tkd

[brawler1245]

Ive always heard that tkd is weak and sports orreinted (i agrre) my school used too compeite with tkd and we killed them every year. my instructor would put us green and red belts in with there dans (black belts) and wed still win first place everytime. Anything u can tell me POSSITIVE on tkd

[FETKD]

Alot of it has to do with associations and schools. There is typically two perceived observations of TKd

Modern and Traditional

The newer TKD systems and schools tend to be more consumer concious instead of worrying about teaching martial arts. As long as the students pay money the instructors will let them get by with "just barely" I've seen my Teen Orange belts mop the ring with grown black belts!

It just really depends on the school and the instructor.

[UpTheIrons]

The newer younger Instructors who only know and teach sport-style do tend to be weaker when it comes to power and waist action. The older generation Instructors (my Instructor being one) were something else. You definitely did not want to get hit by them.

[Sam]

Ok, personally I would have read the post on TKD effectiveness before posting that.... Its got a lot of peoples comments about the various attributes of TKD and styles....

You obviously competed against a Sport style school rather than a traditional school if you have the idea they only train for sport....

[brawler1245]

I did not meen to offend ne one i was just trying to find out if all tkd dojos where so sport orreinted. and if there not which tkd is the best for real-life application?

[Sam]

Sorry my post definitely came out wrong.

I was in a rush - what i should have said is there are loads of threads on this, and the general gist is that there are 2 main types of school:

1. Sport

2. Traditional

Sport breaks into WTF Olympic Style sparring; and ITF semi contact style with some full contact in some rules.

Traditional has many variations, but you could consider the Sport and Traditional completely different arts, that happen to share a couple of techniques....

Again apologies if my post seemed rude before

[ninjanurse]

Here's the link to that topic.

http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=20468

Just remember to keep within our user guidelines when posting.

http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=9512

[Sam]

To add to that actually beacuse i didnt fully explain my self - you most likely competed against WTF style sparrers, they dont use their hands much if at all - that particular style of sparring has developed to take account of their rules for Sparring, and therefore it may not be the best judgement of TKD to base it on a match against WTF style sparring [not criticising WTF at all] - as they train within a specific rule set [well 99% of the ones i know do].

Does that make sense?

[Sabumnim]

In the only open tournament I fought in I progressed fairly easily into the final, with only a kickboxer being a slight problem. Most of the people I fought were 16 with a couple at 17 and one guy who did karate (I think?) went down after three kicks to the head.

I don't know what school of TKD you fought but judging all of Tae-Kwon Do from that could prove harzardous if you face another student in the future.

[Aodhan]

Ive always heard that tkd is weak and sports orreinted (i agrre) my school used too compeite with tkd and we killed them every year. my instructor would put us green and red belts in with there dans (black belts) and wed still win first place everytime. Anything u can tell me POSSITIVE on tkd

TKD is a martial art much like any other, it depends on the instructor and their philosphy. With the advent of the Olympics, there has been a mad stampede for WTF sport style sparring, both for safety, and for hopeful parents to shove their kids into another sport to fulfill their missed dreams. (Oops...did I say that out loud? Certainly doesn't represent any parents I know... )

At our school (ATA), we teach a sport style of sparring, but we also do "real life" sparring as well. Still with pads, but a much more contact oriented viewpoint. The ATA is a closed competition (ATA only), but we have some students that go to open tournaments and do rather well. One of our instructors in Colorado made it as an alternate on the Olympic team last time around.

It all depends on the school philosopy and what they emphasize.

Aodhan