RF_Brown

Sensei John Ray is in Denton. His Website is http://www.dentondojo.com/. Sensei Ray is a highly regarded instructor in both Uechi-ryu and Iaido. Robert

I am in Plano. RFB

LOL! No Master here. Was an ITF student several years ago in Midland, TX but dropped out due to job. Have moved a few times and am now living in the Dallas area and have shopped around a little for a good Martial Arts school and would prefer getting back into the ITF. The closest thing I have found however is a local school that is a member of the USTF (the Hot Springs one, not the Colorado one), but my goodness gracious, boy oh boy are they expensive, way out of my budget. I am now busy trying to make my muscle memory forget the Sine Wave and make the transition to Tang Soo Do which is offered at a local Y for a really good bargain price and the instructor is top notch. He likes to claim that his class is "half the price and twice the value." I have to agree with what little I have been exposed to so far. I am now in my late 40s and doing all I can to get my body back into shape working out a lot on my own. Every time I get started good though I get handed a special work project that takes all my time and energy and I have to put it off, so it gets frustrating. However, for the last several years as sort of a hobby, I have done a tremendous amount of Internet research into the history of the Martial Arts, especially TKD, so please forgive me if I come across as sort of a know it all, but in reality am not even Dan ranked! Give me time though, I will get there. RFB

OK, but how many of you who say you teach or practice ITF forms (but are not affliated with the ITF) are really doing it like the ITF teaches and practices them? I know a lot of independent groups/schools teach the Chang Hon Pattern Set, but how many outside of the ITF actually practices their Tuls exactly the way the ITF does? I have visited many non-ITF affliated TKD schools that did indeed teach the Chang Hon Set and claimed that they teach "ITF style" TKD, but did not utilize the Sine-Wave and had even added movements to the different Tuls, and called them "Hyungs" or "Katas" instead of using the ITF terminology for forms, "Tuls." I know that the USTF located in Hot Springs, Arkansas practices their forms as the ITF teaches them. This USTF is not to be confused with the USTF out of Colorado that is (or was) affliated with the ITF. This Hot Springs USTF was also one time affliated with the Global Taekwon-Do Federation whom I understand also practices the Chang Hon Set with the Sine-Wave and also uses ITF terminologies. Maybe there are other groups as well that do, but these are all that I can think of. Names for forms: Hyungs - used by Tang Soo Do and Independent TKD groups Poomse - used by the WTF Tuls - used by the ITF Different ways to write TKD: Tae Kwon Do - generic, used by mainly Independent TKD groups Taekwondo - used by the WTF and the ATA Taekwon-Do - used by the ITF and the GTF RFB

R. McLain, Thanks for the info, I posted my last response before I saw yours. RFB

Well no. As mentioned it is actually what ultimately became the WTF and is still the official designation for the governing bodyof Taekwondo in Korea, while the WTF is the global body intrusted for promoting and teaching Taekwondo world wide. It was the WTF that ws organized by the KTA to replace the ITF after Gen. Choi and the ITF left Korea and the KTA. The WTF was largely responsible for getting Taekwondo recognized as an Olympic sport. Gen. Choi at one time as the president of the KTA, then known as the Korea Tae Soo Do Association first proposed the name of TKD and that is how he is sometimes referred to in some circles as the "Father of TKD." RFB

From http://www.beckmartialarts.com/ctkdfaq.html Besides the above link, for a comprehesive history of TKD see also Dan Burdick's article which was published in the volume 6, issue 1, of the Journal of Asian Martial Arts (1997) and can be read on the Internet at: http://www.indiana.edu/~iutkd/history/tkdhist.html and continued at: http://www.indiana.edu/~iutkd/history/tkdhist2.html

After trainining in an ITF school for about a year and a half, I tried to make the switch to a WTF school once because the ITF school only had classes on Tues. and Thurs. and my job schedule sometimes conflicted with that so I found another TKD school that had classes 5 nights a week, but it was WTF. I just could not make the transition. Once I learned to execute all of my techniques with the Sine Wave, I found it too hard to not do it and the WTF instructor did not want me doing the Sine Wave and in fact had never even seen it before so it kind of weirded him out. Not only that but the way the blocks and kicks were loaded were just too different and I found that my body and brain were just too wired into the ITF way of executing techniques to try and change. RFB

When shopping for a good TKD school, look for a good instructor who has lots of experience, not a particular organization or style. A good organization that supports the instructor is a good thing, but not necessarily the most important. I have seen WTF tournaments, and that definately was not point sparring! BTW, just so that you know, I am a bit more biased to the ITF style of TKD than the WTF style, but felt in all fairness, this needed to be said. RFB

Lee would not compete in his day, as he simply was much too small. Someone like Mike Stone or even Chuck Norris would have been way too big for him to compete with. He however did do a demo at one of Ed Parker's tournaments, but that is as close to a tournament as he got. RFB

I tried a few times in responses to questions like this. The last one was back in Sept. See the thread titled, "Differences between TKD and TSD" at: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=14583&highlight= Scroll to the bottom of page one to see my entry. Thanks, RFB

Notice too the different ways of spelling it, and of course this too can vary from dojang to dojang but generally it is as follows, WTF and ATA: "Taekwondo" ITF: "Taekwon-Do" Independent and also to the art in general as sort of a generic term: "Tae Kwon Do" And the terms for forms also vary, WTF: "Poomse" ITF: "Tuls" Tang Soo Do and Independent: "Hyungs" RFB

Yep, and do not forget that pigs will fly, the sun is blue, and the communist Russians invented the telephone. RFB

Taekkyon was a street/folk game played by homeless street gangs that was locally popular in Seoul. Highly unlikely Gen. Choi would have learned this growing up in what is now in North Korea. As far as the myth of the "Hwa Rang Dan" goes, please do not even get me started! TKD is a late 20th century Korean version of Japanese Karate. However those Koreans have been great at inventing propaganda to market it. See my post on this thread.

If it is in Richard Kim's lineage, then expect it to be very traditional. Richard Kim BTW is considered as one of the all time great Karatekas. RFB