DWx

Some instructors require you to buy from them so they know the gear is acceptable under their insurance and safety standards. If yours is ok with what you've got I would go buy it cheap.

I'm going to go with the roundhouse too, only because its one of the most versatile kicks.

I went ahead and bought the game. Only had a quick play around on it but at the moment I'm not all that impressed. Its ok, but nothing that spectacular. I like the idea how you can work yourself up through the tournament system and up in belt colour but it could have done with a storyline or something to tie it all together. I was also under the impression from the demo that the training mode would be a little better. All it is is telling you how to do each type of attack. There are bags hung up which you can go up to but they don't do anything. Would have been nice to actually do the techniques on them. Its also really annoying in that you get skill points which you can spend on certain techniques and skills but these seem to reset after every tournament so you have to reassign them again.

I wouldn't be so sure.. Maybe in a lot of cases but I wouldn't say that its not possible for a 30 yr old to respect someone who is less than half their age.

Pretty cool idea.

In the last week of the year, all the lessons become like a team challenge sort of thing. So in groups you try and beat the other teams at everything, fitness relays, sparring, forms etc. Just a bit of fun really, doesn't matter who wins. We also have an adult and a separate junior Christmas party/presentation evening. Number of awards including student of the year sheild, most commited student, best tournament acheivement, most improved..

TKD history is really confusing. Essentially, all TKD is is just a group of unarmed fighting styles that grew up out of the Japanese occupation of Korea. But if you want to look into it further try searching for something on the kwans and their histories. For the example of the roundhouse earlier, ITF use a chamber more or less from the side and bring it round and in, from what I've seen and been told (someone may have to correct me on this), the WTF chamber tends to be more forward facing. I'm only able to speak from my own experiences with ITF, but there is so much depth to it. Relatively speaking there are very few jumping kicks in comparison to hand techniques and normal leg techniques. It also gets incredibly technical the more you look into it and there'squite a bit of philosophy if you choose to read up on it. Once you get to around 6th dan you're not really assessed on your physical abilities anymore anyway, and more on your knowledge and what you've done to further TKD. However you'd be surprised at what some of the older masters can do. A lot of them can still do jumping kicks..

In general its only an ITF thing so WTF don't use it. With regards to ITF vs. WTF, they are pretty different in everything but name . Even the way in which they each throw a roundhouse is different (ITF also call it a turning kick instead). so which one is the original one Depends what you mean by original. ITF was created first but is by no means representative of TKD as a whole. They're quite lengthy but these articles may help: http://www.tkdtutor.com/02Taekwondo/TaekwondoHistory/12ModernTKD01.htm http://www.tkdtutor.com/02Taekwondo/TaekwondoHistory/13EarlyMasters01.htm http://www.tkdtutor.com/02Taekwondo/TaekwondoHistory/14TKDDevelopment01.htm

In general its only an ITF thing so WTF don't use it. With regards to ITF vs. WTF, they are pretty different in everything but name . Even the way in which they each throw a roundhouse is different (ITF also call it a turning kick instead).

here is a link that i have found http://tkdtutor.com/06Concepts/Power/HipSnapWindingSineWave/HipSnapWindingSineWave01.htm On page two they have examples of the sine wave Is the form meant to bob up and down like that ie so much. In tcm we are taught to make the power generations very small at the start it is big at the beginning but as time goes on it is not noticeable and the hips moment is very small etc. The video they show there is very deliberate in the movements. If you find any videos from competitions on like YouTube, they too tend to be exaggerated. I guess it varies in how much emphasis an individual school wants to place on it. One thing I would point out though, is TKDTutor separates sine wave and hip snap as too different methods, IMO its possible to utilise both.

So there have been a number of topics recently on various aspects of a blackbelt, but what is a blackbelt? Regardless of style, what qualities, both physical and personal characteristics, should all blackbelts have? For me, I think the crucial point is that they have a good knowledge of all basics, and know those techniques inside out as wellasbeing able to perform them to a competent level. Personal qualities should be general things like appropriate courtesy and integrity.

I do. Its how I've always been taught and its very difficult for me todo forms without some element of it in there.

Yep Hwang Su-Il was used for the motion capture.

Happy Holidays

I don't think they should be for the same reasons mentioned above. Getting one to the knee would be too much of a risk for me and I think it would increase the chance of kicks connecting with the groin. I've always viewed point sparring as the sport side of MA anyway. Its not really that realistic but more a display of what you can do. Kinda like kinetic chess or even kinetic poker if you get what I mean. Most of it doesn't directly translate to SD but its about forcing your opponent to play a certain technique ready for you to get the checkmate or to win the hand. I do think that leg kicks could have theirplace in full contact though.

We have to write one for blackbelt on any aspect of TKD/martial arts. Don't have to do them any other time though. We do get asked questions in class so you still have to know your stuff.

Congrats

I don't think you have to be that picky on tying the belts but I think there should be some standards expected. It just looks so much neater if the ends are the same length.

This is one of the reasons that I would tend to shy away from the junior rank, and it has bothered me in the past. I can't see a reason to test someone twice for the same rank. Now, if the requirements are a bit different, then I can understand things a bit more. But, if this is the case, then what is the difference between this junior rank, and an adult rank of the same requirements, that is a colored belt? Why not just make them both wear colored belts? I think this is really the main problem with it. You either have two different sets of requirements, so two belt levels, i.e. junior and adult blackbelt. In this case you'd have to test the juniors again on the adult standard if they wanted to become a "full" blackbelt. Or you have the same requirements which doesn't quite justify the use of junior ranking IMO. If they had to test the same why should their belt be worth less?

Have you asked your Sensei and other people you train with? If he requires that you buy them or if he has them himself he should be able to tell you where you can get them.

Forgot about uniforms, as well as the belt, blackbelts have black silk edging aroun the bottom of their doboks, 4th dan and above also have it down the sides of the arms and legs. We also have the diamond shaped patches which go on the shoulders to denote levels of instructor, you don't see them as much though.

No for us. We don't have junior ranks as such but the org lays down age limits for the dan ranks. In practice its not strictly adhered to and by most standards they are fairly low anyway. If you're not the right age it just means you can't send away for your certificates yet and can't compete on international level (not really a problem for most to be honest). Once kids get to 1st dan they often stay there for years until they are mature enough to grade again anyway.

That's awesome, congrats

I don't think I would change a great deal content wise as I think there is a fair bit to work with, just maybe the approach that is taken. I can't really speak for every school in the style but I would like to see a lot more focus on application work as in general it tends to be that a technique will be explained and situations that it can be applied to but when you practice it, its really formalized and doesn't translate that well to sparring. What I mean is like you'll get taught that a low block applies to these types of attack and then you'll practice it against a variety of attacks but these'll all be in proper stances and to target areas. I'd like to see it practised more often in a bit of a more free environment, bit like a self defense spar kinda thing..

sort of white owl, sijak means "start", you can use it to start a sparring bout too. For "in your own time" we would use the Korean "kuryong-op-she" (not too sure on the spelling). Other schools may be different...