DWx

Thankyou

Not sure of my worst but my most recent: sparring outside on the field for a change and was paired with one of the guys. He's much quicker and stronger than anyone else I know and was trying to wind me up. Side push kicked me the length of the football field. As soon as I recovered from one kick, slammed another sidekick in and no matter what I tried to do, kept getting pushed back.. Until threw my gloves down and stomped off

Wow, well it looks like you have a good starting point there. GM Yoon Byung -In is featured a fair bit in that book I mentioned as he had more of a Chinese influence on his TKD compared to the other early practitioners. His style, led to the Chang Moo Kwan, which was kukki- TKD and if GM Suh was from his school/style, most likely he was WTF then.

Well this was quite a bit before my time so other's might be better equipped to answer. Here's my guess though: Well for starters, Jhoon Rhee is considered the father of US TKD and he was teaching it over there long before either the ITF (1966) or the WTF (1971) formed, he took it there in the 1950s; I only say this because as far as I know, at that time he wasn't part of org either. So if GM Young was one of the 1st guys over, he might not have been part of an org. But having said that, the ATA was founded in 1969 so that's a possibility. GM Charle's Sereff founded the US Taekwondo Association (ITF) in 1974 so it is a possibility for GM Young, but probably not likely. I don't really know of the WTF history side so maybe someone else could answer that. Not really sure of what orgs were around then tbh. If you want TKD history, I highly recommend "A Killing art" by Alex Gillis. But TKD-tutor has a nice summary to get started with: http://tkdtutor.com/TOPICS/Taekwondo/TKD-History/ChapterList01.htm

Perhaps when you come down, Bob, you can show me this kata. In TKD, we do a form that seems to have a "back to the wall" theme, called Po Eun. We do it at 2nd degree black, though. I do think Choi might have pulled some of Niahanchi for it. Most likely he did. Also Yoo-Sin seems to copy some of it. Imho, Po Eun is much more closer to Naifanchi than Yoo Sin. oh yeah definitely, however, Yoo-sin is one of my current patterns and there are sections of Naihanchi that remind me of it

Yep. My first school was the best. So good in fact that I'm still training there 10 yrs on. In fact, our instructor officially took over the school from our current assistant instructor as I was taking my 2nd lesson. 10th year anniversary of the school this year . Trained with lots of people from within the same style and outside, and although all of them are excellent teachers, none of them have come close to my instructor. IMO, and the atmosphere at the school is just amazing and its all high quality teaching too. I mean, well over a quarter of the National Squad come from my school and at national events like seminars, we're the ones to watch. So yeah, I love it and its all down to my instructor and his wife. .

Respectfully, this isn't true for ITF TKD (I've never trained WTF, so wouldn't know). But for ITF, to do what you're describing is wrong. Its over turning and isn't technically correct. You could turn a bit further like a backkick to generate power but this isn't totally correct and is considered wrong because of the reasons you mentioned. You're unnecessarily turning away and losing sight of your target.

Congrats LiverPunch

It doesn't have to be a full website but nowadays its worth the investment to at least have a webpage up with some contact details. Doesn't cost that much and it makes you easier to find. When most people are looking for something they'll Google it. Speaking from my own experience, I moved up north to go to uni and really wanted to find a school within the same style so I could keep up my training. Googled it, looked in yellow pages, in directories of TKD schools, community centres, leisure centres, asked around.. couldn't find anything. Then, coming to the end of my degree and I just happened to come across the smallest article in the local paper mentioning some kid who'd done something or other and trained in a TKD school about a 10min walk from my house.. If only they'd had a website, then I could have trained there..

Welcome kumite

Congrats Brian Not just a quantity of posts but top quality posts too.

In TKD, couple of different ways to do it. Any side or half-facing stance will work, so the horse stance, L- or parallel stance can be used (amongst others). Almost always step behind or on rarer occasions, foot-to-foot. Front crossover just doesn't work so well because you get your legs tangled up as you try to chamber and it hinders your hip probably the cause of your knee pain. Are you sure its a Shotokan thing? as opposed to an individual school thing?

I don't think either way is wrong, its just down to personal preference in how you want to run your school. Just with the assessing in class model, why bother with a specific testing day? Why not just assess in class and leave it at that? Is it not cheating them out of money to insist that they come along to a testing and pay you to pass them for turning up? For me, they do have to perform consistently well in class to even get invited to the test but once they're there they have to perform their best. We do all day testings, even for colour belts. The whole point of testing for us is to push yourself above and beyond and to see how everyone performs under pressure. We're also quite a large school with near 200 students and although everyone gets attention in class, grading is a whole nother level where a panel of 5+ people are scrutinizing everything you do. Its probably a lot better to assess in class as a testing model when you have smaller numbers but we just can't do it to that in our school and do it to a high standard. Got to spend our class time teaching, not just drilling. I don't think they should feel cheated. Disappointed yes, but not cheated. The people who grade in my school know that there is a chance they'll fail if they don't perform on the day so its not like we're dangling a carrot in front of their face and then snatching it away. Its perfectly accessible to those who really want it and try hard. And failing isn't the end all and be all. Like I said in my earlier post, borderline fails get put on a probationary period where they can end up getting the belt after a few weeks. But the key issue is you have to work for it on the day. Any other studying you do in life; academic studying, driving tests, etc. and you've got to perform on the day.

Welcome chien_fu

I thought the instructor was suppose to determine if the student is ready to test? Sounds like a scam on testing fees if the instructor lets the student test even though the student isn't ready. That's one angle I hadn't thought of and you are right. I think I would feel completely cheated as a student if that happened and my testing fee wasn't returned. Why should you get your money back? You paid the examiner for their time and for them to judge you. They still performed their bit even though you weren't up to scratch. Why should they test you for free? If anything I'd do it the other way, use the testing fee as a deposit. If you don't pass the belt, the examiner gets to keep it because you've just wasted their time. Would make a lot of people try harder. Just because you've paid your dues and turned up to test, doesn't mean you automatically get the belt. If you look crumble under the pressure and look shocking you shouldn't pass and they should get to keep the fee. If you fail your driving test you don't get your money back.

I don't think I'd necessarily call parkour a martial art because its not really the study of combat. It'd probably be really useful to learn as it'd go hand in hand with MA but I wouldn't call it one. Don't ever say that to someone who does it I made the mistake once of asking a competitive cheerleader if they ever cheered at games (because isn't that the point of cheering ). Had to endure a very angry lecture on the subject saying that cheerleading wasn't about cheering.

Perhaps when you come down, Bob, you can show me this kata. In TKD, we do a form that seems to have a "back to the wall" theme, called Po Eun. We do it at 2nd degree black, though. I do think Choi might have pulled some of Niahanchi for it. Most likely he did. Also Yoo-Sin seems to copy some of it.

Good Luck! Sure you'll do fine Aside from actual technique, things like etiquette and a good attitude go a long way. Sitting on our examining panel, it drives me nuts when people look like they don't want to be there and can't be bothered.

Wow sounds like an awesome opportunity Shizentai. Different art but I have travelled over Europe for competition and training. I did have an opportunity to travel to N.Korea (home of ITF TKD) later this year but due to money and other things, decided not to Its not so bad. I've trained with guys who don't speak English and you still get a lot from it. They can tell you what to do via the arts terminology (so for me Korean) and then correct through demonstration and adjusting your technique. One of the best seminars I've ever done was with an 8th dan who only spoke Korean and Czech.

Welcome Tay Good choice of films

Welcome Barry

That sucks. Hope you get back to form and back to training soon

Not yet. How does it stack up to Facebook and all the others? Haven't bothered to make a profile yet as none of my friends seem to be interested in it..

Thank you for the welcome, DWx. I love your lotus image Celeste thanks, shame its pink though, not crimson Speak for yourself j/k my MA knowledge is tiny compared to some of these guys But yeah echoing Justice, don't hesitate to chime in on anything you like, or start some topics up

Welcome Celeste & welcome to the martial arts