U.s.a.t. Vs. A.a.u. Vs k.k.w. Vs i.t.f.

[terryl965]

What do you believe to really be the fate of all three of these top organization for the average TKD customer? How will each of these really impact what needs to be done to grow both the sport and the S.D. side of the Art we love?

What other organization out there will have the impact to really come to the front and be a major player. I know some of you dislike orgs. and sometimes I agree but what if the orgs could really pull together and make our choosen Art better for all of us?

 

[Garrett7]

Isnt USAT a branch off of Kukkiwon? Like the american KKW?

 

[terryl965]

Isnt USAT a branch off of Kukkiwon? Like the american KKW?

Usat recieve Dans Ranks and also offer there own for any member. Any 4th Dan or higher can get KKW if there is a KKW rank. You do not needto be with them or KKW. They are two different organizations.

 

[ATC]

Kukkiwon is the headquaters for the WTF or World Taekwondo Federation. USAT is the United States of America Taekwondo, which is under the WTF. In order to attend a USAT event you must be a member. USAT events are those events that eventually lead to the Olympics.

 

[granfire]

except brainmelt from the Alphabet Soup?

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

What do you believe to really be the fate of all four of these top organization for the average TKD customer? How will each of these really impact what needs to be done to grow both the sport and the S.D. side of the Art we love?

What other organization out there will have the impact to really come to the front and be a major player. I know some of you dislike orgs. and sometimes I agree but what if the orgs could really pull together and make our choosen Art better for all of us?

AAU and USAT not at all. These are athletic organizations that support tournament circuits and in the case of USAT, provide a path to Olympic gold. There's no such thing, to my knowledge, as a USAT school. USAT has no curriculum. USAT dan rankings are actually KKW dan rankings; USAT is simply a go between. The average customer doesn't compete in open tournaments or have aspiration of TKD olympic gold; the average customer signs up, trains for two years, gets their black belt and quits.

KKW will impact the average customer in that they have an internationally recognized certificate that they can go online and show their friends how they're registered in Korea. KKW schools mean also that the student will be sparring WTF style and practicing Taegeuks. KKW teaches rotational means of generating power (hip twist).

ITF I don't know too much about. I assume that ITF schools recognize ranks of students from other ITF schools, so the customer, like the KKW, gets an internationally recognized certificate. ITF schools mean also that the student will be sparring ITF style and practicing Chang Hons. ITF teaches vertical-linear means of generating power (sine wave).

So in practical terms, the average consumer really is affected only in regards to sparring style, forms, and hip twist vs. sine wave. If you're a military brat who moves around a lot and doesn't want to start over every time you get to a new school, KKW has the portable rank feather in its cap.

Otherwise, I suspect that whatever the org, the most convenient school is the one that will be chosen by busy professionals, families and parents. Had Korean Martial Arts not been located right next to a bookstore that my kids and I frequented weekly, we'd have probably wound up training at either The World Taekwondo Academy or Teagues Academy of Martial Arts in Olney where we live, or at either Kim's Traditional Studio or Kicks Karate up the street from my office in Rockville.

Because we were in the Flower Hill Shopping center in Gaithersburg sometimes two or three times a week, however, Korean Martial Arts is where we wound up training. Now that we've moved, had I not been a student there already, I'd have likely never found the place. Needless to say, I'm very glad that I did find it.

Daniel

 

[Manny]

Well my dojan is federate one I mean my dojan is a part of The Mexican Tae Kwon Do Federation who regulates TKD in Mexico, but I'm not part of the FMTK, don't need it and don't want it for this moment. I'm a Black Belt 1 Dan from Jido Kwan Mexico and now I train in Hwarang Tae Kwon Do (the name of my new dojan), I don't care for the moment to not have KKW certification, I just train TKD and want my trainings more Sd oriented ala tradicional manera (traditional way). I only want to train traditional TKD, don't care of the competitions or the olimpics, I don't compete period.

I want to TKD to be for me a good work out for health pourposes and to be a way to know how defend myself in the streets and to be a better person.

Manny

 

[Aefibird]

I want to TKD to be for me a good work out for health pourposes and to be a way to know how defend myself in the streets and to be a better person.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there with that statement, in that many TKD practitioners are also wanting that - especially beginners.

When people start in martial arts or think of starting, they're looking for somewhere clean and reasonably priced to train where the instructor looks/sounds like they know what they're doing.

It's only those who have been in martial arts for a while who can understand/appreciate the differences between various orgs. When I first started Karate I didn't know there was different types of karate, let alone that there were hundreds of different karate organisations, all with a slightly different slant, depending on 'sport' or 'traditional' focus or somewhere in between.

Because I'd been a martial artist for a number of years before starting TKD I was MA-savvy enough to KNOW that there were orgs such as ITF and WTF and to know the differences between them all.

If I'd never trained in Karate and other arts before starting TKD then I wouldn't have cared if the club I joined were WTF, ITF, AMA or XYZ!!

All I would have been looking for was somewhere friendly and reasonably priced with an instructor who seemed like a good person, not whether he'd got his Dan grades certified from the KKW or not.

 

[igillman]

When people start in martial arts or think of starting, they're looking for somewhere clean and reasonably priced to train where the instructor looks/sounds like they know what they're doing.

...

All I would have been looking for was somewhere friendly and reasonably priced with an instructor who seemed like a good person, not whether he'd got his Dan grades certified from the KKW or not.

That is very true, we are more concerned that the kids have fun and learn something useful. I was more concerned that I lost weight in a fun and interesting way.