Are you a 9th dan like me??

[foofies]

if you were a 9th dan in TKD what would you do/try to change TKD??

for me : the 1st thing is: Head contact punches allowed in sparring.

You?

[stoneheart]

Work to return TKD to a self-defense oriented art by de-emphasizing the Olympics. Get rid of point sparring altogether. Reengineer the hyung to have more meaningful bunseoh. Make TKD a lifelong art by demphasizing the high kicks.

[foofies]

Work to return TKD to a self-defense oriented art by de-emphasizing the Olympics. Get rid of point sparring altogether. Reengineer the hyung to have more meaningful bunseoh. Make TKD a lifelong art by demphasizing the high kicks.

that would be the second thing i would do

[coralreefer_1]

I wouldnt change a thing. The reason being, taekwondo is the most popular MA in the world because of the way it is now. Sure, there are always people who want to "go back to the roots" or be more traditional, but because of what taekwondo is today, It has appealed to more people, and therefore, changed more peoples lives for the better. The vast majority of people that study taekwondo are not elite competitiors, or conceited fools that thing their high kick will defend them on the steet. But they are all better off for the practice, and exercise, and their children are all better by learning honor, respect, loyalty, and so on. To me, thats the most important factor..not creating great fighters, but creating great CITIZENS who are doing something they enjoy.

In my opinion, changing it in the way listed above, while might satisfy those traditionalists, would make it very similar to karate of tang soo do, or something else.

Just my humble opinion...

Todd

[frightmaster]

I may be off base here with my "first thing" but here goes. The first thing would be to have it mandatory for all schools to teach the Tae Kwon Do phylosophy (sp). I read many books on the art and I feel I would have missed so much if I have not. An example being what the forms mean and what to get out of them. The ROOTS of the art back to the 3 Dynasties. So on and so forth. I even thought was my school/Master but it is many I have visited. I actively promote this tyope of training to anyone who wants to learn about the art we so love.

[stoneheart]

Todd,

I wouldn't have a problem with that if the TKD 'masters' I am referring to say they teach character and life-lessons rather than self-defense. Unfortunately they don't. They claim to teach a martial art, yet they turn out scores of students totally unprepared for a violent encounter. To me, that's not a change for the better. I would call it irresponsible, instead.

[coralreefer_1]

Todd,

I wouldn't have a problem with that if the TKD 'masters' I am referring to say they teach character and life-lessons rather than self-defense. Unfortunately they don't. They claim to teach a martial art, yet they turn out scores of students totally unprepared for a violent encounter. To me, that's not a change for the better. I would call it irresponsible, instead.

This is very true. Of course there are many teachers who are just making a few bucks, and don't really care what their students learn. To me, that is a problem with the "people" and not the art. If we had that kind of power, we should change the "teachers"..not the art itself. You can still teach olympic style taekwondo, and only teach the competition aspect of it, and forget tradition, and still teach the 5 tenents of Taekwondo, and raise students who live by that philosophy. Believe me, I have met them. Fantastic at everything they do, and still respectful.

My dojang in America, teaches by this philosophy. Each of my masters' 3 schools in NC are run Korean masters who all have many national titles and fantastic resumes from competition in Korea, Brazil, Vietnam..and so on. But the students that come from those schools, arent the greatest at competition, because my master has made a name for himself on focusing more on teaching "life" skills. Of course kids come there and learn to punch and kick, and those that want serious training get it, but they all are expected to get good grades, show leadership ability, be respectful..and so on. These lessons those kids learn at 10, they will keep their whole life. Some people in NC have bad things to say about my master, but the fact is while the students are not focused on competition, they are focused on becoming better citizens, and in the long run, that helps everyone. In fact, if you come into my dojang and say all you want to do is compete, he will not even accept you as a student.

[foofies]

How about joining ITF and WTF techniques togther, and make a IWTF tkd? __this is will never happen and im certain__

[aefibird]

I'd try to get TKD out of the Olympics and I would encourage sparring to be more realistic and with better use of techniques. I like ITF sparring because of the punches to the head rule, but I dislike the lighter contact. I like the level of contact in WTF but think that more emphasis needs to be placed on hand techniques, rather than forcing players to just turn it into a kicking contest.

[foofies]

I'd try to get TKD out of the Olympics

Why??? WTF TKD is one of the greatest sport in the hole world.