Independant Or With An Organization

[ralphmcpherson]

Ok, thanks for your reply. So, it seems then that what you mention above really doesnt seem to fit the description or at least how I view, an organization. I mean, it seems like they are, to a point, but again, it doesnt seem like they're monitoring things.

Hey, people are free to do as they wish. I just feel that as far as certain things go, being under someone is a plus.

I dont do kukkiwon tkd but the way I understand it the kukkiwon does have a way of regulating things to a degree. For instance, to enter any WTF tournaments for sparring, forms etc you must be a kukki student. Now if a certain school has very poor standards and is teaching forms incorrectly (for example) then their students are going to look pretty ridiculous at tournaments when compared to other schools and it wont be long before those students realise that what they are taught isnt up to scratch. There are many local tourneys for only kukki clubs and most kukki students I know of compete at least to a small degree, so to a degree these tourneys act as a way to keep clubs teaching the material correctly or they will soon be found out. Again, this is just my assumption because my club steers well clear of the kukkiwon.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I dont do kukkiwon tkd but the way I understand it the kukkiwon does have a way of regulating things to a degree. For instance, to enter any WTF tournaments for sparring, forms etc you must be a kukki student. Now if a certain school has very poor standards and is teaching forms incorrectly (for example) then their students are going to look pretty ridiculous at tournaments when compared to other schools and it wont be long before those students realise that what they are taught isnt up to scratch. There are many local tourneys for only kukki clubs and most kukki students I know of compete at least to a small degree, so to a degree these tourneys act as a way to keep clubs teaching the material correctly or they will soon be found out. Again, this is just my assumption because my club steers well clear of the kukkiwon.

The WTF only recognizes Kukki certs. Unless things have changed in the past six months, when USAT issues a dan grade, it is essentially serving as a go-between; the grade is a Kukki grade.

Clubs that are lousy and have poor standards generally are not out there with competitive teams. The Kukkiwon does have ways of regulating things to some extent, but not broad, organizational action, such as revoking a school's status as a Kukkiwon school.

They can, however, strip the school owner of his or her rank.

Daniel

 

[MJS]

Yes to all of the above. But to the uninformed customer, the assumption is that the Kukkiwon is like other orgs and does monitor things at the school level.

All the more reason to do your homework. OTOH, as I said, this may not be a concern to some, so to each their own.

Absolutely. There are certainly pros and cons to the KKW approach, just as there are pros and cons to the more hand on organization approach. All depends on what you are looking for. The obvious advantage for the school owner is that they can maintain a great deal of independence regarding the curriculum: teach this plus whatever you want. Outside of that, they can do as they wish. Geub grades are not tracked, so if you wanted to teach Kukki TKD and have white belts and black belts only, you could do that, though it would be very unusual.

The obvious disadvantage is all of the above; the school has a great deal of latitude with nobody to say, 'hey, you can't do that.'

To be fair, most Kukkiwon masters are under another master (whoever trained them), and in fairness, the consistency of curriculum in schools run by KKW masters is pretty good. Quality of instruction? Check out the school and sit in on a few lessons before signing on.

Daniel

Good points.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

We were actually ATA back in the day, until they got too greedy for my instructors taste. We do the Chang Hon formset (which ATA used originally). We teach the fundamentals, we don't stray to far into the super flashy stuff. Sparring in class is above the belt, no shots to the back or face. Rest of head is fair game.

I honestly can't tell you WHAT they are teaching at the local schools. Wait, I do have a student I stole from one, he learned how to do a front roll and break a board. He couldn't show me a T stance or a proper front kick when he showed up at my school. So I guess they teach breaking on the first night and not stances.

If you don't mind my asking, I always figured you're school was CDK, given your screen name. Either way, sounds like you have a good program.

Daniel

 

[bluewaveschool]

If you don't mind my asking, I always figured you're school was CDK, given your screen name. Either way, sounds like you have a good program.

Daniel

The CDK connection - we were always told that our lineage was CDK, by our instructor, and by their instructor on the rare occasion we saw him. After getting on here and now doing a lot of research, I have come to the conclusion that the guy that started the school (we have no idea his name) was likely a student of a first gen ATA instructor (which was founded originally by a CDK guy), or a student of one of the early CDK guys that came over teaching the ITF formset under Choi. CDK even appears on a very old student handout I have from the mid 80s. I don't have a CDK school nearby to see how our techniques might be related or totally different.