# foreign martial arts



## Traditionalist (Nov 14, 2008)

I have been visiting the u.s. since last year and have notices that martial arts is taught differently over here (there are some similaritys though) then where i am from (korea). or at least what I have experienced in my country. I was wondering if anyone has experience with this. Either going to another country or having someone from another country come into your class and there being differences. I have come to the u.s. before but have never worked out with americans before until recently. Just wanted hear other peoples stories.


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## Bodhisattva (Nov 14, 2008)

Traditionalist said:


> I have been visiting the u.s. since last year and have notices that martial arts is taught differently over here (there are some similaritys though) then where i am from (korea). or at least what I have experienced in my country. I was wondering if anyone has experience with this. Either going to another country or having someone from another country come into your class and there being differences. I have come to the u.s. before but have never worked out with americans before until recently. Just wanted hear other peoples stories.



I don't have a story  - but welcome to America!


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## jks9199 (Nov 14, 2008)

Traditionalist said:


> I have been visiting the u.s. since last year and have notices that martial arts is taught differently over here (there are some similaritys though) then where i am from (korea). or at least what I have experienced in my country. I was wondering if anyone has experience with this. Either going to another country or having someone from another country come into your class and there being differences. I have come to the u.s. before but have never worked out with americans before until recently. Just wanted hear other peoples stories.


Can you elaborate on what some of the differences are?  Is it in the class structure, targetting of kids in many commercial schools, or something else?


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## IcemanSK (Nov 15, 2008)

I'd be interested in the differences you've experienced as well.


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## D Dempsey (Nov 16, 2008)

jks9199 said:


> Can you elaborate on what some of the differences are?  Is it in the class structure, targetting of kids in many commercial schools, or something else?


Kids make up the bulk of taegwondo and hapkido classes in Korea just like in the U.S.
I've trained in Korea and the U.S. in Judo / Yudo and I didn't really notice much of a difference.


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## jks9199 (Nov 16, 2008)

Interesting...  

I had an opportunity many years ago to learn a bit of TKD from a guy who had learned it in a South Korean military academy; what he taught bore little resemblance to what I've seen in most TKD schools.  Very different emphasis and approach, more than differences in the techniques.


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## D Dempsey (Nov 17, 2008)

I'm sure there are still some schools like that, but most of the adults I knew who trained in striking arts / styles trained in Gyeoktugi.  The main gym I trained Judo at also offered  taegwondo and hapkido instruction but it was almost all middle school aged children.  
Actually one of the stranger things that I saw last year when I was in Korea was an ATA taegwondo school in Busan.


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## MBuzzy (Nov 17, 2008)

I lived in Korea for a year and now train in the US and I have noticed massive differences.  Most of all, little to no standardization.  My instructor taught his curriculum.  He taught what he felt I should know, the way that he wanted to teach.  No standardized Ho Sin Sul or Ill Soo Sik....just the combos that he taught that day.

There is also the "hardness" difference.  I left every class in Korea utterly exhausted, some of them bruised and beaten because my instructor decided to do sparring that day....or for that matter was carrying around the pad.  If an instructor in the US was still cracking students in the back of the head every time they messed up, the MA business would look a lot different.  I trained much harder in Korea than I do now, even with teaching most of the time.

A rather odd difference is that my class in Korea was actually taught in mostly English and my class in the US is taught mostly in Korean!


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## mskhkd (Nov 17, 2008)

I haven't any experiences but I always wanted some Koreans to join our Hapkido class.


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## Traditionalist (Nov 17, 2008)

jks9199 said:


> Can you elaborate on what some of the differences are? Is it in the class structure, targetting of kids in many commercial schools, or something else?


 
Sure. First, my grandfather is my instructor and has been teaching me and my brothers and sisters since we were young. He wasn't going to teach when we came over, we're here because my sister is going to school. But he ended up teaching us and some neighborhood kids in a small building we converted to a workout area. he's very rough and if you don't follow instructions or if he thinks your not doing up to par than he's got this little stick and flicks you with it. Not hard but you know he's there. I find that most of the american kids are surprised by this method and I think my Grandfather was surprised they were surprised. He's made several cry just by getting onto them. He's very strict in class. Its his way or you can go somewhere else. and we don't do the advertising or anything mainly its comes from just word of mouth. we do have mostly kids and after they get use to the way he is they seem to like it. I don't know anyway but his. But just reading some post I'm getting a different picture.


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## tiger2000 (Nov 20, 2008)

having trained in the US and the UK there is a difference mostly due to legal restrictions but there is nothing stopping people of a like mind getting together and training hard in thier own time


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## MasterWright (Nov 24, 2008)

We have had some students (that originally came from here) that worked in Korea come to our school after learning taekwondo, there. 

Unfortunately most were not too high in rank to make an acurate account of the differences. Some seemed trained harder and others seemed like they were not. 

I guess it depends on the school, just like here. That's my opinion.

Welcome to North America !


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