Kill Jill

disbelief

Yeah, I think the Muay Thai kicks can often be much more deadly. I never see a MT kick coming when I'm watching. It seems to happen so effortlessly. That can also be true of TKD, but I think less common. Perhaps the MT footwork also helps. It's hard to develop a floating style, low to the ground bounce in TKD. You can often sense a move coming, although you don't always know what move it will be... Someone just sent me this video link of a Taekwondo artist sparring against a Muay Thai guy. (If you haven't already seen it). It's great for comparison of the 2 styles: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5585460401345378983&q=Muay+THai&pl=true

I wonder if the info came in time for Superfoot - he hasn't said whether he joined the class or not. 30 pounds a month - a pound a day. Okay, if you have a full time job and no mortgage to pay! From what I noticed, in the UK, it's perhaps worth checking out the universities. Often, they have a Taekwondo club run in the evenings at least a couple of times a week which are pretty inexpensive. Bristol university and Nottingham University, for example, were both charging about 5 pound per lesson for non students for something like a 2 hour class. It seemed good value unless you're broke, and at least you can be guaranteed that you won't have to share the gym with young kids. Equipment was provided, too.

The WTF has recently announced official evaluation results of electronic protector prototypes, after they put out a worldwide tender for design proposals. The WTF has now awarded a Korean company (surprise) the contract to develop their prototype further. However, even this company's prototype couldn't fulfil all the technical assessment requirements in terms of registering all the various impact types. I think there are going to be a lot of scoring errors occuring as a result. They can't possibly get it ready in time for the Olympics, surely. Are you longing for electronic protectors?

About a year ago, I was watching a very interesting TV series about the history of Hong Kong cinema. Of course they had a slot for the 'kung fu' movies. Of note, was that the directors and actors explained how they made up many kung fu/wushu names for their scenes on the spot as there was no existing style to match the actions they were trying to achieve. Thus, there are a lot of fancy kung fu names that were purely improvised for the movies. I had thought that eagle's claw was one of them, but perhaps not.

Well, I made it to step 27 of the book. But, I kind of felt like I was doing Tai Chi while following the movements. Perhaps there was supposed to be faster footwork... I've resigned from the book for the time being. I just live in a 2m by 2m room, and my shins are so painful from crashing into the frame of my bed each time I try to 'wushu' in my room... One day, I'd like to immerse myself in it. But, for the meantime, I'll just follow the moves set in my Hapkido class. I cannot for the life of me understand what forms or art my instructor follows, but so far, in the space of 12 months, I have learnt to raise the sword, sweep down center, left and right. That's it. Sigh...

What's wrong with this one??

Have you noticed that the kukkiwon has updated its website? https://www.kukkiwon.or.kr On the English pages you can find more details than before about testing requirements for each Dan grades, but notice how they are very general in description. In Korea, at least, any belt test below 4th dan is just ten minutes long, and you only have to demonstrate reasonable competence at poomsae to pass. Of course, few of us would feel satisfied at just knowing poomsae. From my own feel of things, unless your gym has a specific training schedule for post black belts, being a black belt is more about finding your own motivation to continue, and realizing for yourself about what you need to develop. Having good black belt students around you to inspire you and peg yourself against can be really useful. If you are a lone black belt in your class, it may well be worth checking out other gyms. I've also found that motivation at post black level is enhanced by learning some other skills from other martial arts and trying out some weapons training.

There was a post on Taekkyon not so long ago if I recall... Taekkyon is based on Kwon Bop, a Chinese martial art, and incorporates a mainly kicking-based approach. Taekkyon was outlawed by the time of Japanese occupation between 1910 and 1945, and has only recently been revived in Korea as a 'heritage sport.' Revival has been mainly channeled through the sports universities here. You can occasionally watch some televised tournaments on local channels. Partipants will wear traditional dress. Westerners might look a bit funny in such clothing, and I've never seen any female participants as yet. It's hard to re-stimulate its popularity. Ask any young Korean kid what Taekkyon is, and they won't know.

Yeah, I have to lament that there is no Wushu in the Olympics, even though I am myself a Taekwondo practitioner, and know that Wushu was excluded in favor of Taekwondo. I can admit that Wushu looks much better as a spectator sport than Taekwondo. Although, the Taekwondo bodies have modified the competition rules for the next Olympics to try and make it look more attractive. I wish they would cut some of that ice-dancing stuff to make an opening for wushu.

The Mandarin name for China is 'Zhong-guo.' 'Zhong' means center/middle. 'Guo' means nation. Mei-guo is Chinese for the USA. Translated, it means beautiful+nation. Ying-guo is Chinese for the UK. It means heroic+nation.

I tried to post a reply some time ago, but it got deleted. I'll try again. Gong Fu is a broad term in both Mandarin and Cantonese to refer to various types of chores. The word 'home work,' or 'housework,' for example, is covered by the term. It was Westernized as 'Kung Fu' as a result of the many martial arts films that came out of Hong Kong. More correctly, to refer to the martial arts of China, the umbrella term Wushu is used, although you will also find there are variations in terminology all over Asia, since Wushu is again a term often misappropriated by the West. I think this is correct - I have studied both Cantonese and Mandarin and worked in Hong Kong and mainland China!

Well, it may be no wonder that certain standards are going down... ...This past week in my Hapkido class has been the lowest point I've so far experienced regards lack of discipline in a gym setting. There are so many instances of real clowning around on behalf of the kids in the gym. The moment I found most disturbing this week was when the kids kept running in and out of the cloakroom during the lesson to 'secretly' get some candies from a coat pocket. They came out, distributed the candies to their buddies, then 'discretely' threw the candy wrappers and chewed gum onto the mats during instruction. One kid was even blatantly bashing a candy on a window ledge with a nunchaku, cracking the window in the process! It was so evident what was going on, but the instructor did or said NOTHING about this, except at the end, when he asked a senior student to go and get a broom. In fact, on one day last week, I decided to just put on my shoes and go home mid-way through the lesson because the behaviour was so nuts. I know you'll all tell me it's time to find another gym, but I'll continue to go there until the summer for my own personal reasons. I just want to tell you about the state of things in a lot of gyms here. It's really surprising. (Although, it's not really surprising me anymore - I kind of expect it by now!)

My co-worker - in middle age - has joined a Haidong Gumdo class here in Korea. So, if anyone is interested in following his notes on his training at a Korean gym, you can visit his site at: http://www.sperwerslog.com/index.php/sperwerslog/geumdo_videos_the_almost_real_deal/ Curiously, he has just posted some videos on the above page about how a Hong Kong sword group practice using new blades on pig corpses. I haven't scrolled down to watch them because I'm pretty faint-hearted, but the imagination starts to run amok...

Typically, you should call your TKD instructor 'Sabum-nim,' but from what it sounds, your instructor seems barely qualified. Are you sure the quality of your gym is up to standard? It could be worth shopping around.

Practice is the only way to mastery.

Yeah, try it out and see for yourself whether it's a 'real' martial art... TSD exists as an independent art after it failed to merge under the Taekwondo name. Tang Soo Do was the original Korean name for Japanese karate, so perhaps resembles karate more than anything else. I think you can't go wrong with trying something out. You can always switch styles if you later find one more suited to your needs. Each style often complements another quite nicely.

Aefbird - I'm so glad you see what I mean. I don't want to slur any culture or nation, but I also can't quite fathom the 'competitive' attitude of Korean Taekwondo participants. Perhaps the ONLY Korean representatives I've seen that defy this laissez faire attitude are The Korean Tigers demonstration team. If ever you see them, please recognize their genuine respect and dedication to the sport. The reason for it? The Tigers' coach makes sure he instills the 'do' part of Taekwondo in his students from the word go. This is certainly not the case with 90% of other Korean instructors. It's a strange state of affairs. But, I reckon this will lead to an increased medal tally from non-Koreans, finally forcing the Koreans to re-think and up their game. I'll try to put up some more pix on Photo Album board now that you remind me!

Here is a video made by a Korean who went over as a volunteer TKD teacher in Viet Nam. It shows their finale demonstration of that genre which I can't quite comes to terms with... taekwondance. Click link, then click on 'English' and video will automatically play... http://www.i-taekwondo.pe.kr/ Btw. the piece in case you can't notice is entitled 'Taekwon Love'...

I have wanted to learn Jianshu for some time - just for aesthetic reasons more than anything else, although I have an interest in several martial arts and am keen to supplement my knowledge. So... last weekend I came across some 'ancient' (1970s) training manuals from China, which I bought. The book contains, as far as I can make out, 3 levels of patterns with Jianshu sword, all with detailed descriptions in Chinese and Korean. Of course, I can't understand enough Chinese to know what is being explained, so am setting out blindly, just following the diagrams step by step with a long bread knife in hand. (Sorry if some of you are thinking I am degrading the art, but I will venture to buy a sword when I get time to travel out to the other side of the city ) So, as I progress from pages 1 - 179, perhaps I can post my queries about what I'm doing here? Today's query is perhaps the most fundamental: Why do I keep my first finger straightened out when I grip the handle? Also, what is the exact reasoning behind the 'sword fingers' - ie, the free hand having the first two fingers straight, and others bent? xie xie nimen!

P.S. I was supposed to be going to an anniversary event here in Seoul today with various grandmasters - unfortunately, I broke my big toe last night as I managed to stub it on the mats of the dojang where some of the masters preparing for the anniversary had decided to hold an inpromtu soccer event... It was quite a disaster. I'm now on crutches, and the doctor reckons I'll be out of Hapkido and Taekwondo for the next month... sigh...

I finally got my pics back from the photo shop of the Hanmadang 2005 event... I uploaded one of them to the 'Photo Album' section of this site (see red bar above) if anyone is interested...

Today is the 60th anniversary of the Ji Do Kwan. Is anyone in a Ji Do Kwan gym doing anything to 'celebrate' this? ADDENDUM

After practicing poomsae for every single day in the three month run up to my black belt, I was quite happy to abandon taekwondo for the next couple of months following it. However, I gradually felt the urge to join it again, and have been training in it on and off for the past year. It's difficult to feel quite so motivated to improve, especially if you don't have that valuable 'mentor' as was referred to, and if you are doing exactly the same routine as the white belts. Also, getting a black belt made me realize that taekwondo is not the be all and end all of martial arts. It's a gradual process that will take me more than a lifetime to master, but along the way, I'm also happy to try out other MAs to broaden my techniques. In Korea, everyone quits TKD by the age of 20 - unless they are going to be an instructor. Even if they are very good at TKD, as soon as they get to university, academic pressure forces them to put TKD aside forever. Perhaps your black belts broke some gym rules - some have very archane rules which encompass black belt conduct outside the gym - and had a disagreement with your master. Most important is that if you are still happy in the class, just get on with things and don't worry about the external politics.

Thank you Doug - that was just what I needed!