Yeti
Black Belt
About a year ago, 8 months before my black belt test (for 1st Dan) I realized that I belonged to your typical McDojang. We did no hosinsul, no one/three step sparring, very little sparring in general and no one seemed to know any applications for any of the moves in the forms (WTF Taeguk patterns).
Well, I decided to quit the school since to me, my 1st Dan from this school would not have been worth the paper the certificate was printed on. I spent the next 14 months absolutely soured on TKD..didn't want anything to do with it and felt it was an awful martial art with no real world application.
Boy was I wrong! On a whim, I stopped into a local school a few weeks ago to check it out. Don't know why I did it, but I'm glad I did. In this school - also a WTF school - we do Hosinsul, all types of sparring and spend considerable time on forms AND their applications. I feel completely vindicated and am once again excited about my TKD training because to me this school shows what TKD really is...a complete martial art. I'm ashamed to say I lost sight of that, but I'm glad I found my way back.
If there's anyone out there suffering a similar fate, don't give up...do some research of schools in your area and find one that suits your needs. You may need to travel a bit to get there, but the extra effort will definitely be worth it!
Tae Kwon!
-Mike
Well, I decided to quit the school since to me, my 1st Dan from this school would not have been worth the paper the certificate was printed on. I spent the next 14 months absolutely soured on TKD..didn't want anything to do with it and felt it was an awful martial art with no real world application.
Boy was I wrong! On a whim, I stopped into a local school a few weeks ago to check it out. Don't know why I did it, but I'm glad I did. In this school - also a WTF school - we do Hosinsul, all types of sparring and spend considerable time on forms AND their applications. I feel completely vindicated and am once again excited about my TKD training because to me this school shows what TKD really is...a complete martial art. I'm ashamed to say I lost sight of that, but I'm glad I found my way back.
If there's anyone out there suffering a similar fate, don't give up...do some research of schools in your area and find one that suits your needs. You may need to travel a bit to get there, but the extra effort will definitely be worth it!
Tae Kwon!
-Mike
