Dlove

I would venture to say that the specific neigborhood that most of these kids come from, boxing may be the ony out for some of them, so they want to make it sound bigger than life, and when martial arts is brought up they might feel threatened and just lash out in ingnorance., kids are like that........ I grew up in VERY rural Oklahoma and got a simular reception from some of the older students in the school, so after quite a bit of hasslei and getting a few pranks pulled on me , I took the time one day right in the middle of class exchange and EDUCATED two of them , needless to say most of the crap stopped. But I will tell you it was not the high road and I probably should have not done it, Sometimes it is good to just be quite and remain very proud of what you know and enjoy it with freinds......

Sounds like you are going to have fun, good luck, myself and both of my daughters just had our test last Wed. and passed... Its great to do things with your kids...

congrats....

Has anybody heard of this system of TKD?????? Forms where Basic 1-2-3, intermediate 1-2-3, then had three or four more next one was Basi dai....need help n finding some lost instructers in the Oklahoma area..

Many years ago I took a hard solid roundhouse to the ribs and felt them break(2 ribs), I went down like a ton a bricks, after a three minute breather I got up and continued to fight off of my weak side, ended up holding the guy off for a 1 point win....then left for the hospital soon as it was over.. needless to say I took plenty of time off to let things heal back together.

Big congrats, sounds like you did great and had a great time!!! Remeber train hard...

Every art has its weakness and its strength's, fighting in a competition is just that fighting, look for weakness and exploit it .....

Never to old!!!! Heck I have been out of competition for 20 years and just now getting back into competition.....your just 21, still a young feller..

It seems you need to work on fast combinations and side stepping your opponite. The last tournament I was in I had to fight a GIANT for the first place medal. I'm 5-7 and weigh in at 143, my adversary was 6-2 and 280, needless to say I had my hands full. But he did as you do, he tried to push in close and try to back me up. He had alot of reach on me but the minute he would throw a punch or kick I would get in close and score some points and side step him and smack him some more . Needless to you sound like you need to work on your close in techniques and get used to side stepping and getting out of the way of those long arms and legs that the tall people have...

Tong il Lo students have to pay testing fees, they start at 25.00. It does not bother me to pay, I know what thet money goes for as far as new belt, rank certificate exam paper work that is used in the testing and time for the classroom, when we test our intructors will close class for the entire day, got to help cover that cost somehow...

All white for me now that I'm involved with Tong il Lo, all beginners wear all white Gi's , you are allowed to wear black when you achieve the rank of green belt and higher Kyu's. As far as my old Tae Kwon do days, my instuctor was pretty lax on what uniforms we wore as long as etiqutte was spot on . Back then I had a solid red with black stripe trim.

Could not have said it better. I to beleieve he was thinking of what in your best interest. If you respect him enough it should'nt be hard to comply, but on the other hand, you dont have to worry about it again for a couple months..when your hair grows back....

Cheeky gave you a great answer, being a beginner the last thing you need is your glass over flowing ......But just take the time to check out both and pic which one fits you best, good luck..

I adapt my techniques to whom ever I'm competeing against. First look for holes in there defenses and use whatever you can to get thru those defenses, look for poor guarding postitions, gaps in arms, not blocking techniques or over blocking. Like what was said above in another post, the fake can be a great tool in a attack. If you are secure in your kicking techniques use them to your advantage in keeping you adversary at a distance. You sound as if you are unsure of your spining kicks, (practice, practice) and build your speed and focus , one of my favorite techniques is the fake. I have scored many points with a simple fake like using a front kick off of my weak leg when my intended focus and target is in using a jump technique from the opposite leg, when they try to block the fake its to late the other is already up and coming at them. remember one thing "Train Hard"

I'm alot like what you have described, I was involved in martial arts at a young age and tested for my 4th kup and passed, before my lesson my intructor simply dissapeared, his family was still there he just left and never came back. Now 20 years later I'm making my return to martial arts(Tong il Lo) with both of my daughters and I insisted that I start all over from a white belt with both of my daughters, that way I could help them and get there technique where it should be, I have been offered to test for two belts at a time all the way up to brown belt and have refused, out of respect for my other classmates and my daughters. But you should not feel cheated in any way when you both test for your black belts you will both have to know the proper techniques, or you simply shouldnt pass..