Does anyone teach Tae Kwon Do as a traditional art anymore?
I did TKD for 7 years at 4 different schools. Eventually I got my black belt (moving around set me back at times) and then I realized that while I had fun there at times, I didn’t learn much considering how much time I had put in to it. I found that I couldn’t legitimately defend myself. I found that my friends who boxed and wrestled were better fighters than me. It wasn’t until I learned about other martial arts and talked to other people who studied and practiced different styles that I learned how watered down TKD in the United States is.
These days everyone associates TKD with McDojo’s and 14 year old black belts who couldn’t kick their way out of a paper bag. It’s a shame because I see that TKD is almost becoming just a business. Just about every TKD school I see doesn’t teach self-defense, they just teach you how to slap someone in the chest with your foot and score a couple points. And as long as you’ve got the money (more accurately, if your parents have the money) than you can get a black belt in a year or two.
Consider other martial arts. Muay Thai is considered a ring sport by some, but the sport we see with gloves and rules isn’t how it’s always been. Muay Thai (Muay Boran) were and are still taught by some as a traditional art with real-life applications in mind. And what about Brazilian JiuJitsu? In some BJJ schools they don’t even have belt promotion tests, you just get the belt when your instructor feels you’ve earned it (because you went out and won a tournament or something).
What happened to the days when a black belt in Tae Kwon Do meant years of hard work and dedication, not just signing the contract and making the payments?
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Tags: Ring Sport, Shame, Tae Kwon
January 20th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
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I just started TKD and know what you mean, the only reason I am taking it is because I needed the college credit and did not want to take fitness walking. I prefer thai kickboxing and jiu jitsu. Its interesting, comparing it to other martial arts. I think that I will just glean what info I need and apply it to other martial arts.
Good point, I think there is still some merit in Tkd and it depends on the person taking Tkd. Me, I like to actually work on power and accuracy of my kicks, others just throw their feet around. I don’t know, I have seen some pretty hardcore Tkd guy/gals, but I have also seen some 8yr. old kids with high belts and no skills. So it depends on how the individual works and stuff.
January 23rd, 2010 at 1:15 am
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i absolutely agree, i was in tkd and was a belt a way from my blackbelt but i never felt it was a good art for self defence. Muay thai is real, bjj is real. TKD is so commercialized. Around here (memphis) it takes about 7-10 years to get a blackbelt in bjj
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:13 pm
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Absolutely. I see that everywhere. Fortunately for me, that’s not how its like at my TKD school. Ernie Reyes’ West Coast World Martial Arts. My instructor, if you are doing less that incredibly, he will jump across the judges table to crinkle up your test. We arent alowed to even go to the black belt test if we’re not ready.
Our school also stresses respect and giving value, how its not just about the technique. We also stress POWER. Power, confidence, and strength.
January 24th, 2010 at 6:54 am
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The only TKD school’s around here are ATA. They are just franchises no different than a McDonalds or Starbucks. Seems to me the most important thing to them was how they structured their belts tests so they could maximize the amount of money they make for charging for them.
January 24th, 2010 at 10:23 am
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It is true that most TKD schools have less then ideal training for real world application. But not all of them are like that. Even the ATA has instructors that run there school in a more traditional manner. Where self defenses is required to advance and skill level must be met to move up through the ranks.
If you want a traditional school you will have to take the time to check out the schools and the people that run them. In the end you have to find the school that fits you best.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:32 am
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Ghost S. It is a sorry state of affairs these days. I began my training in the martial arts (Japanese) in 1967. At the time I knew several TKD students that were deadly. They knew the real TKD as it was meant to be taught. Since the 1960’s I have watched the number of TKD schools expand rapidly. Along with it I saw these things happen:
1) The number of black belts TKD schools were turning out began to rise rapidly
these TKD schools are turning out more instructors that in turn open more dojang that operate the same way.
2) the art began to teach more sport and flashy techniques and less self-defense
3) black belt contracts became the normal way to run a dojang
4) younger and younger students were allowed to train
5) younger and younger students began to be promoted to black belt
6) the time required to earn a black blet got shorter and shorter
7) the so called master instructors became younger and younger
I could go on. My point is that in the last 41 years I have seen only 4 or 5 TKD dojang out of hundreds I’ve seen in South Carolina, Virgina, and Georgia that teach anything close to the original TKD seen in the 1960’s. It is all about selling the dream of Being a black belt. Sorry to say these things. I feel it has hurt the martial arts greatly. So many generations have been taught this way that they have no perspective on what legitimate TKD should be.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
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i do taekwondo and i spar with karate and muay thai once in a while however i agree with you most places are watered down bullshit. real taekwondo has a lot in common with Kyshukin(spelled wrong) Karate. Cause of Choi and Oyama friendship tkd in the 70s was baddass in Vietnam the Korean Special Forces where trained in tkd and they got into a battle wich ended up in hand to hand combat well they won 1,500 North Vietnamese vs 254-man Korean company just look up savage week on the internet