Better quality training! Need advice.

[faerie2]

At the rate she's going, she'll be black belt next month, so it isn't as if there's that much more to be paying for, and this close to the end, it doesn't really make sense. Kind of like dropping out of high school in May of your senior year; sticking it out two more months brings you to the very end and you get your diploma.

Now, if they charge some exorbitant amount for the BB test, and if she truely intends to begin training at the kung fu school, then it would make sense to bring things to a close.

I guess from my own perspective as a martial artist, I like to see things through to the end. Then at least nobody can badmouth you and say that you quit.

Daniel

I guess my problem, and why I'm fussing about it now, is that - do I really want a BB from this school? A BB from here would likely equal a blue belt elsewhere, and if I wanted to switch schools, they couldn't very well have someone registered at KKW as a BB start out at a yellow belt - or could they?

I feel like I can do the required criteria (all patterns from il to pal), sparring, breaking, etc but I'm much slower and sloppier than i would expect someone as a BB would be because I don't have the speed, intuition and muscle memory that comes from years of training. Not only that, but I fear that bad habits are being reinforced, and I am practicing a kick the wrong way over and over.
I just feel as though I have stepped into another country and have learned to speak the language by watching game shows, does that make sense? I am aiming for fluency here, and I'm willing to put in the time.

I guess what it boils down to, and it makes me so sad to think of, but how do I dump my dojang, when i feel so emotionally attached to it, and they likely feel like I am one of the only students who give it 100% - and the closest thing to an adult BB they have likely had in a long time. the language barrier is a big problem too, they don't speak English very well, so long explanations won't be comprehended. Should I just stop going? Should I keep going, and just use it for a good work out?

I am pretty much sold on the KF school, there are so many pluses, like being able to do this with my husband, and them being willing to let us take the kids, give one a colouring book and plunk the other in a play pen. the detail of training, even in the three classes is what I have been craving (history, dialogue, critique, and OMG, grown-ups!).

 

[faerie2]

I bolded the words 'you earned a blackbelt' because that earning is the important factor. Now I'm going to retype the sentence and change one word: you earned their blackbelt. And that is the key: as long as you earned it at that school, by meeting their requirements, and can look someone else in the eye and say that you put in 110% and learned all of the material, then you've nothing to be ashamed of. If a student paid dues for two years, never showed up for class except for testings, paid testing fees and got a BB for basically knowing zilch, then the school should be ashamed, not the student. Though in that case, the student had better hope that they never need to use their 'karate' in a real fight, lol.

Dealing with the general public, they won't know the difference between McDojo's black belt and a Ruth's Chris' Dojo black belt. Then you can always follow it up with something like, 'I earned my TKD BB there, but I've since moved on to a more advanced school.'

When dealing with actual practitioners who do know the difference, such as instructors at a new school, if you approach them with humility and state that you earned your black belt at such and such school but find that you'd like the more in depth training that the new school offers, they will know that the McDojo is a McDojo. They'll also see that you stuck it out and didn't quit, and they'll see that you aren't swinging around your blackbelt as though you're the next Bruce Lee.

The big thing in this is to not badmouth the old school in the process. Some schools are more advanced and offer better training than others. No shame in having been to one of the regulars; lots of people go to the McDojo to get their feet wet. If you acknowledge that it was a fairly basic school geared towards families with kids, so what?

I kind of draw a line when a school blatantly rips people off, but that is a different story. I don't know that the OP feels ripped off; she hasn't stated such. Given that the average school seems to be about 100-150 a month, if she's out in less than a year, she hasn't spent nearly as much as a two year BB at a crappy school. She does see that she wants more out of martial arts than her current school offers.

Daniel

This is a really good point, I don't want to feel like I'm "quitting", but at the same time, I would feel lame dropping out just after I get my BB. I paid a year up front, and my year is up in May. I don't mind taking a financial loss here.
But really, I don't know if I would feel good about having a BB from that school, especially when they are likely going to offer it before the year is up. even if I do go 5 days/week, I know that I feel slow and sloppy, and I'm sparring with people who I am worried about kicking with my full strength.

 

[jks9199]

This is a really good point, I don't want to feel like I'm "quitting", but at the same time, I would feel lame dropping out just after I get my BB. I paid a year up front, and my year is up in May. I don't mind taking a financial loss here.
But really, I don't know if I would feel good about having a BB from that school, especially when they are likely going to offer it before the year is up. even if I do go 5 days/week, I know that I feel slow and sloppy, and I'm sparring with people who I am worried about kicking with my full strength.

As has been suggested -- talk to the school owner/manager about this. They might be able to answer your concerns. Or, if they can't, you've got a different sort of answer.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I guess my problem, and why I'm fussing about it now, is that - do I really want a BB from this school? A BB from here would likely equal a blue belt elsewhere, and if I wanted to switch schools, they couldn't very well have someone registered at KKW as a BB start out at a yellow belt - or could they?

Well, if you're talking about your husband's school, it is a completely different style, so having a KKW BB would have (or should have) no bearing on where you start. At a non-KKW school, you may start at a lower rank because the curriculum may be sufficiently different to warrant you starting fresh. You would be respected for having earned a blackbelt by the other students; you don't come off as a braggart, so nobody would be pressed to 'show up' the BB from another style.

I feel like I can do the required criteria (all patterns from il to pal), sparring, breaking, etc but I'm much slower and sloppier than i would expect someone as a BB would be because I don't have the speed, intuition and muscle memory that comes from years of training.

All things considered, you've come to the realization that a BB is not the master of her craft, but one who has learned the basics. There are many things that I feel I need to improve in in both taekwondo and kumdo, and I hold dan grades in both (ildan and yidan respectively).

Not only that, but I fear that bad habits are being reinforced, and I am practicing a kick the wrong way over and over.
I just feel as though I have stepped into another country and have learned to speak the language by watching game shows, does that make sense? I am aiming for fluency here, and I'm willing to put in the time.

This is really the biggest concern that I'd have and one that some one on one time with your instructors could effectively address. If you're doing everything correctly, then with continued practice, you'll improve. The only thing you'll have difficulty developing is sparring technique if you're only sparring with kids or if the instructors are sparring with you as if you're one of the kids. All of this should be covered in a heart to heart with your GM and instructors.

I guess what it boils down to, and it makes me so sad to think of, but how do I dump my dojang, when i feel so emotionally attached to it, and they likely feel like I am one of the only students who give it 100% - and the closest thing to an adult BB they have likely had in a long time. the language barrier is a big problem too, they don't speak English very well, so long explanations won't be comprehended. Should I just stop going? Should I keep going, and just use it for a good work out?

I am pretty much sold on the KF school, there are so many pluses, like being able to do this with my husband, and them being willing to let us take the kids, give one a colouring book and plunk the other in a play pen. the detail of training, even in the three classes is what I have been craving (history, dialogue, critique, and OMG, grown-ups!).

The last two paragraphs here show a conflict. That is one that you'll need to weigh personally and choose. I'd like to offer that perhaps you may be able to have both; earn your blackbelt, move on to Kung Fu, but offer to volunteer helping out with the kids class at the old school. Then you get it all. Not only that, I'd bet that some of the K/F instructors and/or high grade students have probably taken taekwondo and may hold dan grades. You can probably see if they can give you an objective viewpoint of where your TKD technique is. If your technique is good, then you have a solid base upon which to build.

If you were to go that rout (train in k/f and volunteer with tkd), then you perhaps could be the change you wish to see. Be the instructor who pushes the kids a little harder, to strive a little more, and to tighten up on their technique. In this scenario, everyone wins: you get to train with your husband, your technique gets better, the taekwondo school benefits from your continued presence, and the taekwondo students get better. Not only that, you may find some of the TKD techniques work very well for you while others won't and some of the K/F techniques may work very well for you while others won't. In this way, you benefit further from exposure to two arts.

Now, you may wind up as a kung fu practitioner who's a bit TKD-ish or a TKD practitioner who's a bit Kung Fu-ish. But nothing wrong with either of those.

Out of curiosity, what style of Kung Fu does the school teach?

Best wishes,

Daniel

 

[faerie2]

All things considered, you've come to the realization that a BB is not the master of her craft, but one who has learned the basics. There are many things that I feel I need to improve in in both taekwondo and kumdo, and I hold dan grades in both (ildan and yidan respectively).


This is really the biggest concern that I'd have and one that some one on one time with your instructors could effectively address. If you're doing everything correctly, then with continued practice, you'll improve. The only thing you'll have difficulty developing is sparring technique if you're only sparring with kids or if the instructors are sparring with you as if you're one of the kids. All of this should be covered in a heart to heart with your GM and instructors.




The last two paragraphs here show a conflict. That is one that you'll need to weigh personally and choose. I'd like to offer that perhaps you may be able to have both; earn your blackbelt, move on to Kung Fu, but offer to volunteer helping out with the kids class at the old school. Then you get it all. Not only that, I'd bet that some of the K/F instructors and/or high grade students have probably taken taekwondo and may hold dan grades. You can probably see if they can give you an objective viewpoint of where your TKD technique is. If your technique is good, then you have a solid base upon which to build.

If you were to go that rout (train in k/f and volunteer with tkd), then you perhaps could be the change you wish to see. Be the instructor who pushes the kids a little harder, to strive a little more, and to tighten up on their technique. In this scenario, everyone wins: you get to train with your husband, your technique gets better, the taekwondo school benefits from your continued presence, and the taekwondo students get better. Not only that, you may find some of the TKD techniques work very well for you while others won't and some of the K/F techniques may work very well for you while others won't. In this way, you benefit further from exposure to two arts.

Now, you may wind up as a kung fu practitioner who's a bit TKD-ish or a TKD practitioner who's a bit Kung Fu-ish. But nothing wrong with either of those.

Out of curiosity, what style of Kung Fu does the school teach?

Best wishes,

Daniel

OKAY!! This, I can work with, thank you! What I'm getting from this (or what I have interpreted from this, heh) is that if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the problem. I may not know the technique better than these kids, but I do know how to be respectful, and to be a good student better than these other students, and I can be part of the change that I would like to see there. I think the language barrier is a big problem for these other kids, and when they're goofing off they think it's okay because the instructors and GM just tune it out because it's English chatter. maybe that's the route I will take when I go back next week, just try to demonstrate appropriate class behavior a little more proactively.

Having a discussion with GM is pretty much out of the question, because his English comprehension isn't that great. I tried to explain to him a while ago that i didn't feel like I was ready for blue belt (he unexpectedly called me to test, even though I didn't think I was testing that day). I ran through a long explanation of that I felt as though I wasn't ready for blue belt and he just looked at me confused and said "well, you passed" and gave me the belt. He didn't ask for the testing fee, but I gave it to him anyhow.
hmm.
Did I misinterpret what you are saying?

THis has been something interesting to chew on. Thank you.

 

[faerie2]

And if I'm not making much sense, I am massively conflicted here! your input has been amazingly helpful, keep it coming!

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

OKAY!! This, I can work with, thank you! What I'm getting from this (or what I have interpreted from this, heh) is that if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the problem..

Well, I wouldn't go that far, lol. I was thinking more along the lines that since you're emotionally attached to the current school and near black belt, that you could be part of the solution. Any problems that the school has were there when you arrived.

I may not know the technique better than these kids, but I do know how to be respectful, and to be a good student better than these other students, and I can be part of the change that I would like to see there. I think the language barrier is a big problem for these other kids, and when they're goofing off they think it's okay because the instructors and GM just tune it out because it's English chatter. maybe that's the route I will take when I go back next week, just try to demonstrate appropriate class behavior a little more proactively.

GM Kim has some of the same problems with regards to the language, but Master Choi and Master Lee are bilingual and very accessable, so I've been able to bridge the language barrier to a greater extent than I would have been otherwise.

Having a discussion with GM is pretty much out of the question, because his English comprehension isn't that great. I tried to explain to him a while ago that i didn't feel like I was ready for blue belt (he unexpectedly called me to test, even though I didn't think I was testing that day). I ran through a long explanation of that I felt as though I wasn't ready for blue belt and he just looked at me confused and said "well, you passed" and gave me the belt. He didn't ask for the testing fee, but I gave it to him anyhow.
hmm.
Did I misinterpret what you are saying?

THis has been something interesting to chew on. Thank you.

You're welcome! I'm happy if any of what I have said is helpful to you.

Sounds like your GM is a decent guy, but if both he and his family are very short on English, then that is a huge problem in teaching a class. That is also the one problem that you can't actually address or effect change in, short of becoming fluent in Korean, which will take longer than a few months.

One thing though, their english must be good enough to give the class some level of basic instruction, so you should be able to get some feedback. Even if it is as basic as, "I want to kick better," you should be able to get some feedback. You mentioned earlier in the tread that they are very good in their practice of taekwondo. If nothing else, them performing the techniques with you should help, as you can watch what they're doing.

Lastly, it took me to about the time that I got my black belt for a lot of things to fall into place to the point where I could analyze my techniques and effect the necessary changes on my own. I read a lot of taekwondo books, which is helpful, but not necessary. It was about two years to black belt for me, which is a year longer than it will take you at this school. It has been said on this forum and on many others that being a blackbelt is about knowing how to learn. You seem to have the maturity and the right attitude that one would expect from a high belt, which is good: you attitude will make it easier to learn and improve.

But you really need to get detailed feedback regarding where your technique is. You train hard and frequently, which will help you. But it will only go so far if you're flying blind.

Best wishes,

Daniel

 

[exile]

Faerie, one of the things I was looking for in your posts and couldn't quite find was a sense from you of just what you wanted your TKD to be. I know what I wanted mine to be, from the time I first started: a severe, hard-style close quarters self-defense system that could give me a small range of very damaging responses for each of the most common attack initiations in typical street assaults. A system of effective structured violence, in other words. I'd no interest in sport competition or fitness or any of the other reasons why people do MAs; my sole objective was and is to be the one who walks away in one piece. Everything I've done in TKD has been built around my desire to be able to answer the question—via practical action—'what would you do in the event of an attack like THIS'. So I would have a very clear idea if there were a gap between what I wanted from my TKD and what I was getting, and if I weren't getting that kind of training and technical capability. If it were sport TKD that had interested me, I think I'd probably have a pretty clear sense there also of what my training would look like, and whether or not there were a gap between what I wanted and what I was getting. And so on. What I'm wondering is, just what is it that you want to be getting out of your training? What do you want to be able to do?. I apologize if I missed it in your posts, but as I say, it wasn't clear to me just what you were hoping to get in your training that you feel you're being shortchanged on...

 

[faerie2]

Faerie, one of the things I was looking for in your posts and couldn't quite find was a sense from you of just what you wanted your TKD to be. I know what I wanted mine to be, from the time I first started: a severe, hard-style close quarters self-defense system that could give me a small range of very damaging responses for each of the most common attack initiations in typical street assaults. A system of effective structured violence, in other words. I'd no interest in sport competition or fitness or any of the other reasons why people do MAs; my sole objective was and is to be the one who walks away in one piece. Everything I've done in TKD has been built around my desire to be able to answer the question—via practical action—'what would you do in the event of an attack like THIS'. So I would have a very clear idea if there were a gap between what I wanted from my TKD and what I was getting, and if I weren't getting that kind of training and technical capability. If it were sport TKD that had interested me, I think I'd probably have a pretty clear sense there also of what my training would look like, and whether or not there were a gap between what I wanted and what I was getting. And so on. What I'm wondering is, just what is it that you want to be getting out of your training? What do you want to be able to do?. I apologize if I missed it in your posts, but as I say, it wasn't clear to me just what you were hoping to get in your training that you feel you're being shortchanged on...

Very good question - I guess that's why I have been a little 'go with the flow' until now, I don't think I have made a concise mission statement about what it is I want to get out of it. I have just started to feel that I'm understanding what I don't want from it - and how can I get what I want out of it if I'm not clear on that?

I think that I do want an effective self defense method (we do staggeringly little self defense, or flashy impractical self defense currently). I want a system where I can immerse myself in it, learn the history, work to perfect my technique with detailed instruction, etc. I want validation that comes from learning something well, and that's where I feel short changed. "'what would you do in the event of an attack like THIS'." This really sums it up, but i think I need to spend more time shoring this up to specifics, and maybe request more of what it is I feel that I'm not getting. The sport of it all, I do enjoy, but again, I'm sparring with kids who I am afraid of kicking with my full strength (last time I did a perfect head kick, the girl cried... for an hour - and she was a higher rank than me), or they put me with unpadded instructors, and I'm not about to kick an un-padded head, or ribs full strength, I don't care if they're 2nd Dan. The "fitness" side is a plus, my body looks awesome but I get that outside of the dojang with my walking, running and weights - and hefting two kids around.
Thanks for this, becoming more clear on what I want specifically will help me to reign in my conflict a little more.

 

[exile]

Very good question - I guess that's why I have been a little 'go with the flow' until now, I don't think I have made a concise mission statement about what it is I want to get out of it. I have just started to feel that I'm understanding what I don't want from it - and how can I get what I want out of it if I'm not clear on that?

Exactly—but it's also true that a for a lot of people, it can take quite a while to start posing the question in the first place. Most people I think don't start with a very specific picture of what they want to achieve—just as very few freshman in university have a very sharp picture of what they really want to major in. You need exposure to the range of possibilities to see what the art can offer you. The reason I asked my own question of your a couple of posts ago is that, when someone expresses a sense of something lacking in their training, it's a pretty good indicator that they have, at some level, formulated a set of desiderata for their training, and are now finding that the program they're in doesn't meet those desiderata. It helps to make that 'wish-list' explicit—you then have a checklist to apply not only to your current program, but to other schools' curriculum if you decide you need to look further afield to get what you want.

I think that I do want an effective self defense method (we do staggeringly little self defense, or flashy impractical self defense currently).

That's not good at all—self-defense that isn't realistic can get you in a lot of trouble! The problem is that in trying to use something that doesn't work, you can get seriously hurt in an actual physical confrontation. Genuinely effective self-defense is generally simple, effective, and relies very little on complex techniques or other things that will go by the wayside in the adrenaline rush of an actual street attack; and the forms of TKD—the poomsae, tuls, hyungs, whatever—are full of practical information on this, but not the way they're typically taught (which is as dance performances, in effect). In TKD, the various Karates, and the many traditional CMAs, the forms are the repository of authentic combat-effective information. But you need to learn how to interpret them for that purpose, and train the techniques you've extracted from them in a way that means business, when push comes to shove. It's a very different kind of training than you get in most dojangs, or dojos.

I want a system where I can immerse myself in it, learn the history, work to perfect my technique with detailed instruction, etc. I want validation that comes from learning something well, and that's where I feel short changed. "'what would you do in the event of an attack like THIS'." This really sums it up, but i think I need to spend more time shoring this up to specifics, and maybe request more of what it is I feel that I'm not getting. The sport of it all, I do enjoy, but again, I'm sparring with kids who I am afraid of kicking with my full strength (last time I did a perfect head kick, the girl cried... for an hour - and she was a higher rank than me), or they put me with unpadded instructors, and I'm not about to kick an un-padded head, or ribs full strength, I don't care if they're 2nd Dan. The "fitness" side is a plus, my body looks awesome but I get that outside of the dojang with my walking, running and weights - and hefting two kids around.
Thanks for this, becoming more clear on what I want specifically will help me to reign in my conflict a little more.

Well, you've come to the right place, faerie. There are a lot of very experienced instructors here, many of them committed to the kind of realistic training I've alluded to—Terry, SJON, StuartA and a number of others—and there's plenty of advice out there, backed by decades of experience and reflection, available for the taking. If you're thinking about things in these terms, it's very likely the case that you've reached some kind of fork in the road—the first thing to do, I think, is trust your intuitions about what's going on: if you feel you're missing out on the core training that you really want, then you almost certainly are, and it may be necessary, sometime down the road, to make a change...

 

[<_>]

I joined my (mc)Dojang 8 months ago, and I just earned my black stripe. Yep, that's right. sigh. I kept testing when asked because I figured that they wouldn't ask if they felt like I wasn't ready. I'm there 5 days/week, and train hard, but this is getting silly. The Dojang is run by an 8th Dan BB, and his sons (4th and 5th Dan) who are all incredibly inspiring. The students, however, are all kids - except for me and on the most part, woefully slow and sloppy, even the poom BB's.

Up until this point, I figured that I could get from it what I put into it, but my husband just signed up for Kung Fu up the street and in three lessons, he has had a farther in depth instruction than I have in the entire time at my Dojang. I know that GM and the instructors have a lot that they could teach me, and I feel that they are being far too easy on me, because they have seen students (kids) leave when they are too strict.

Part of me wants to stick it out, and ask them to step up the training, part of me wants to leave and start over somewhere else before they ask me to test for BB before 12 months. Is it possible to get better quality training from a McDojang?

sounds like you've come to the revelation that you in fact need a better art to train in

 

[<_>]

why not try the kung fu class with your husband?

to answer your question though, you're going to have a tough time getting more intense training if you are the only adult training with a group of kids. you don't really have anyone your level to spar with, or push you in drills, forms, etc. there's nothing wrong with getting your feet wet in a mcshcool, but you sound like you might be ready to move on.

jf

yeah there is, no offense, but you'll ultimately have to unlearn all the slop they tried to brainwash you with

 

[exile]

sounds like you've come to the revelation that you in fact need a better art to train in

There's nothing wrong with TKD as an art for CQ combat, as the North Koreans, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong learned to their great cost in the 50s and 60s at the hands of the Black Tiger/White Tiger commandos and the ROK Marines. A number of our members have trained with Korean instructors from military backgrounds, and I think it's pretty safe to say no one in his right mind would want to try conclusions with any of those instructors under realistic combat conditions.

The problem is that it's very hard to get that kind of training&#8212;but that's not just true for TKD. It's equally the case for many of the other TMAs as well&#8212;quite a few of which have gone the sport competition route.

 

[jks9199]

sounds like you've come to the revelation that you in fact need a better art to train in

yeah there is, no offense, but you'll ultimately have to unlearn all the slop they tried to brainwash you with

I might suggest that it's not the art -- it's the school that's the problem.

There are very good, very effective TKD schools that produce very skilled fighters with solid self defense skills. And there are schools that are just martial art themed daycare programs -- often with less supervision than a real daycare program. (But that leads me to an off-topic soapbox issue of mine...)

At the moment, it seems that the school that Faerie is training at is rushing her through the syllabus, without answering her concerns or needs. That doesn't mean that every TKD school is like that!

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

sounds like you've come to the revelation that you in fact need a better art to train in

And what would you recommend? Your profile indicates that you practice karate, which in this day and age, could be anything from taekwondo to taijutsu. Going on the assumption that it is actual karate, do you study shotokan, kyokushin, ishin ryu? Just curious.

In any case, most of the Mcschools consentrate on sport taekwondo, some being better than others. I personally am less worried about the McSchool part than I am about it being a lousy school. The McSchool is just a business model. You can have lousy schools or fantastic schools with any business model.

Thanks,

Daniel

 

[dancingalone]

sounds like you've come to the revelation that you in fact need a better art to train in

It's not the art, it's the teacher. A mishmash of styles could be effective if taught in a live fashion by a technically superior teacher.

yeah there is, no offense, but you'll ultimately have to unlearn all the slop they tried to brainwash you with

There's some truth to this statement. It's unfortunate, but if the OP has 'grooved' in some poor, inefficient technique or has developed bad habits in sparring, it can be very difficult to make the change internally. The good news is that the OP is considering a kung fu school. Depending on the type of kung fu, the art may be so sufficiently different that she can just 'forget' her prior training entirely and just start anew fresh.

For example, most Chinese stylists chamber their kicks differently than a TKDist would. If she can realize that EVERYTHING will be different, the transition might not be that severe.

 

[faerie2]

It's not the art, it's the teacher. A mishmash of styles could be effective if taught in a live fashion by a technically superior teacher.



There's some truth to this statement. It's unfortunate, but if the OP has 'grooved' in some poor, inefficient technique or has developed bad habits in sparring, it can be very difficult to make the change internally. The good news is that the OP is considering a kung fu school. Depending on the type of kung fu, the art may be so sufficiently different that she can just 'forget' her prior training entirely and just start anew fresh.

For example, most Chinese stylists chamber their kicks differently than a TKDist would. If she can realize that EVERYTHING will be different, the transition might not be that severe.

That is one of the many reasons I have been thinking of moving to the KF school, because it will be entirely different, and i won't have to 'unlearn' quite as much and just focus on moving forward. that is, if I don't stay and try to effect change where I am... I'm still pretty conflicted and I will likely be trying to sort it out for a while, I'll see how the classes over the next few weeks go, i'll no doubt be here throughout talking my thoughts through about the matter because the information and perspective I am getting here is so valuable and helping me a great deal to form a clear picture of what it is I ultimately want out of MA training.

I agree wholeheartedly that it's not the art that I have issue with at all, clearly, tKd is fantastic in so many ways, it's not even the people, because I do love the family who runs the place, and the friends I have made there ( the moms of the students, LOL!) . The quality of instruction is a big problem, not TKD vs KF.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

There's some truth to this statement. It's unfortunate, but if the OP has 'grooved' in some poor, inefficient technique or has developed bad habits in sparring, it can be very difficult to make the change internally.

This is really the biggest concern that I would have. Not having been to Faerie2's school, I won't even begin to speculate as to the quality of the teaching. If she's getting correct techique and good training habits, then it may be worth sticking it out. If the instruction is poor, then she is probably best served going elsewhere.

Unfortunately, most people with less than a year into a martial art are not in a postition to objectively evaluate the correctness of the teaching.

Daniel

 

[faerie2]

This is really the biggest concern that I would have. Not having been to Faerie2's school, I won't even begin to speculate as to the quality of the teaching. If she's getting correct techique and good training habits, then it may be worth sticking it out. If the instruction is poor, then she is probably best served going elsewhere.

Unfortunately, most people with less than a year into a martial art are not in a postition to objectively evaluate the correctness of the teaching.

Daniel

...to give you an example, we have not been taught anything about "chamber", and there are only 3 of us who do not hop on the spinning leg during a tornado kick, and a girl who was testing was asked to break a board with a punch, and she punched it with her thumb inside of her fist, elbow at shoulder level (is there a smilie with a bag over it's head?).

The older students are given more detailed instruction, and would never be allowed to punch that way, but it bothers me that the younger students are allowed such improper technique that they could actually badly hurt themselves. I believe I am receiving the most detail of all, but still...

 

[faerie2]

This is really the biggest concern that I would have. Not having been to Faerie2's school, I won't even begin to speculate as to the quality of the teaching. If she's getting correct techique and good training habits, then it may be worth sticking it out. If the instruction is poor, then she is probably best served going elsewhere.

Unfortunately, most people with less than a year into a martial art are not in a postition to objectively evaluate the correctness of the teaching.

Daniel

This is where I strongly second guess myself. I know the curriculum (for this dojang, anyhow), I have the flexibility, the endurance, I love intense training, and I know I'm a good student and maybe I am judging the school based on how much the young students get away with. Maybe this whole thing is about me second guessing my abilities when GM knows that I'm good enough - although if this was the case, I wouldn't be second guessing my abilities, yes? I have had 5 day/week almost one on one training for the 8 months I have been there, so maybe I am better than I think I am - you're right, someone with less than a year training can't be objective, and that's where I'm confused.