DWx

Too true! I would imagine a nice shiny trophy or medal would look very enticing to theives. You could probably fetch quite a bit of money selling one on ebay, especially if it was the gold...

Its an acomplishment if your little brother can amass that much power. You ought to be proud of him and yourself if you've had a big part in his training. But in the end he did not play by the rules and so he lost. Part of the sport/tournament side is being able to restict your techniques to those that are legal. I don't doubt your brother's skill but I wonder what would have happened if the other boy knew that your brother might punch to the head? The other lad probably wasn't too intent on guarding his head/face area and was more concerned about preventing body shots so his head was pretty much open for a "power" punch.

I hadn't thought of this but I totally agree! There's nothing more off-putting than an instructor who doesn't have any enthusiasm or passion for what they do.

I think the curved ones may actually be replacements for tiles... Our dojang has the century boards and I really don't like them. They just feel "springy" to me. Personally, I like these type: http://www.black-eagle.co.uk/kwon-kalyeo-breaking-boards-p-728.html You can get them with and without the foam. The benefits of rebreakable boards are: - that they are consistent whereas wooden boards can be really sappy or dry or the grain can affect the difficulty - they are less mess and can be cheaper, depending on how much breaking you do, and - they help you perfect your aim because you have to hit the centre or they just dont break. It all depends though because some require a fixed holder rather than a person to break properly.

Start off with just standing on one foot with your knee chambered. You can do it watching tv if you like Once you can do that, practice doing one kick, retrieving the leg and then doing the same kick without putting the leg down. Eventually progress to doing other kicks as well. If you're falling over when doing high section kicks you may want to work on your flexibility as well. Good luck for your test!

I think this is similar to some methods already mentioned but one of things we do is to get the kids to play "tag" but with say a roundhouse. They're allowed to block & dodge and kick whenever they want, even if they're not "it". We also sometimes get some of the adults to wear the TKD-style body armour with the targets. The kids then try to get points for hitting the dots while the adults just move around.

Well-informed post. Its sad that so many instructors don't teach the "martial" sense of Martial Arts. IMO the sport side is great as long as it is recognised as a sport and is made a by-product of the self defense, not the other way around.

Welcome!

Welcome It is original, no one else on the forums has it!

Welcome Hope you do well when you test.

Welcome

Welcome

Welcome

Everyone forgets at some point, just take it in your stride and carry on. And anyway, it was only your first belt ceremony Look on he bright side, at least you learnt something from it:

I dont know whether its just our dojang but we do ground work. Its fairly basic but it includes all-sorts of joint locks and holds. We're an ITF TKD school and as far as I'm aware my instructor hasn't really cross-trained in any style seriously, just the odd bit here and there. There is also a whole chapter on ground work in Gen. Choi's encyclopaedia... I think Hanmudo has grappling elements?

Welcome

Its not an organization as such, but, I really like seeing Team Ryouko's stuff. They're a Canadian performance team and some of them do some movie stunt work as well: http://www.teamryouko.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2-Er2xsc3o I think that if you wanted to join any of the bigger name teams, you'd have to prove yourself to them through tournaments or something similar. I'd imagine that they get loads of people asking to join and they probably wont accept just anyone. You'll have to make a name for yourself and make them have to ask you, not you ask them. Maybe you could create some samplers of your skills and upload them up onto video sharing sites like youtube and then publicize them? Whatever you do, to join a well-known team, you will have to have something special. These teams have the pick of hundereds of talented Martials Artists and gymnasts. Good Luck though.

Karate is definately the underlying sort of style of the Kwans, however, I think that TaeKyon or even some Chinese Wushu type movement was incorporated. After the World War II, and after Korea's independance, Korea wanted to distinguish herself away from the Japanese and I suppose many of the Kwan founders did not like the idea of being "Karate copycats". Also, I actually think there may be some sort of Kung Fu element as links between Korea and China stem way back... In the 7th century the Silla Dynasty was allied to the Tang Dynasty so its likely that cultural influences were passed across... Again as a result of the war and Japanese occupation, some Koreans were either exiled or emmigrated across to China and no doubt they were exposed to the Chinese way of fighting.

I've just found a video of the 1988 TKD Olympic demo. Just wanted to share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yie14pZ0bU The amount of choreography that must have gone into that! IMO its like the ultimate demo...

Jackie Chan has released quite a few albums, I think he mainly does film soundtracks...

You can find a lot of diagrams if you just Google image search it. It usually comes up with a site page that also describes and explains too.

A little tip I picked up was: If you have an opponent that likes to keep a set distance between you, move back. They should move forward to try and keep you within a certain range. At that point, as they're coming in, you can launch yourself forward with a kick and then follow up with the hands. If you get hit, don't stop, just keep going and wear them down!

I would appreciate that, thanks Well, I only found a few brief references to it. I will have to look a little bit deeper, if I want to find anything. Anything you find would be good but don't go to too much trouble over it. I'm only interested because I don't really know anyting about the turtle and was just wondering...

Gen. Choi was supposed to have studied Shotokan during his time in Japan including spending time at Tokyo University. He gained a 2nd dan and I think I also read somewhere that he did have a few lessons under Gichin Funakoshi himself. As for TaeKyon, I believe he claimed to have studied it under his caligraphy teacher, Han Il Dong. However, TaeKyon was treated more along the lines of a game and no one could care less who did it. After all, my next-door neighbour could teah me to play basketball and all the big-wigs at FIBA wouldn't have a clue and wouldn't even care.

I would appreciate that, thanks