Five practices through Taekwondo yellow belt
I just reached my fifth class, with 25 more to go for the yellow-green test. Ugh, the Dan Gun poomsae is marginally rough. Certainly achievable, but rough nonetheless. My son is one class behind me, as he is starting to insist on going to the kids-only classes, and the times are pretty different.
Some observations
Based on copious internet research, I have discovered that my TKD dojang is a splinter organization, but I feel it leans somewhat ITF.
Basically, most organizations are involved in WT (World Taekwondo) or ITF (International Taekwondo Federation). WT (from the South Korean side) is basically strict competitive olympic-style Taekwondo, while ITF (from the North Korean side) practices the traditional art. Both have their pros and cons.
The definitive negative of WT is that it is essentially point-sparring. That is, World Taekwondo doesn’t resemble fighting in the real world. WT is a competitive governing body, and establishes TKD rules as little more than sport. On the ITF side, there’s substantial criticism relating to adherence to poomsae (traditional forms) over street fighting.
It is what it is. A martial art is neither death sport nor foot fencing. It is a mixture of several things, and that’s perfectly ok.
But credit where it is due, my dojang adheres to fundamentals – always keeping your fists up and ready to strike, critiques of where and how your foot lands, etc.
A couple weeks ago, I should have listened more carefully to those instructions regarding kicking surfaces… I spend about a week in periodic pain when I landed a kick wrong on a bag.
