What do you love about TKD?
- Thread starter bluemtn
- Start date
I wasn't sure at the start - I was talked into trying TKD pretty much against my will, but by the 3rd class I was hooked - something in the class I joined just fit, in a way I'd never experienced. After 20+ years, I can't imagine not being in TKD - it's just too big a part of my life, of who I am and how I define myself. I can't really separate out what makes it so special.
- Thread Starter
- #3
I just kind of fell into classes... Way back when I first started, I didn't even know what I got myself into, just that it was TKD. No idea what it was about- a complete newbie to the arts outside of a women's self- defense class in college. After about a week, I was thoroughly hooked on it! I had to stop going for about a year (only a yellow belt at the time), but had every intention of getting back into it. When I did, I got started in another school. Loved the instructor(s), and it felt like "home" almost. Like you, it just seemed to fit. I've looked at other classes and styles in the area, but I just didn't get the same feeling with them as I do now...
tkd_Jaz
Orange Belt
I could write a long paragraph, listing everything that I love about TKD, but the main thing would be the people who are there with me.
TkdFav
White Belt
From TKD i found a different way to look at life. TKD and all martial arts in general have be come a way of life for me. I have found purpose and meaning for everything i do. No matter what happens to me i will always have my training. While i'm training nothing else matter to me, its a great way to escape from anything and everything, While i'm training the world around me could disappear and that would be fine with me. Martial arts are more like a religion for me, encompassing every part of my life
fireman00
Brown Belt
for me its become a way of life - and the fine folks that I work out with.
cali_tkdbruin
Master of Arts
Where do I even start? TKD has become such a big part of my life over the years in that I've become a passionate taekwondoist. I have a need to train! :mst:
You know, I still feel like a hapkido and judo guy trying to take tae kwon do. Everyone knows that I began tae kwon do for physical therapy reasons, that is no secret. However, I enjoy tae kwon do for the poomsea. I find that to be the single thing, at least to me that makes it totally its own art and the reason why it is beautiful.
Well I started taking TKD because my son who is 6 wanted to learn "Karate". He had no idea what was what so we looked at a few TKD schools and settled with one that was smaller and more personal. Classes are taught by rank not age. This actually allows me to take at the same time as him and if this weren't the case I am certain I would not have taken. I figured it was at least good excercise and if someone had to take him I might as well get my butt up and move around. It also allows me to experience something with him at the same time, which is part of the reason I love TKD.
Anyway, as we came closer to our Orange belt test, 2nd test, I noticed he was very confused by Paulge Il Jang. He would get "chunks" but he was not progressing to learn the whole thing. It was 2 weeks before our test and we started practicing a lot at home and going to class almost every night during the week. He had some private instruction, and with all that, the night before the test I was going over it with him for the last time and he would still get "stuck" in at least one place (not the same place though) Our intructor knew that he knew it but he is just easily distracted - that had become really clear to both of us. So the night of the test after hours of practice :whip1:
my son is called first to perform Paulge Il Jang. As he starts I am sitting with anticipation. He completes the whole thing with no pauses, stops, no incorrect blocks. HE NAILS IT! When he finishes it, he has a smile so big it was just awesome. He is dismissed and runs over to me and says "Dad, wow the practice really worked" For so many reasons and on so many levels that is why I love TKD. If all he ever remebers from TKD is that, than it has been a worthwhile experience. I am certain that he will learn much more though.
As it turns out I was next and did manage to screw up the 2nd low block. My mind was definitely in a different place.
I know this is a little long but as a newbie now you know my story and that I definietly have the been bitten by the TKD bug - hence my lurking on this site for a few weeks now.
Anyway, as we came closer to our Orange belt test, 2nd test, I noticed he was very confused by Paulge Il Jang. He would get "chunks" but he was not progressing to learn the whole thing. It was 2 weeks before our test and we started practicing a lot at home and going to class almost every night during the week. He had some private instruction, and with all that, the night before the test I was going over it with him for the last time and he would still get "stuck" in at least one place (not the same place though) Our intructor knew that he knew it but he is just easily distracted - that had become really clear to both of us. So the night of the test after hours of practice :whip1:
my son is called first to perform Paulge Il Jang. As he starts I am sitting with anticipation. He completes the whole thing with no pauses, stops, no incorrect blocks. HE NAILS IT! When he finishes it, he has a smile so big it was just awesome. He is dismissed and runs over to me and says "Dad, wow the practice really worked" For so many reasons and on so many levels that is why I love TKD. If all he ever remebers from TKD is that, than it has been a worthwhile experience. I am certain that he will learn much more though.As it turns out I was next and did manage to screw up the 2nd low block. My mind was definitely in a different place.
I know this is a little long but as a newbie now you know my story and that I definietly have the been bitten by the TKD bug - hence my lurking on this site for a few weeks now.
DArnold
Purple Belt
TKDgirl,
Do your realize the essence of the question you have asked?
What is a Martial Artist?
And what is especially important about your question is the answers.
The answer shows you what the "DO" is.
That the physical part of TKD is only a part of what the DO is. The physical comes and goes (sometimes it doesn't even come
) The tenets and student oath, how you live, the mental aspects really make up a much larger part of the Art.
Many get discouraged when you come to BBS systems like this where some misguided juniors usually have a tendency to argue over such items as:
who's style is better
this technique will not work
TKD is not real self defense...
They tend to squabble over the trees and miss the forrest.
DO means so much more, and is so much more important over a technique or Self Defense.
As any true martial artist will tell you that fighting is a very, very, very, very small part of what it is all about.
Well, not really they either just smile and look at the ceiling or chuckle knowing how small the question is when they first asked it.
TKD lives inside people and is a love that most can not explain.
I once again read to my new white belts, this week, the written code of the student/instructor relationship.
Especially how the instructor is responsible for the student not only inside, but outside the do jang.
I smiled when I received the same confused look I always get, as this makes no sense to them.
After teaching for years I have had many students come back and thank me for what I taught them.
That TKD helped them through some pretty tough times in their lives.
It had nothing to do with kicking and punching and defending themselves.
The tenets and student oath are the essence, the heart and sole of TKD.
As for my personal reason.
They are as vast as the art itself and have also changed over time.
Similar to:
Where were you five years ago?
Where are you today?
Where do you think you will be in five years?
All I can tell you is the living entity (TKD) is in my heart and I know I will be training until I die.
The comeradorie (sp?) with training partners, the sweat, getting a technique right, teaching someone else how to do a technique right, the feeling that "if I can do "x,y, & z" in the dojang, I can handle other things I find difficult, & a 1000 other things.
Sahbum, I thank you. :asian:
Like my sahbum, I cannot explain in words just what TKD means to me - just that I cannot imagine being without it; it is part of who I am and is a guiding force in where I am going for the rest of my life. At the beginning of this thread, I said that I cannot separate out what makes TKD so special for me, but I know that one of the primary influences is the people I have been privileged to meet, who have helped me in the past, and who continue to help me in the present - people who have helped me through some of the hardest parts of my life, not because they had to, but because the guiding principles of TKD influenced their behavior to the point where not helping was not an option.
bookworm_cn317
2nd Black Belt
Everything. Even the sparring. :uhyeah:
It just filled an empty part in me, I guess. It's kinda hard to explain.
Once again, it's hard to explain. Everything- it's made me more outgoing, the friends I've made. Among other things.
- Thread Starter
- #14
TKDgirl,
Do your realize the essence of the question you have asked?
What is a Martial Artist?
And what is especially important about your question is the answers.
The answer shows you what the "DO" is.
That the physical part of TKD is only a part of what the DO is. The physical comes and goes (sometimes it doesn't even come
The tenets and student oath, how you live, the mental aspects really make up a much larger part of the Art.
As for my personal reason.
They are as vast as the art itself and have also changed over time.
Similar to:
Where were you five years ago?
Where are you today?
Where do you think you will be in five years?
All I can tell you is the living entity (TKD) is in my heart and I know I will be training until I die.
All are great replies, thanks for the wonderful replies! I especially like what I have read and quoted above, and couldn't agree more with the bold. I hope everyone feels the way you just said- it's in your heart.
hong kong fooey
Black Belt
what I love about TKD the most is the fact I am able to defend myself. growing up I was bullied alot and never had the confidence to stand up for myself . but now I have all the confidence in the world.
Bumblebee
Green Belt
I first got into Taekwondo because the dojang also had kickboxing, which at the time I thought kickboxing was all the same. It wasn't. The Grandmaster, who is now my Grandmaster, suggested Taekwondo. I was a little hesitant after hearing all the talk about Taekwondo. You know the whole, "Taekwondo is a weak martial art" and junk like that. I decided to give it a shot anyways. The first class was awkward, like anything else you do for the first time. By the third class I got really into it and tried to get all my friends into it as well. Some considered it but only one person started with me. We both had to stop due to school, but I came back last July (not the one that just passed) and what made me come back was that I felt I wasn't getting enough exercise and I wanted to be able to do competitions which I hadn't done any my first time through. After doing my first tournament I had a lot of fun. I made friends with my group, (the people that I fought) and the workout is great. I just think that it puts me in a really positive place. When I was younger I was into the whole kicking thing and stuff, and what better martial art than Taekwondo for kicking? There's a friendly atmosphere. I just really enjoy Taekwondo, although that doesn't mean I'm not up for cross-training and learning other things from other martial arts.
I love the challenge. It allows me to release all my nervous energy and motivates me to training outside the studio. I try to keep myself fit. Without TKD I wouldn't have motivation to train. Competition can be a big boost to your motivation to improve your conditioning. In two words: "It's Healthy" Its good for your body and mind and if your into the spiritual side of matial arts its good for the progression of your consciousness. I LOVE it.
the main reson i like tkd is because of the people i am around and the way im tought also i do like the sport side of taekwondo wtf but dnt think because i like the sport side of tkd i am weak for i have been in a hundred fights and i still havent lost and this goes for evryone in my club for in a fight i have more tools to use and this would be another reason why i like tkd it has given me more tols to use in a fight
Basically, TKD is the utmost professional sport on the face of the earth in my view producing one of the most powerful executions that the body has the ability to perform. Im in the same TKD Club as 009abz and we are top fighters all thanks to God, and what i like the most about it, is that you legally experience to be a FIGHTER and control your self and execute maximum power at a fast pace resulting in huge impact.
Funny thing is there is nobody in Olympic side of fighting that is undefeated, Have you fought on the international level against the best has to offer. If so tell me some of the tournaments and I can verify your claims. You see your statment is all wrong for being an Olympic fighter the best isSteven Lopez have you heard of him or his family? I really doubt it. Houndreds of fights and never lost in a Olympic sport, your name does not register with the Olympic committee as one of there fighters do you not go to the Olympics. If you was that good you would be there supporting your country in the wonderful sport of TKD.
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