Tae Kwon Do???

[kkennedy219]

When I first began my karate training, my sensei told me that I kick like they do in tae kwon do. I kind of had a feeling that this may have been his way of saying I kick like a girl(don't get me started on this expression...I happen to be a woman and my girlish kicking style has proven very effective in getting me out of many a sticky situation in the past), but I tried to look on the bright side and took his comment to mean that I tend to kick very high, knowing that tae kwon do uses a lot of kicks to the head. So the other day, in talking with my sensei, I find out that he has some very strong, very negative opinions on the subject of tae kwon do, due to some negative experiences he had in the past with tae kwon do dojos.

So what do you think? Knowing his opinions on the subject, should I be insulted by his initial comment about my kicking style, or take it as a legit observation of technique?

[Adonis]

Well he has a negative opinion of TKD so his comments probably are negative towards your kicking ability.

Ask him what he ment by the comment of your kickign ability, was he refering to how high you cna kick, or how fast you can exucute the kick, the form of the kick, or the power or effectiveness of it?

If he doesn't like your kicking ability, ask him for ways to improve it.

Good training to you.

[DisgruntledGirl]

Even though he might have a negative view of TKD I dont think that you should necessarily take what he said too much to heart. Though I guess it all depends on the type of person he is to begin with.

One time there was a guest Sensei at our school and he had me doing some combinations of kicks I had never done before... and he joked a few times with me and said "We are not doing Capoeira here you know. " Cus while I also have fairly high kicks, because what I was doing was new to me, my balance had not quite caught up with the kicks so sometimes I'd be wabbling and flailing about.

My situation and yours might be slightly different because I *knew* the Sensei was joking with me cus I myself knew that I was wabbling all over the place. If however you thought you were doing the technique exactly as you thought you were supposed to he may have very well just been commenting on how high your kicks were and this may not have been an insult even if he doesnt have a good oppinion of TKD... or you may have been doing the technique slightly off from the way you had been instructed and that might have been his way of "playing" with you to let you know to change it a bit.

Either way, if it was a remark just on how high you can kick take it as a compliment, if it wasnt however, I'm sure he will fill you in on how to change it if it does require some adjustments. If you think you need to (you will know this better than us), then ask him how to make your kick better, but I have found with many of my questions (depending on the type of question) if I wait it out for a short time the answers will inadvertently be revealed right before I finally go to ask.

[Adonis]

Thats why I basically suggusted she ask him to elaborate on what he ment by his comment.

[danbong]

should I be insulted by his initial comment about my kicking style, or take it as a legit observation of technique?

How important is it for you to know if you were insulted or not? And if you were insulted, would that change anything? FWIW, my observation is that in shotokan, feedback is usually given in very blunt terms. And it is pretty black and white, too. Either you are doing it "the shotokan way" or it's wrong. I think that's partly due to cultural considerations and partly because in shotokan everything is tightly tied together and everything has to be "just so" for maximum effectiveness.

And from a technical standpoint, there are many differences between shotokan and tae kwon do in kicking, not just how high you kick. So it is quite likely that it was an observation of technique.

[Zanshin]

Maybe you were doing a naff kick. Not saying of course that the TKD guys do naff kicks, but if his opinion is biased about TKD then he could have meant it as a diss. IE that was rubbish do better.

[Adonis]

Thats my point though if an instructor tell you, your doing some thing wrong, but doesnt' give spefics of what exactly yoru doing wrong or how to fix it. They are worthless instructors IMO.

[lordtariel]

If an instructor is putting down other arts, I'd definitely think twice about learning from them. It's one thing to talk about the weakness a particular art might have, but it's another to just rip on one.

[Elky]

If an instructor is putting down other arts, I'd definitely think twice about learning from them. It's one thing to talk about the weakness a particular art might have, but it's another to just rip on one.

You'd leave an otherwise good teacher just because he was vocal about his dislike of TKD? In my experience, that'd leave a very small pool of karate instructors to choose from!

To the OP: I think when my instructor has described kicks as being like TKD he means they're "flicky" - sort of light and snappy. This may be a misconception, but I reckon that's probably what he means.

[bushido_man96]

Just ask him what he meant. Maybe he can elaborate.