This has always puzzled me about TKD. Explanation?

[MadCapoeirista]

I just feel that the Olympic TKD, because so many people watch it, gives the general public a bad misconception of what the arts are really about. The majority of martial arts in the world are NOT played like a game, but rather taken as serious practice for the purpose of self-defense, not sport. But do people see this on a nationally televised basis? No.

 

SS, I still don't see how you can blame this on Olympic TKD. I've seen more ISKA sport karate championships on TV than I've ever seen of TKD. In fact, the only Olympic TKD I've seen on TV was the Pro TKD matches years ago, which isn't truly Olympic style format. One style can't be responsible for a miseducated public. Does the public know about all the thousands of MA there are? No. Can they tell one MA from another without prior knowledge? Not likely. Do they care? Probably not. It seems like to me you may be pointing fingers. I would say if you're that worried about it, don't even worry about it and focus on your own training. No offense..

[taekwonho]

In all sincerity I am a member of an ITF school and we have poor punching skills. Tae Kwon Do is primarily a kicking art from what I see.

 

The master evaluating people at testing is looking for combos in kicking.

 

Since we mostly learn to kick and work 90% on that aspect. The logic I hear is a kick is more powerful than a punch so you can do more damage quicker. It was explained to me that we can't punch to the face because it's to easy. They want us to be able to kick high enough to kick the head.

 

Not many people in the adult class can kick that high so I don't understand it. I never kick for the head ever because it's too easy to miss. I am shown some punches like the ridgehand,etc that are never allowed in sparring. After I get my blackbelt in 6 months I am shopping for another art.

[MadCapoeirista]

I am shown some punches like the ridgehand,etc that are never allowed in sparring. After I get my blackbelt in 6 months I am shopping for another art.

 

I would say that is a flaw in the school. At our school we work our hands every class, do some kickboxing/boxing style drills, and also do hand work on mitts (we also do some basic ground work). However, TKD is primarily a kicking art, if one feels incomplete or the art doesn't fit...I don't see anything wrong with supplementation in another style.

[monkeygirl]

Tae Kwon Do literally translates to mean "hand foot way", so I've never understood why so many dojos insist on cutting out the "hand" part (although someone mentioned earlier on this thread that TKD wanted to be different from Karate, seemed plausible). I think it's great when a dojo teaches its students a nice balance between hands AND feet, instead of favoring one or the other exclusively. Let the student choose which one s/he favors, if any.

[delta1]

I think it's great when a dojo teaches its students a nice balance between hands AND feet, instead of favoring one or the other exclusively. Let the student choose which one s/he favors, if any.

 

That is excellant advice. Any art, to be effective, must be tailored to the student- after the student learns his base. I think that not teaching strikes to the head or kicks to the groin are failings of particular schools or organizations, not of the style as a whole. Same goes for in close fighting and flow. I just don't buy the concept that TKD has to be practiced at a distance, going from one jerky motion to the next only aftr a suitable pause. And targets are wherever they are unguarded, weapons are anything you can effectively get to the target without opening yourself up too bad.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Very good points made by all..but something else just sprung into my egg nog laden brain this morning.

 

If we have ITF TKD, or any other "sport" form of martial arts, where the obvious emphasis is on sport, not self-defense....do you think that it's still accurate to consider it a martial art?

 

And if so..then why don't we refer to wrestling, boxing, track and field, horse racing, archery..or any other activity that origionally came from "warring arts" activites..also as martial arts?

 

Are we, as martial artists (regardless of style), downgrading the "warring arts" as less than what they are by turning them into sports? Judo would be another good example because the judo taught no days is almost all sport judo, but I think there is still a lot of self-defense left in it.

 

Maybe I'd better hit the store and get some more nog....I got up to early this morning! lol

[battousai16]

 

i think that's subjective. my definition of martial arts and sports may be different from the next guys, and i don't think you can just generalize it like that.

[monkeygirl]

Well, there's still the part of HITTING each other that they don't do in track & field.

 

Wrestling and boxing can certainly be considered martial arts, IMO.

 

And finally, what a style (such as ITF TKD) does in competition is not the entirety of the art. I did a lot of sport competition but I also trained in self-defense and realistic sparring, all in the same dojo. I understand what you're saying about the heavy emphasis on tournaments, and there are some schools that train ONLY for competition. But the practices of a few schools should not dictate the definition of the entire art.

 

It's an interesting concept, but I sincerely hope we (and by "we", I mean TKD and other arts that place an emphasis on sport) never degrade to that point.

[tufrthanu]

The answer to all of this is very obvious, to me at least. Get rid of TKD at the olympics and put in full contact kickboxing in it's place. Not the Muay Thai stuff necessarily, but more like the original PKA. Gloves on the hands and foot pads. Full contact kicks and punches scored similar to the boxing events. Then almost all striking MA people would be able to try out and there wouldn't be this stupid discussion over what makes what look bad.

[MadCapoeirista]

As simple as that sounds Tuf, the process of doing something like that wouldn't even be worth the hassle.