TKD Forms; a running comparison

[bushido_man96]

They do look a lot more difficult. It appears that they were designed for skill development or demonstration purposes. Perhaps for Olympic level poomsae competitions.

[tubby]

Looking a lot more difficult that previous forms and a lot more kicking combinations.

they are meant to be hard to help distinguish the top level competitors where they are so close to perfect already. and to look nice to casual observers with the threat of karate in the Olympics.

Also made extra hard by the awful dissemination of information about them. Nothing on KKW site, I found some links on the KTU site and dribbles over facebook. Just hoping Ik Pil Kang is working on another great book for these

[IcemanSK]

Courtesy of tubby in this post, here are the new Kukkiwon forms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4y50bJvvMM&feature=youtu.be

Looking a lot more difficult that previous forms and a lot more kicking combinations.

These are indeed new "Elite-level" poomsae for competition. They're not consider for rank testing. My elite-level poomsae friends enjoy them. WWF has produced these types of poomsae in the fairly recent past (within the last 10 years), but they never got popular among elite-level or other TKD folk. Time will tell how these will be accepted in the long term.

[DWx]

I actually got the chance to watch some high level WTF freestyle poomse at our National University tournament a few weeks ago. Very similar in style to the new Kukkiwon poomse with most competitors opting for aerial and spinning kicks throughout.

[IcemanSK]

Kukkiwon has been of two minds, in recent years. On the one hand, "let's standardize poomsae so everyone understands how they 'should' be done." And on the other hand, "let's create poomsae that only teenagers can do." The latter has appeal, but not for the long haul.

[bushido_man96]

Well, I will say this. For those of their practitioners that are wanting to do the more athletic type of competition, they are providing those outlets for them. I think this is a good thing, so long as it doesn't take over focus on the other aspects.

[IcemanSK]

Well, I will say this. For those of their practitioners that are wanting to do the more athletic type of competition, they are providing those outlets for them. I think this is a good thing, so long as it doesn't take over focus on the other aspects.

Yeah, I agree. I've worried about that in the past. I went to the Kukkiwon Instructors Course several years ago. The man who taught poomsae was GM Jae-yoon An, an instructor at KKW and member of the Korean National Poomsae team. He is as solid as any MA-ist I've met. Friends have said the same about other KKW instructors. As Kukkiwon produces things like these new poomsae for young, gymnasts, those who teach at Kukkiwon are held to a very high standard. They intend to teach others to do likewise.

[IcemanSK]

This young man (James Chua) is a Southern California phenom. He's 8 years old & performs Tae Guek 1-8 & all yudanja poomsae.

[bushido_man96]

Wow, at 8 years old. The WTF must not worry about students doing forms ahead of their rank?

[sensei8]

This young man (James Chua) is a Southern California phenom. He's 8 years old & performs Tae Guek 1-8 & all yudanja poomsae.

Performs?? More like mimics them; many errors...balance, to name just one.

Wow, at 8 years old. The WTF must not worry about students doing forms ahead of their rank?

I was wondering the same thing myself.

Who in their right mind taught a student forms that are above that students current rank?!?! Unless he taught himself the forms out of a book/DVD/internet. Still, his CI needs to curb him away from the forms that are above his current rank.