Kicks

tommarker hit the nail on the head when he said: But a caution goes out before starting plyometric training. It has been suggested that an athlete be able to squat twice his body weight before attempting depth jumps. See http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/plymo.htm

At the dojang I attend we honor the current rank of a student switching over. However, this hasn't always worked well for the student. There is a chain (franchise) of TKD schools in our area. Many times we get a student switching over from there to us. We have found that their color belts (below black) have knowledge of their forms and basic techniques, but are one or two belts lower than our students in proficiency of them. This is no problem and we are usually able to catch them up in a few months. This can easily be done since the reason they left was a desire to get better anyway. These students often stay around to at least making their black belt. However, when a black belt student from there transfer over and retains his/her belt, they usually don’t stick around too long. Our curriculum is quite extensive and it seems to overwhelm them. We tell them to be patient and in time they will pick up on the belt ran requirements as well as the requirements for the color belts they are responsible for. But every time they quit within a year, no matter how hard we work to keep them encouraged. How do any of you address this situation?

TV listings are posted on the NBCOlympics.com website. The last one in my area is tonight during the 11:30 Central time programming on NBC. I've been catching the few TKD matches they show on CNBC. But what's bad about their listings is that it gives a starting time of the programming and a listing of several sports that will air during that time slot, but not exactly what time each will start. Today I had to watch 4 hours of other stuff before I could see 5 minutes of Tae Kwon Do. Then another two hours before another 5 minutes of TKD.

As you propbably heard/read, Bertrand Cbongou Liango from Central African Republic was knocked out during his fight against Tuncay Caliskan, from Austria, in a quarterfinal match in the men's under 68kg division at taekwondo, Friday, Aug. 27, 2004. Cbongou was leading 4 - 1 when he was knocked unconscious. His head snapped back and he fell face-down to the mat. He lay motionless while being counted out and was carried off on a stretcher. As a follow up to that: http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040827/capt.olytae10108270929.greece_olympics_taekwondo_olytae101.jpg Bertrand Cbongou Liango, left, from Central African Republic, falls backwards as he is kicked in the head by Tuncay Caliskan, from Austria, in a quarterfinal match in the men's under 68kg division at taekwondo, Friday, Aug. 27, 2004. http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040827/capt.olytae10608271012.greece_olympics_taekwondo_olytae106.jpg Bertrand Cbongou Liango lay motionless while being counted out. Let's wish him the best for a speedy and complete recovery.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/2004/0828/5054360_320X240.jpg I'm having trouble finding a complete Results webpage. Need help. But a nice 20+ page photo gallery can be seen at: http://sports.yahoo.com/oly/taekwondo/gallery?pg=1&cap=1 Here's a sample: http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040827/i/r2576786134.jpgNia Abdallah ® of the U.S. kicks out at Russia's Margarita Mkrtchyan during the women's under 57 kg round of 16 taekwondo competition at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 27, 2004.

DLopez: Not me! Not me! tufrthanu said: ramymensa said: Looks like someone should have kept his hands up, at least this once: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/040827/040827_Liango_hmed.h2.jpg OK, one more time about punches and the hands down thing. It’s not the competitor’s fault, or the coach’s fault. It’s the way the judges don’t award a point to a player for a solid punch. There’s your waste of time, punching and punching and not getting any points. Two points are given for head shots, so that’s encouragement to go to the head. I bet if points were awarded for punches a little more liberally then you’d see a lot more punches being thrown. As I mention in my previous post I use punches to disrupt my opponents attack or to set up my scoring kick. I don’t count on punches to score, even if I put the guy on his back. In that regard, I also have gotten accustomed to not worrying about his punches scoring on me. So at times I will fight with my hands down. It’s much easier and quicker for me to step into my opponent’s roundhouse with my arms covering the entire side of my body then to try to throw a block from hands up position. By stepping in I’m in a position where I am too close to him for him to hit my head. You may not see this as practical, but until you’ve perfected it or seen it properly done I can understand your arguments against it, and that’s OK. I like fighting people who fight with their hands up all the time. My quick kicks can get under their arms 80% of the time for a score. I’ve been burnt before and hit hard in the chest with punches doing this, but the odds are in my favor I’ll get the point. I will have to admit I’m not the best with the hand techniques. I have competed in point sparring only three times and have only won one of those, and that was the State Championships…go figure!! tufrthanu said: Very understandable on your part tufrthanu. I love TKD but have asked myself the same question you posed here. At least until I had conversations with some of my fellow TKD practitioners who actually had to use their TKD skills in street defense. With each it only took a matter of a few seconds to disable or knockout their assailant. They didn’t stand around and ‘box’ the guy. They used either their Hapkido techniques or the power of their TKD kicks. Rich_2k3 said: And I train for sport. No right or wrong here. I already know the first rule of self defense, avoid the situation. I haven't had to confront an assailant in years.

What's your favorites?

This summer I took 3 students to AAU Nationals. My 9 year old student drew the biggest guy in his division for his first fight. He called him Mohawk man because of his mohawk haircut. My student was nervous, until he started knocking Mohawk Man down. All bark...no bite.

The more you practice, the luckier you get.

One of my favorite bumper stickers is: MY KARATE KID CAN BEAT UP YOUR HONOR STUDENT

I had her in third grade!

italian_guy asked: answer: 35

if it's a robbery attempt, take your wallet and toss it to the right and in back of him. when his eyes follow the wallet run to the left. if he just wants to shoot you, offer him your wallet in exchange, then throw it in his face and take off, maybe a little zig zag would be good.

I mostly see the Taeguk forms being performed when I attend many USTU tournaments. The dojang I attend teaches taeguks, palgwe, and chang hom forms. We also learn a few pyung ahn forms.

One point is 'supposed' to be awarded for a solid punch to the hogo (chest protector). At my first USTU Nationals I countered a double roundhouse with a reverse punch right in his sternum. He fell flat on the floor. No point. Kind of discourages a player when the judges don't award ponts that are valid. You've got to play to the judges. If they are only scoring head kicks, then kick to the head. If they are only scoring offensive hits and not defensive, then be the offensive player. It's not 'traditional' TKD, it's a sport, a game, with people making judgements on what is a score. So play to the judges. That is, if you rather win then just look good. Don't misunderstand me. Punches are still very useful. I do my share of punches, but more to disrupt my opponents attack or distract him before a kick. I don't rely on punches to score my points.

Nia Abdallah of the USA has made it to the gold medal round! Added: Nia won silver, losing to Ji Won Jang of Korea

From the NBCOlympics.com website: http://www.nbcolympics.com/2004/0826/5053097.jpg Chu Mu Yen (red) of Chinese Taipei wins gold in the flyweight division. Nia Abdallah of the USA competes in the Women’s Olympic Featherweight division today (Friday, Aug 27). ADDED: I just saw that Nia will be in the Gold Medal match!

Have you seen Google's logo today? It has two toga wearing greeks doing Tae Kwon Do (I know it's TKD because the image name is summer2004_taekwondo.gif ) It will probablyonly be up today. http://www.google.com/logos/summer2004_taekwondo.gif

That God..what a guy!

NBCOlympics.com has TV listing for the Olympics. It's listing for Thursday Aug 26 at 5:00 ET is: Women's Volleyball - Semifinal: Brazil vs. Russia Taekwondo - Gold Medal Finals Men's Basketball - Quarterfinal: Greece vs. Argentina I never saw a listing for any of the elimination rounds. USA has 2 competitors; Nia Abdallah (featherweight) and Steven Lopez (Welterweight).

Do you know if there is a listing of who's fighting? The USTU website posted:

Welcome from the sunny South!

I have toooo many. I have several 'collections' that keep me occupied. I like fossil hunting and digging up bones and non-vertebrate fossils. We like going to the beach collecting seashells. I also collect Christmas cards and antique nativity figures. I also have a large Santa Claus collection. I collect some Boy Scout memorabilia, certain postcards, and New Orleans Mardi Gras memorabilia. I do family genealogy and play guitar. Some of my hobby webpages: Fossils: http://www.livaudaisnet.com/fossils/fossil.htm Christmas: http://www.livaudaisnet.com/xmas/xmas.htm Mardi Gras: http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mardigras/mardigras.htm Boy Scout Handbooks: http://www.geocities.com/webfut2000/ Genealogy: http://www.livaudaisnet.com/genealogy/genlgy.htm

You can also check out the Physical Fitness and the Tournament Training links on my website at: http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/mafit.htm Maybe there's something there you can add to your routine.

A private strcuture with a lobby and office in the front and a wooden floor dojang. There are changing rooms in the back, one for females and one males, both equiped with showers. The men's room is attached to a suuna. They are seperated by a small room with a weight bench, treadmill, and leg stretch gadget. The building is located at the end of a dead end street, so there isn't drive by traffic to catch the attention of possible new students. We do, howeve, have a high sign that can be see from the highway on the other end of the street.