Experience of training in Korea?

[coralreefer_1]

Hi there.

I think i can help you with this. I am currently training in Taekwondo, Hapkido, Judo, and a military art called Tuk Gong Mu Sul. Taekwondo is my base art, and it is the reason this college gave me a scholarship to come here. I have been here for 10 months, and I will stay at this college for another year, then I will transfer to a real university with a very famous taekwondo program for another 3 years, so I am here in Korea for the long haul...

First let me say, that when I found out I was coming to Korea, I was so excited, and a little intimidated. Perhaps I was a little naive, but i was thinking that when I came to this college, all the students that were here in the taekwondo program would be super hard-core. People said I trained hard, but i was expecting to be amoungst people who would make me look like crap at any given time..that is what i was expecting.

But what I found when I actually got here was a completly different story. When I first came here, it was during the winter vacation of the college, so I did homestay for a few months with a massage professor from my college. To keep training until schol began, I enrolled in a dojang year his home. This dojang was a branch of Yong In University, which in widely known among Koreans as having the best Taekwondo university program in Korea. The head master was a fairly young man, between 30-35.

First, in Korea, in dojangs like this, you will not find many adults at all. There were 2 others there, one 19, and another 23. Both of them were instructors there as well. Let me tell you, I was so surprised at the lack of ettiquete and respect the kids had there. For example, the master would have to yell "Jipap" which means line up, 3 or 4 times before the teenagers there would line up. They would drag their belts across the floor to their place in line, then casually tie it on while we were all waiting for them to finish. During the stretching and warm-ups, many of them would just casually decided.."I dont want to do "bridge", Just kind of decide which warm-ups they wanted to do and which ones they didn't. I can go on and on giving examples of behavior than back home would have you doing squats until you couldnt stand, but was just overlooked here.

And on to their technique, whick was "literally" comparable equal to a green or blue belt. my jaw literally dropped when i saw some of there 2nd dans try to do a turning hook kick, or some other technique, just I was shocked.

Most of these teenagers were higher ranked than me, as I am 1st dan, many of them were 2nd and 3rd. Many days I was angry in there, and if it had not been disrespectful to the professor that arranged for me to have free classes there, i would have quit.

The worst thing was, the master didnt really seem to care about their disrespect. At my dojang in America, you do not step onto the floor without your belt tied on. When the master yells "line up" you run to get into line, and stand there and shut your mouth until class begins. If you are a blackbelt, and you leave your belt on the floor, or "drag" it behind you in such a disrespectful way, we tie it into a few knots, and have people pull on each end to kind of "lock" the knots in, which takes alot of time to get out.

Well, I hoped when i actually got to the college in March, things would be better. I was let down again! What a shock I had when I came here and met some of these kids. Most of them basically dont give a crap about taekwondo. They dont train, complain after 10 minutes of training, and frankly would rather sit on the floor and send text messages on their phone than train. Most of them smoke cigarettes and get drunk every night.They were all so happy to tell me about their 3rd and 4th degree rank, but their technique in laughable considering the rank they hold, and most of them have no spirit for taekwondo. At this college so far, I have only met about 4 of around 55 taekwondo students who actually enjoy taekwondo, want to train, want to sweat and want to be better. To be honest, last semester, we had a night class at 7pm, where all the taekwondo students were to meet in a room and practice. But many of them just came there, played, sent text msg, pick their toes, and watch one of the few students with spirit while he sparred. I quit going to that class because they didnt do anything but talk. And at the end of the semester, many of them stole al lthe sparring gear, so now, there isn't even any equipement to spar with:(

I know that all Korean taekwondo is not like I have described. I have been to tournaments and seen students from many different dojangs, and they were sharp, and after watching sparring and poomse all day, i can see that there are truly some dojangs out there where the master is hard on the students, and they are hard on themselves. But from my observations, those school are few and far between.

I think there are 2 reasons for the things and attitudes I have observed. First, you must understand that taekwondo is part of the culture here. It is everywhere practically, on every corner, literally. I would guess at least 90 percent of boys here in Korea study taekwondo at least to some degree, from age 5 and up. That is where the problem is. I think, because taekwondo is so prominent in the culture, it is not "special" anymore. Its just the thing that everyone does, just kind of the program of growing up. In America, its not like that. If a child is there in a martial arts class in America, it is usually because he wants to be, so he actually cares about it, it is kind of a "rare treat"..something "special" that not everyone else at school is doing, so they seem to take it more seriously. As almost everywhere, taekwondo is a business, and probably more so in Korea, because there is literally competition across the street and around the corner. You can almost stand outside a taekwondo school and spot another one within eyesight, so obviously, if you actually demand respect, and train kids hard, they complain to momma, and momma takes they to the dojang down the street.

And that brings up my second point. You know, 60 years ago, Korea was occupied by Japan, and at that time, life was hard in Korea. Many many people were poor. I asked a Korean friend once "Why is it when I meet other friends around campus, they always asked me "Have you eaten"?? He explained to me, this is because their parents and adults always asked them that, because in their generatiion, malnutrition was a problem. Many people did not eat like they should, simply because they could not. That is why people ask me about eating all the time, its habit. But since then, Korea has risen up to a wealthy nation considering where it was just a short 60 years ago. And since parents grew up with little, today, they give their kids everything..and I mean everything. So basically, these days, many Korean children are spoiled. Their mothers and fathers spend so much to keep their children happy. There are many 14 year olds running around out here is 700 dollar cellphones, and their parents happily buy it for them, and happily pay their 200 dollar phone bill every month, because they want to do everything for their kids, because they had it rough when they grew up. Many young people in taekwondo classes don't want to sweat, dont want to really train, just put on a belt and play for an hour.

As far as testing procedures go, I have been told that at the Kukkiwon, and other "city" offical testing places, the test consists of doing all poomse, and a round of 2 vs 1 sparring, and thats it. I suppose individual dojangs may impose their own requirememnts. I have had 3 Masters offer to take me to "official" places to test, but I refused because i thought it was better to wait to test with my master in America, even though I am way overdue. And frankly, my test in America consists, of poomse, sparring, all 1-step sparing techniques(70), a series of hapkido techniques, a creative poomse or weapons poomse, 3 breaking techniques, and a written essay, along which a 5 kilo run, and I like to make things as difficult for myself as possible.

I know this is really long, so i will sum it up like this. I grew up believing that all Korean students were hard-core taekwondo people..serious all the time, and Masters imposed military-like rule in class, but it is simply not the case in most places. Times have changed alot over the years, for the worst as far as I can tell. One other person said something in an earlier post that is probably true. Most of the best masters have probably left Korea to go to America. I can be thankful that my master back home was one of those that left. I know, that next year when I go to Keimyung University, my training will be 10 times better, because that university has the 2nd or 3rd best program in Korea, and is known for having very good taekwondo. The training will be hard, exactly what I came to Korea for, so then, maybe I can write something generally positive about my experiences of training in Korea, but for now, it has been as I have described above.

if you have any more specific questions, please feel free to email me directly. I will help you in any way I can..

coralreefer_1@yahoo.com

Todd