Belasko

I would recomend some kind of grappling style w/ submission techniques. The reason for this is that most physical encounters do go to the ground, however you are not allowed to use excessive force (whatever that may be for the situation). Having worked with a few law enforcement people at seminars and camps they seem to prefer the control tactics of Judo and Ju-Jitsu the most. One of the men that I worked with is grandmaster Stephen Jimmerfield. He use to work for the Alaska highway patrol and after his partner was murdered by a felon he developed a style for police, specifically for cold weather situations where you lose the dexterity of your fingers and hands. His techniques are truly impressive and highly effective while appearing to apply little effort (very important when others perceptions could mean charges against you). If you can get into a seminar he is at do it. He also sells a couple of books that he wrote. I can't remember his website but if you can find it to order his books I would highly recomend them both.

being an assistant instructor now I currently have seen things be looked at differently by myself and the instructor. However I am in a bit different situation where the head instructor and I are both the same rank from the same master. In this case there are several times where instead of one always being correct or not we often consult eachother as equals. If we still are not certain our master is often used as a resource at a later time either in person or via phone or email. Perhaps a good way to help would be to explain it was taught differently and have the assistant instructors discuss it briefly if they are agreeable to this. They could then inquire w/ the head instructor if a satisfactory answer is still not forthcoming.

gcav, Spoken like a true entrepeneur(sp?). On the original thread though, I believe that you are a slightly different chung do kwan group than I come from. I'm part of the Chung Do Kwan Alliance. The ranking in our style is white yellow green purple brown black There are high and low rankings for green through brown and 9 degrees of black.

I'm new to the forum and was curious if there are any other Chung Do Kwan TKD practitioners out there and if so where from?

You can't keep up your skill in something if you don't practice it. If you don't have the basics mastered everything past that will suffer. Basically the theory of "if you don't use it, you lose it"

depends on the person and the instructor. I have seen people that after a couple years are getting very close to being what I would consider a bb level and others that have had that level for years but could be beaten by a skilled beginner. If you need a good idea of what it means to have a BB see my post signature.

it really doesn't matter how tough I think I am, what matters is how tough YOU think I am." Aodhan truer words are rarely heard

in our style you can punch, kick, elbow, etc to just about anywhere (although we do restrict leg and knee targets to brown and black belts d/t potential serious injury). All techniques are practiced w/ adjustments in spacing so that the attacks stop just short of the target. Personnally I prefer this d/t more realism. After all, if you're attacked on the street are you going to call foul if the attacker strikes you to the head or back?

irregardless of technique be it a joint lock, punch, kick or whatever. The extent and force to which it is delivered needs to be carefully applied, concept of escalation of force. I would hope that a person would not apply full force to their friend for some other innebriated person at the bar because they had too much to drink and were acting like an idiot. However if said person were to make you feel that your life was in danger applying the technique and following it through completely may very well be justified. Basically it is a situational thing. Most street fight though don't give you a lot of time to consider it though.

I study a style of TKD I have yet to notice on the board called Chung Do Kwan. I'm pretty sure it is a break off of WTF but don't quote me on that. The technique taught in our class you start in a back stance then shifting weight to the front foot bring your back foot up off the floor while pivoting your front foot 90 degrees. Leaving out most the small detail mechanics... this will bring you to a position in which the back foot is level or possibly just above the level of your knee (on the same leg) as if you were kneeing someone in the gut from their side. The knee should be bent at about 90 degrees. the lower part of the leg then extends or whips, however you want to look at it, out striking w/ the ball of the foot. There are plusses and minuses to both techniques. The minus to this one is that it is slower than the one usually taught in ATA. However it is usually more powerful. This is attributed to the mechanics/physics involved. if you hit w/ the top of your foot/shin, the impact is spread over sever inches dissipating the force more. If it is concentrated into an area the size of a silver dollar like the ball of the foot the force pounds per square inch is much higher resullting in more damage. On the other hand if you are in an ATA tournament w/ full contact and use of pads the other slapping strike will make a much louder sound on impact and you score w/ a mediocre strike. [/b]

It took me just under 3.5 years and that was w/ advancing as quickly as I could in our style and circumstances. There are going to be differences depending on your school. However, if you start at a school and the instructor tells you he can guarantee you a black belt in 2 year for a nominal fee of $XXXX for that time frame, give me a call I'll beat his price and have a black belt shipped to you next week

I'm from a Tae Kwon Do class offered at a university. Almost every student there is over 20, and none are under 18!

Periodically in the class I was in in college we would get students of other styles or just other schools that would work out w/ us. The majority were fine but about every other semester or so one would show up that would not be respectful of other students. Not really talking down to them or anything but usually just lacked control in sparring, would not acknowledge a scored hit, that sort of thing. The first step would be one of the advanced students pointing out this to them in sparring and reminding them. After that the instructor would usually spar w/ the students and when faced w/ such a student would give them some of their own medicine. They either learned quickly d/t this or usually would not come back after a couple of times.

once or twice a week depending on my work schedule.

There are no superior styles, there are only superior practitioners.

I'm new to the forum, hence my late insight to this question. However I think I have an important view to add. Train in other styles once you have achieved a solid base in your current style. Your 10 years should be more than adequate. My own instructor encourages us to be open and learn from other practitioners regardless of style. He currently holds a 7th dan in Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do, a 3rd Dan in Olympic style and also a first degree in Jiu-jutsu not to mention the amount of information he has acquired over years of practice and interaction w/ different styles. Plus every summer he attends a camp in Arizona that includes multiple different styles, plus encourages his students to attend as well. Learning from different people should not be a problem, it can only help you grow more in the martial arts and as a person.

check out this article on knife attacks. It is really informative as to what a person should expect when confronted w/ an armed attacker. http://www.isu.edu/stdorg/sports/tkd/knives.pdf Hope it helps