frightmaster

For me, my heel is pointing in the direction at the time of impact, or close to it. When the timing os correct from the start of the kick till the end, the heel should rotate just before the leg get extended for max power.

He not only should be stripped of his BB rank, he should no longer be allowed to progress within ANY organization of TKd being WTF, ITF or so on....He is an embarressment to the sport we all love and his actions can never be tolerated.

It is not like we really go tot WATCH any matches here in USA. Not a SINGLE match was broadcasted during the entire olympics. They only reported standings/winners.

Wish the best for you. How did you make out?

I was going to go from WTF to ITF and liked what I seen. I decided not to for various reasons and I am now learning the forms from ITF. Being a good judge I should know both styles and then some more. I learnded that the I will always be a student and I want to learn. Best advise....ENJOY. Oh and get a good education. That should be the first choice for the school you choose. smiles

After the test she brought over a board and did a break on it like she was fearless. Talk about almost tearing up. She was so good. VERY PROUD DAD.

Well and update....My 12 year old daughter is NOW a BLACK BELT in TKD. She was asked to try to break the brick and then the Master said for her not to. The fact that she was going to try to do it was enough. For her safety he said for her not to do it. I was so proud of her courage. Thanks all for the great advise.

Best to remember is this......If the "big group" are made up of parents and such know that they do not know what you are doing and if you were to make a mistake they do not know it. If there are other students, the upper belts will know what you do wrong and they will be able to help you out with it. Bottom line is you will feel good ablout yourself just taking the test.

Excellent ideas. She has broken 1 inch pine bpoards many times. Her problem is the first time she tried an elbow break, this being her first break, she hit her wrist on the edges and cut her arm up. For me to get her NOT to be afraid is where the problem is. I know she can do it. I just do not want her to get upset about "trying". The break itself is with a palm strike onto the brick held on 2 cinder blocks. So it will NOT move at all.

Does anyone have any advice for me to try to get an 11 year old to be NOT afraid to atttempt a break during her BB test? I was told that the Master will ask her to try to break it. HE is not looking fro her to do it but to only try.

How can anyone say that TKD, regardless of affiliation, it is only an art? There are 2 styles to TKD....ART of TKD and the SPORT of it. People choose not to go through the sport of it, me including, and are attracted to the history, culture and beauty of the art. I have trained to fight and I am good at it but that is not what I get out of learning TKD. Others may see the sport of it more and not as much the art. In my humble opinion, there has to be both for one to exist.

I would ask your friend to speak with his instructor and explain why he wants to go to the second school. There mnay be a way his instructor can help him. Other then that I would never train in 2 different styles of TKD. I myself train at 2 physical schools all under the same master. The teachings are the same at both. I asked about learning the ITF forms and after a good discussion I learned that focus should be on improvement on exsistent knowledge as well as my next needed BB form.

Well there is a difference betewwn the to organizations. You first mentioned your forms were not as good as thiers. I assume you reffer to the technique and not the Poomse itself. If your form technique is not as good then you should be practicing them before learning a new style of forms. Yuor sparring is good becasue this seems to where you focus your learning efforts. This is a good thing and it works well for you but it may not for the student next to you in either class. I am, in my school, now allowed to learn the ITF forms if I wish to. I prefer to practice my existing forms and learn mopre of my BB forms. Someone also used the term "perfect". I suggest being careful when using this for no one is perfect in Martial Arts. This is why we study and practice for years and years.

I would have to say an inside cresant kick right into a spinning jumping inside cresant kick.

I would also look into checking if the school is affilated with any kind of international federration such as ITF/WTF. This can tell you a lot about what is taught and such.

Part of earning degrees is also TEACHING other students. This will also help you to learn the art much better. 4 years is, in my humble opinion, not enough time to get a 3rd degree let alone 4th (from scratch).

I started Tae Kwon Do at 34. I just received my 1 Dan this year at 39. Anything is possible.

I am good friends with a fellow BB in my school. We met in class. We met becasue he was a Green Belt and I was a white belt. He was selected to teach me the basics early on and we hit it off. I got so into it, thanks partically to him, that I actually caught his rank and we took our BB test together. HE has never and never will hold it against me. In fact I think he even waited for me so we can do it together. That is what it is all about. FRIENDSHIP and SUPPORT.

In my WTF school I was to know taeguk 1-8 flawlessly and Koryo. When I received my deputy black I had to demonstrate the first 8 forms as well as teach them to students PRIOR to being approved for my black belt test. Once I was selected I was then training with a BB excluselvy on my forms to really make them as good as I can. Alsong with that there is a whole aspect of the test, which is unknown to none BB's. During the test I was only tested on 4 forms (randomly picked by the MNaster). I have passed and was all worked up for the test which is what they wanted. They watch to see how the student reacts. I later found out that the "actual test" for BB is when selected and training with the BB. They watch you then. The BB Test is mearly show of how to face the unknown. Over all I ENJOYED it so much.

I prefer the fist as I am able to focus on my technique much more then on a palm strike. After all we do how many punches in class each week. If talking garden block, I vote for palm all the way.

Persoanlly I do not think STOP would exist if I or anyone I train with. If you attack me, why would I not defend myself to the point I can either get away safely or subdue the person till police arrived. As for sparring, the ref should yell stop or some other form/language as well as try to seperate. We all know this and respect it. Can never merge sparring with real life actions.

In my school TKD, we have about 30 - 40 black belts. This is also acattered across 3 schools with about 100 total students. When we test, all three at once in 1 location, we do not know ow many Black belts will show. The last test was with about 400 total students. Following that test we broke up for the black belt tests (which I was one of and passed thank you). And they used about 15 black belts. 5 were performing the test, 4th degree and up, and the rest were for sparring and so on. I felt it helps to have a lot durng a test. For classes it helps that the Black belts assist the master and not teach for the most part. I learn so much just by helping the master and this is, as someone stated, the beginning of my jouney as a Black Belt.

Well if your asking which TKD style to study I would only say to go to a few schools and see what is taught. WTF TKD is olympic style and is bring in punching but still is 90% kicks. ITF incorporates both but I would guess about 75%kicking (I can be wrong on percentage for ITF). I would, as others stated, stay with 1 and maybe 2 types of fight training at a time as your body will not remember movements and progressing would be slowed.

I would think it is up to the practioniers (sp) to alleviate the differences. I am never against learning new things and I can only see this as an oppratunity. Maybe it is my nature to be positive. Who knows. hehe

I would see this merger, if it were to happen, as a good thing for us all. Much more techniques qould be opened up for both styles.