TKD bashing?

[Bdaze]

I am guilty of beeing a TYKD basher at one point, but i realize now it was because i was beeing ignorant.

 

i used to say "it's a good art for winning tournaments, and im sure an educted fighter in that system would be able to defend them self with no martial artts background, but it's really all about scoring points"

 

of course, that was then, this is now. i took a few classes with a TKD private instructor and found it to be mostly punches and sort of slightly more strike oriented jujitsu.

 

AND, proof that it's not ineffrective, a freind of mine is a black belt in TKD and has been studying for about 10 years.

 

he's been in two fights that ive actually witnessed, both he absolutley dominated (in both instances the fight ended with th opponent on the ground feeling very "tenderized"). so dont let anyone tell you it's not effective.

[karatekid1975]

Same here. When I did Tang Soo Do, I was guilty of a little TKD bashing. But I was also proved wrong about how ineffective it is. At least, how I am taught, it IS effective, and we (most of us at my dojang) don't do it for sport.

[zile]

hi my name is james i am a green advanced in tang soo do how are all of you have you heard of battle of atlanta my instructors are mr. z mr.sandt and lee sandt i also toke tkd in my younger years and i do agree it was very effective when it came to fighting.

you most be like water when you pore water into a bottle it becomes the bottle pore it into a cup it becomes the cup now water can flow and it can crash you most be like water

 

Bruce Lee

[Icetuete]

welcome to the forums zile, why dont u write an indruction?

At least, how I am taught, it IS effective, and we (most of us at my dojang) don't do it for sport.

 

doing it for sport does not have much to do with an effectiveness of a style. styles can be highly physically challenging and have devastating effects. i assume u were talking about the tournament aspect of tkd?[/url]

[karatekid1975]

Yea, basically. Or the "foot tag" thing. We don't train for those. Except one big tourny that the U.S.T.U. has every year (in ohio). That's the only one we attend regularly.

[Shoryu]

TKD is awesome and is one of the top most martial arts in the U.S. and some other places...it is an olympic martial art, one of the only 2 olympic martial arts(including Judo).

[Icetuete]

yes, TKD indeed is one of the most versatile martial arts i think. it can be taught in so many different ways, like the olympic point sparring u pointed out @ Shoryu, or the flashy looks style of the demo teams, the self defense, the sport (meant as physical training for fun/fitness) or even the military style. one the one hand, this is very good, but on the other side, this makes it difficult for beginners to find the right dojang, because they r soo different. not to mention the McDojangs that make things worse.

[monkeygirl]

It's unfortunate that so many scammers have exploited TKD's popularity for their own purposes.

 

Now, it seems like TKD dojangs will have to be approached--just like everything else these days--with caution and suspicion. Guilty until proven innocent, I guess you could say.

 

It's such a shame, but I guess it would be pretty foolish to think that our art is immune to the evils of the world.

[btroadman]

I am a TaeKwonDo student and love it. I always look forward to classes and improving my skills. But I can also admit that a lot of the commercialized art of TKD is ineffective.

 

Now people will argue and say that I saw my friend beat up so and so. But if we are using the 'law of equals', the average MA student who only trains in the Americanized TKD would be at a disadvantage to on who trains in BJJ, Muay Thai, Pankration, etc. I think that is why the bashing goes on, people make it out to be a UFC fight all the time. If I wanted to enter the UFC or Pride Fighting championships, I wouldn't train in TaeKwonDo, nor would I have a real job, and my ears would look like Califlowers.

[Sens55]

The business side of things can always be an impediment to what is taught. Once a school opens publicly it is a commercial enterprise with a goal of, if not making a profit, at least breaking even. Certainly quality of teaching effects their ability to do that, but it's not the only determining factor. TKD has become quite commercial, which is both a good and bad. In its expansion, it has grown rapidly but not been able to keep a tight control on quality. And, let's face it, when any of us started in MA, how would we know if the teacher REALLY knew his stuff or not? Unless you had been around it or knew someone around it, we probably chose the school closest to us. In that regard, there are more TKD schools than most other arts. And with the plethora of schools, there are good ones and bad ones. But, as with anything, you rarely hear about things when it's a good experience, but EVERYBODY hears about it when it's bad. (Marketing surveys say that dissatisfied customer will tell, on average over 8 people about a bad experience and less than 3 for a good one).

 

Anyway, I've found that the less commercial schools can frequently be more selective in who and what they teach. In doing so, they more often focus on the quality of their art, not the quantity of their students as a measure of success.