Transitioning from Tang Soo Do

[Ed A]

Hi,
Apologies if this post is in the wrong area. My teenage son has been practicing Tang Soo Do for 9 years and is a green belt. We've moved to a new city with no Tang Soo Do dojos but plenty of Tae Kwon Do, karate, and Jiu-Jitsu dojos. I need some advice on which one is closest to Tang Soo Do and whether it is easy or difficult for him to make the transition. I know he doesn't want to start as a beginner. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ed.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Hi,
Apologies if this post is in the wrong area. My teenage son has been practicing Tang Soo Do for 9 years and is a green belt. We've moved to a new city with no Tang Soo Do dojos but plenty of Tae Kwon Do, karate, and Jiu-Jitsu dojos. I need some advice on which one is closest to Tang Soo Do and whether it is easy or difficult for him to make the transition. I know he doesn't want to start as a beginner. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ed.

TSD and TKD share the same origins. The forms are different, but the arts are still very similar.
Moo Duk Kwan TKD will be the closest in lineage, since both are branches from GM HWANG, Kee.

 

[Headhunter]

If he has to start from white belt then he has to start from white belt that's just the way it goes. If he's serious about martial arts he won't care and will catch up when he's ready

 

[JowGaWolf]

I know he doesn't want to start as a beginner. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Tell him that he's really not a beginner, just a beginner of that school and that's what the belts signify. Ranking within a school. Because he's been training a similar martial art, he'll be able to progress faster than those who haven't taken anything.

 

[skribs]

Don't get hung up on the art. A good master is more important than doing a similar art.

With that said, Taekwondo or Shotokan Karate would be the closest to TSD.

If he starts over as a beginner, he will probably learn everything faster and catch up to his rank fairly quick for a couple reasons:

1. If he has 9 years experience, that's the same amount of experience for 2nd degree black belt at most schools, so he should get green belt again real fast.
2. He already knows most of the techniques, understands how forms work, etc, so it should just be about learning new arrangements instead of learning everything from the ground up.

But he doesn't necessarily have to start over. Lots of schools will say "you're a green belt? We'll try you out at the green belt level and then go from there."

Of course, if he does something completely different, starting at white belt may be the obviously better choice.

 

[Buka]

Welcome to Martial Talk, Ed, hope you enjoy it.

 

[Bruce7]

If he has to start from white belt then he has to start from white belt that's just the way it goes. If he's serious about martial arts he won't care and will catch up when he's ready

As a man putting on the white belt never bother me, being a teenager who has put in 9 years I could see a problem.
It depends a lot on the teenager. It is hard to be humble in today's world.

 

[mrt2]

I trained for 3 years in Tang Soo Do as a teenager and achieved the rank of Cho Dan Bo. (black belt candidate) That was 35 years ago. 10 months ago, I started training in Tae Kwon Do. My school practices the ITF forms, which are similar, but not identical to the Pyong Anh forms I learned years ago back in my Tang Soo Do days.

So because of the long hiatus and because I was starting a new martial art, I started over as a white belt. 10 months in, I am a purple belt currently. That is somewhat more quick than usual, but not unheard of. I have gone past several people who were ahead of me, but there are people just a few months behind me who are also moving up fast. I think it all comes down to how much you commit yourself to training. I go 3 to 4 times a week. I think the people I went past either go less often, like once or twice a week or have taken some time off, and hence have not advanced as quickly as they might have otherwise.

The kicks, blocks, stances, and movements are mostly the same but not identical. While the front stances are the same, my current school likes a somewhat wider and longer back stance than did my former school, at least on forms. (fighting is whatever works best for the individual) My current school actually has more contact in sparring than my former school did, but we are all padded up, where as in my former school, there was minimal or no padding so when you got hit, you felt it more. Except for the forms, the rest of the curiculum is almost the same.

If your son has 9 years experience and earned a green belt in TSD, I see no reason why he shouldn't get to the equivalent rank at a TKD school reasonably quickly. That said, a lot depends on your son, and how good he really is, and how quickly he can learn the new forms. I have seen kids from other schools get moved up quickly at my current school, and other kids actually get demoted because despite their years of experience, they struggle with our curicullum. As for myself, I think my experience with TSD has mostly served me well. It is sort of like learning a foreign language, than learning another foreign language that is similar, but not identical.

 

[Bruce7]

I trained for 3 years in Tang Soo Do as a teenager and achieved the rank of Cho Dan Bo. (black belt candidate) That was 35 years ago. 10 months ago, I started training in Tae Kwon Do. My school practices the ITF forms, which are similar, but not identical to the Pyong Anh forms I learned years ago back in my Tang Soo Do days.

So because of the long hiatus and because I was starting a new martial art, I started over as a white belt. 10 months in, I am a purple belt currently. That is somewhat more quick than usual, but not unheard of. I have gone past several people who were ahead of me, but there are people just a few months behind me who are also moving up fast. I think it all comes down to how much you commit yourself to training. I go 3 to 4 times a week. I think the people I went past either go less often, like once or twice a week or have taken some time off, and hence have not advanced as quickly as they might have otherwise.
.

I am like you starting again after 34 years. I wear a white belt and they treat me well, they let me break black boards my first week. I guess I look ok for man in my 60's. I really like the school even though the forms are weird. The teacher is a very good teacher, teaches good hand and foot techniques. I have notice when he walks and punches, it is the same as me, but he does not teach the students in the class circular movement of the legs, I guess he feels it is not important, especially the way the forms go. Songahm forms are a strange to me.
Given time maybe I will understand their propose better.

 

[Hanzou]

If the type of Karate is Shotokan, then that would be very similar to TSD. TKD should also be very similar.