GB olympic team "Fighting Chance"

[DWx]

What do you guys think of this?

UKsport and British TKD have this programme called Fighting Chance aimed at recruiting new blood onto the GB olympic TKD team. Basically they invited other TKDers, kickboxers, Karateka etc. to try out for the team and if you get through the selection process they'll train you up for 2012 and fast-track you to blackbelt. One of my friends actually tried out for it and got through a couple of the selection rounds (not sure whereabouts in the process she is now).

I think it kinda cheapens TKD in a way. Aaron Cook, GB's big hope for 2012 used to be ITF but switched over and took his WTF blackbelt after a year. And I guess this is the same sort of time span they'd be expecting for the new hopefuls. Now there's no doubt about it his sparring is blackbelt standard and that the people who complete the programme will be awesome sparrers but I doubt they'll be learning the poomse and even if they do probably not to "blackbelt standard". I guess it depends whether you look at these olympians as credible martial artists, or just that, olympic athletes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/taekwondo/8323020.stm

http://www.britishtaekwondo.org.uk/talent-2012-fighting-chance.html

[ps1]

Why fast track to black belt? Doesn't seem fair to just throw a black belt at someone just because they are athletic and can compete well.

[Toptomcat]

Anyone who's sufficiently athletic to be considered for the Olympic team is certainly more than capable of earning a legitimate black belt in three years. There are two possible meanings of 'fast-track' here: they could just be putting them through a program designed to produce people who will win Olympic gold, but they could also just be putting them in an environment where they'll be intensively learning everything. Without decent evidence that they're being poorly trained it's unfair to demean the program.

Also, they're actively looking for people who are competitive champions in other martial sports, so it's not like they'll walk out of the program in 2012 knowing nothing but how to score in Olympic taekwondo.

[DWx]

Oh sorry guys "fast-track" was my word. Not sure that they literally by-pass stuff to get you through the process but you are expected to get the belt in a shorter time than most.

[Toptomcat]

Which is totally reasonable for Olympic-caliber athletes with previous competitive success in other combat sports.

[DWx]

Well I guess it depends on whether you think someone should be awarded a belt based on their sparring ability alone. What about the other criteria that are usually expected? Forms? Technical knowledge? Theory? Will that be up to par?

I'm not saying its not possible especially given that they are trained in similar styles and are talented.

[Toptomcat]

I'm taking all that into account. An Olympic-caliber athlete with previous fight experience who's been given the ability to train full time for years with all their training expenses being met by the government can easily meet the standard of forms, technical, and theory knowledge demanded of the average Taekwondo black belt. You're seriously underestimating how much help athleticism and training full time can be to the growth rate of a student if you think otherwise.

If someone training under those conditions didn't earn a black belt on a much faster timetable than an amateur hobbyist who attends maybe an hour and a half's worth of classes three times a week- which is, I think, a fair summary of the circumstances of the typical student of TKD- then I would kick them out of the program.

[DWx]

I think you're misinterpreting my point. I'm not saying that these people don't have the capacity to do it and I full agree that yes it would be very likely for them to have the ability to achieve that rank.

What I am saying is that will the programme incorporate these other aspects? If the programme is developing fighters for 2012, it would seem reasonable that they would focus near 100% of the time training the sparring. Why bother teaching them the forms for example if thats time that could be spent on training the sport side? And in that case is it fair to award a rank even if all of the criteria for such a rank haven't been achieved.

[Toptomcat]

*Shrug*

They could make the right choice and make their athletes complete martial artists, or they could make the wrong choice and spend three years sparring. I don't have any control over the day-to-day running of the National Taekwondo Performance Centre, and so see little point in getting exercised about it, and choose to give them the benefit of the doubt until other evidence emerges.

[DWx]

Was just throwing it out there for some discussion... I don't tend to follow Olympic TKD really anyway.

On a slightly different tangent, does anyone know of other countries that have a similar programme? even for different sports?