that what will happen the WTF is this: With Dr. Un Yong Kim out of the picture (resigning) and GM Woon Kyu Uhm retiring, the WTF will fracture as its leaders leave the scene and nobody planned for who would take over. New, smaller TKD organizations will arrive on the scene since the central power of the WTF is diminished. Eventually, a person will arrive who will be strong enough to consolidate the WTF's power and pull it back together. This will be some time in the future and will be one of the (currently) younger Instructors. Who, nobody knows.

OUCH! Serves him right, though Just goes to show-never cross a woman who can kick your butt like that.

We were always told by our Instructor that wearing body armor and headgear (WTF style) will not keep you from getting hurt. Body armor might prevent you from getting severely injured to the body, but it will not prevent serious impact. I've seen people get ribs broken wearing it. Headgear will not prevent you from getting knocked out. It is designed to prevent you from getting killed when your head hits the floor if you are knocked out. You are still going to get knocked unconcious.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but if the Tae Kwon Do is exactly the same, then why a colored uniform? Just because everyone else wears one? I still wonder why Instructors like Cho and Rhee feel the need to wear one. What do they hope to accomplish? Do they think wearing a colored uniform will somehow make them better? Wearing fancy colored uniforms, granted, does not make you a bad person. Although I find the red-white-blue uniforms REALLY tacky. However, I truly think that students who wear colored uniforms do so because they want to be noticed. One of the reasons why traditional Tae Kwon Do utilizes white uniforms is because when students are all wearing white, except for their belt ranks, they are all equal. Only level of technique and years of experience set them apart. Again, it goes back to lack of ego and humility.

A number of years ago at a test, one of our black belts was trying to break 6 boards with a sliding side kick. He was unable to do it. So our Organization head pointed at another of our black belts and asked him if he could do it. What was the guy going to say? No? He must have tried 10 times. So you have these guys holding 6 boards with another black belt trying to break them. Which means they have to stand there and absorb enough energy to break 6 boards up their arms. He finally succeeded, but their arms were solid black and blue up the forearms from the repeated impact.

I guess it must be quite a sight when the morning sun reflects off your black (red, blue, white/black) dobok at just the right angle. Kinda brings a tear to your eye.

Probably some of all three. I think the important thing is don't do a break until you know for sure you are ready for it. Doing a break because you saw someone on TV or in a movie do it is a recipe for disaster.

You apparently are also from the school of "don't need Grammar Check"

Just curious as to how many people out there have injured themselves during breaks. What was the injury and how severe was it? About 12-13 years ago, when I was young and stupid, I tried breaking five 2-inch patio blocks. I broke four and my wrist as well. There is a nice lump still on my right wrist where it didn't heal properly.

As long as we're clear on that And for the record, a Tae Kwon Doist practices in a dobok, not a gi.

One of our Instructors had a student who was a pianist, and he allowed him to wear hand pads as a precaution. There will always be the potential for injury, but it also possible to train yourself, using distance and footwork, so that you don't have to physically block. You can get out of the way. Be careful during one-step though. You have to use your hands and arms for that. Haven't seen many people hurt their hands during one-step. Seen lots of people hurt their forearms and wrists getting high blocked though. As far as breaking, just stick with kicking breaks and you should be okay.

I think early teens are a good time to start, because then the body is starting to mature and I think physically it is easier to practice speed, power, and accuracy. I think if I had started earlier I would have been just as dedicated as I was when I started. I was not your typical teen student who just wanted to see what Tae Kwon Do was about or was bored. I was absolutely dedicated. I wanted to practice earlier, but I think my mom was afraid of what martial arts were about. She didn't want me getting hurt.

The offending Instructor crawls back on his hands and knees and begs to be allowed to recommend again Seriously, I imagine (since I don't think we've had an Instructor lose their privileges) the Instructor would have to meet with our President and discuss recommending the students. Why make the students suffer for the sins of the Instructor? However, if an Instructor quits the Organization or is cut, his students will never test in the Organization. He then has two choices: test the students himself, in which case their rank is not legitimate, or accept the fact that his students will never advance in rank.

While I have read the Modern History of Tae Kwon Do and the History of Chung Do Kwan, it was nice and very refreshing to read the other. Always glad to read an unbiased history of TKD. This from a WTF member.

Ironically, our Instructor was telling us about all this last year at least. I was just waiting to see when it would break into the mainstream media. Apparently was is happening is this: Dr. Kim, being President of the World Taekwondo Federation for 30 years, has had access to VERY large sums of money over the years as member nations send in their dues. As a result, he has pocketed millions of dollars of WTF money and used his position as WTF head to exercise undue influence in the IOC decision making process. Along the way, I believe he has used that money to financially assist his son. He has finally admitted guilt, and stepped down as President of the WTF and the Kukkiwon. He will likely be arrested and jailed on corruption charges. This is the reason why we change Presidents in this country every so often-to prevent this kind of entrenched corruption. Furthermore, the USTU was reprimanded by the USOC for large-scale financial mismanagement. Several of their top officers have resigned, including Sang Chul Lee and others. There was action taken to strip the USTU of its NGB (national governing body) status, meaning it would no longer represent the WTF in America and be forbidden from qualifying Olympic athletes. What will happen I don't know. I do suspect that Tae Kwon Do will probably lose its Olympic affiliation for a couple of reasons. 1. Bad publicity. It is awfully hard to justify Olympic participation of a sport when its top body is accused of this kind of mismanagement 2. When the top leadership is fractured like this, who make the decisions necessary to keep things stable? 3. Sport Tae Kwon Do in this country, let's face it, is not a big ratings getter. Not many Americans care about who the TKD medallists are, especially since they tend to be Korean anyway.

People can wear whatever color jeans they want to, because the color of jeans and jeans themselves do not represent anything other than comfortable denim. White uniforms in Tae Kwon Do represent purity of mind and action, according to Buddhist thought-although if someone knows differently please let me know. As such, it is my firm belief that although there is nothing to prevent you from wearing colored uniforms to practice or teach TKD, you cannot call yourself a traditional Tae Kwon Do person if you do. Maybe American Tae Kwon Do, whatever that is. I don't consider Hee Il Cho a traditional Tae Kwon Doist because he has changed things as he has seen fit and decided to do things his own way. While that is his personal decision, he cannot call himself a traditional Tae Kwon Do Instructor.

Nobody said they couldn't wear a non-white uniform. I just don't agree with them doing it. As far as Hee Il Cho wearing one, I respect the man's ability and what he has done for Tae Kwon Do. I just don't agree with his choice on this matter and don't understand why he feels he needs to or what is accomplished.

Ironically, I had a chance to view some of the ITF forms, and realized that we do Chon-Ji for white belt form (albeit with the last two punches high) and then do Palgue forms. Go figure.