Why train Taekwondo?

[RobBnTX]

I think people train for various reasons. Some for more of the "martial" aspects and some more for the "art" of martial arts. And then there is in TKD, especially in Kukki-TKD the the sporting aspect of it. I know some very good athletes who once they made black belt were no longer interested in attaining a higher rank or learning new forms, they just wanted to be able to compete and train very hard every day in Olympic style sparing but that is all they do.

Me, I am just looking to stay fit and have something that motivates me to work out and keeps my interest. If I were simply going to an ordinary gym to work out, I would probably hardly ever go and would be bored with my work out.

I started in TKD and have been in and out of it for several years and so have never made black belt due to that job thing that keeps getting in the way but whenever the martial arts bug bites me I keep coming back to TKD as that is what I am most comfortable doing. I have tried a couple of different styles of Karate and Wing Chun and they just feel too foreign to me, especially Wing Chun. I have tried a couple of times an EBMAS Wing Tzun class in my area and although I like the instructor I finally decided I hate...hate...hate....hated it! There was no formality, no culture, very little art, just a boxing class, albeit a Chinese boxing class but a boxing class none the less. Maybe other Wing Chun organizations are different but EBMAS was all about the martial in martial arts and even then their martial didn't make sense to me.

At my age TKD is difficult for me but it is still the martial art that makes the most sense to my brain and the one I feel like I half way know what it is I am suppose to be doing, even if I do not do it very well.

 

[RobBnTX]

FWIW I am 58 years old. I am on the verge of starting over again. I trained at a school through most of the spring where the instructor and owner is the head AAU team coach but I stopped training in June due to work projects and vacation. I decided to start again time permitting but with a school much closer to my house and it is not as sports oriented and I think for my age and ability that will work better for me especially once I make it to higher ranks as the higher ranks at the other school just spared all the time. Still I will miss the old school as the instructor is one of the coolest people I have ever met. Some of you will know who I am talking about.

 

[RowdyAz]

FWIW I am 58 years old. I am on the verge of starting over again. I trained at a school through most of the spring where the instructor and owner is the head AAU team coach but I stopped training in June due to work projects and vacation. I decided to start again time permitting but with a school much closer to my house and it is not as sports oriented and I think for my age and ability that will work better for me especially once I make it to higher ranks as the higher ranks at the other school just spared all the time. Still I will miss the old school as the instructor is one of the coolest people I have ever met. Some of you will know who I am talking about.

Thanks for the reply I have had a few setbacks myself but if all goes well I will be training before the weeks out. I still worry that leaving a great wing chun club with great people will be something I am going to regret down the track. The lessons I have learned there will last a lifetime but I am 36 so I feel if I am going to give taekwondo a shot it's now or never. Wing chun is always going to be there for me if all else fails. I am not the type to cross train I like to focus on one thing and go for it. The TKD club looked good when I went down and viewed a session last week, it is geared towards self defence not competition which I like. The master instructor is Vernon Low who was an early student of Rhee. My only gripe is there doesn't seem to be any real effectiveness in the sparring. By that I mean students seem to be a fair way away when doing a technique. Is that normal or a bad thing?

 

[WaterGal]

You mean Joon Rhee? When I was growing up, I went to a school taught by one of his old students, and I don't recall doing much sparring, but I think what we did was light/no contact. This was like 20 years ago, so take it with a grain of salt. But I know that a lot of non-KKW TKD/TSD places do light- or no-contact point sparring, so it seems likely. While WTF sparring definitely has it's limitations and tends to be more sport-oriented, I think it's a lot more effective/realistic than light-contact point sparring.

 

[Metal]

Why? Coz it's fun!

My parents dropped me at a nearby club when my first instructor started teaching Taekwondo in our neighborhood. That was back in '87 and I stayed there till the late 90s.

In 2005 I moved to Munich and since I
always walked by at several Taekwondo schools I had always thought about starting again. Then I got to know a member of the German ITF national team who also tried to convince me to get back to Taekwondo. Funny thing is that she quit in the meantime and that I'm active again since 2011.

Well, the reason for getting back to Taekwondo? I didn't have to start at Zero and it's still fun, too.

 

[RowdyAz]

You mean Joon Rhee? When I was growing up, I went to a school taught by one of his old students, and I don't recall doing much sparring, but I think what we did was light/no contact. This was like 20 years ago, so take it with a grain of salt. But I know that a lot of non-KKW TKD/TSD places do light- or no-contact point sparring, so it seems likely. While WTF sparring definitely has it's limitations and tends to be more sport-oriented, I think it's a lot more effective/realistic than light-contact point sparring.

Correct, Joon Rhee. In Australia he was the most influential and really put taekwondo on the map over here. Vernon Low has been instructing since the late 60s. Which makes me think the club would be well worth going to.

 

[IcemanSK]

I began training at 14 in 1982 with my best friend who was very athletic. I have a mild physical disabilty and, at the time had ZERO flexibility. My master (and every BB in our school) thought he'd stick with it & I'd give up. He trained for 6 months & I've trained for more than 33 years.

My original master was Korean & old school Kukki-TKD. This was pre- headgear (which was introduced in 1986), and pre-hogu (chest protector) for most tournaments (and certainly not in class). Tournaments were not the focus of our school. We'd go to maybe two a year. His focus was self-defense & hard training. I was there nearly every time the doors were open. He demanded to see my report card every time they came out. If they weren't what they thought they should be, he told me that he wouldn't train me. My parents thought my grades were fine. It was his urging that made me care about school at all. When people talk about Kukki-TKD being merely (or only) "sport Taekwondo," that has not been experience...either as a student or a school owner. There are MANY Kukki-TKD folks who just don't train for or attend tournaments.

In college, I trained in Chang Hon (ITF-style) TKD. The differene I found between that school & my former school was (at the time) that the Chang Hon school gave more attention to forms. That had to do, in large part, to my instructor inviting MT's own Master Earl Weiss to teach classes on ITF tul. He is a fountain of knowledge and an amazing martial artist.

I've run a Kukki-TKD school of my own for 10 years now. I love training. I throwing kicks. I love the history of TKD (yep, all of it). I love sparring. I love forms (poomsae, tul, hyung etc.). I love at the end of a hard day that I have my folded dobok in my car & I'm headed for class. I love taking my shoes off as I bow in to remind myself to keep my troubles outside so I can just focus on training for the time I'm there. I love teaching this Art that has given me so much. I love watching students' eyes light up as they "get" that technique they've been working on so hard. I love the amazing friends for life that I made in the time I've trained. (Few admit this, but I will) I love wearing a dobok and a well-worn belt. I love to sweat in class. I love that feeling of training so hard that you're not quite sure you drive home without first drinking a gallon of water. I love learning from the incredible Seniors I've had and trained under over the years.

I could go on, but you get the idea why I train TKD. I've trained in other Arts & love them, too. But you didn't ask about them. Enjoy your journey.

 

[RowdyAz]

I began training at 14 in 1982 with my best friend who was very athletic. I have a mild physical disabilty and, at the time had ZERO flexibility. My master (and every BB in our school) thought he'd stick with it & I'd give up. He trained for 6 months & I've trained for more than 33 years.

My original master was Korean & old school Kukki-TKD. This was pre- headgear (which was introduced in 1986), and pre-hogu (chest protector) for most tournaments (and certainly not in class). Tournaments were not the focus of our school. We'd go to maybe two a year. His focus was self-defense & hard training. I was there nearly every time the doors were open. He demanded to see my report card every time they came out. If they weren't what they thought they should be, he told me that he wouldn't train me. My parents thought my grades were fine. It was his urging that made me care about school at all. When people talk about Kukki-TKD being merely (or only) "sport Taekwondo," that has not been experience...either as a student or a school owner. There are MANY Kukki-TKD folks who just don't train for or attend tournaments.

In college, I trained in Chang Hon (ITF-style) TKD. The differene I found between that school & my former school was (at the time) that the Chang Hon school gave more attention to forms. That had to do, in large part, to my instructor inviting MT's own Master Earl Weiss to teach classes on ITF tul. He is a fountain of knowledge and an amazing martial artist.

I've run a Kukki-TKD school of my own for 10 years now. I love training. I throwing kicks. I love the history of TKD (yep, all of it). I love sparring. I love forms (poomsae, tul, hyung etc.). I love at the end of a hard day that I have my folded dobok in my car & I'm headed for class. I love taking my shoes off as I bow in to remind myself to keep my troubles outside so I can just focus on training for the time I'm there. I love teaching this Art that has given me so much. I love watching students' eyes light up as they "get" that technique they've been working on so hard. I love the amazing friends for life that I made in the time I've trained. (Few admit this, but I will) I love wearing a dobok and a well-worn belt. I love to sweat in class. I love that feeling of training so hard that you're not quite sure you drive home without first drinking a gallon of water. I love learning from the incredible Seniors I've had and trained under over the years.

I could go on, but you get the idea why I train TKD. I've trained in other Arts & love them, too. But you didn't ask about them. Enjoy your journey.

Thankyou, wow 33 years is a very long time in the one art for sure. Your post was very personal and informative again thanks for sharing. I find there is alot of passion in the the true TKD practitioners I have come across on the forum and in life. The only people I hear bash it are either those with no experience or ones who had a bad experience and never got over it. Cheers

 

[Earl Weiss]

Correct, Joon Rhee. In Australia he was the most influential and really put taekwondo on the map over here. .

Are you sure it was Jhoon Rhee?

Rhee Taekwon-Do - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[RowdyAz]

Are you sure it was Jhoon Rhee?

Rhee Taekwon-Do - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

No sorry Chong Chul Rhee, I got mixed up with the American one.

 

[JohnnyEnglish]

Hi all I was just wondering why you chose to do taekwondo, and what was your motivating factors? For example what did you like that other martial arts didn't offer.

I like that Taekwondo is 70-80% using kicks. And I like the rest 30-20 % doing actual self-defense and forms.