I am at a lose in understanding some of the arguments here.
Your “traditional” styles of TKD have borrowed techniques (hands-up) from boxing and you call it TKD. Study your history. Most, if not all of TKD was derived from Shotokan. For those of you that don’t know, the 5 original kwan jangs were students of Funikoshi; most were direct students. Funikoshi was not an advocate of free sparring. Simply put, he did not teach hands-up free sparring. Despite this, free sparring tournaments developed in Japan and likewise in Korean Taesoodo (TKD, early ‘60s). Due to the style of fighting then, a hands-up boxing style was practical and adopted.
To further this point, please cite any poomse that you practice in which a hands-up guarded technique is utilized.
Next, you want to block kicks. This was a great concept up until the 70s when double kicking evolved. Block one kick while the other foot is kicking you somewhere else. Also, what block do you use in your sparring training to block an old style ax kick??? This kick would snap an arm like a toothpick. BTW, the ax kick was developed in the late-60s, early-70s by Jun Yong-Ho, a sport TKD advocate, to beat the blocking game. It is also not a “traditional” kick. Can you cite the poomse where it was derived?
As you can see, blocking became obsolete in sport TKD in the early 70s and was replaced with movement Â… part of sport TKDÂ’s evolution.
Now, before most of you get too defensive about your traditional TKD, I have been practicing traditional TKD for nearly 30 years and I have a great appreciation for it. Also, I have competed in about every flavor of TKD and Karate tournaments that I could find. Yet, for sparring, I managed to gravitate towards sport TKD because of the challenge, its dynamic aspect, the modern training methodologies, and its strategic complexity. DonÂ’t get me wrong, IÂ’m not naĂŻve enough to believe that sport TKD is not without its share of problems, such as the WTF, USAT, and AAU. I could cite numerous problems with each organization, but thatÂ’s the nature of all sports. Nor am I naĂŻve about problems with the rules (WTF): punching, falling, stalling. These problems are finally a concern for the WTF. But it may take a decade to iron them out. The sport is young and still evolving.
Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of sport TKD, I focus on more positive aspects such as its refinement. For instance, take Mango ManÂ’s video of his daughterÂ’s ax kick. This is a nearly textbook example of a modern ax kick. Yet, some of you criticize what you donÂ’t understand. If you watch SamanthaÂ’s opponents, in both instances her opponents moved forward at the very last instant. Her technique was so good, that the opponent had no clue as to what kick was coming until it was too late. No one mentioned the attempted block in the first video. A taller, old style ax may have allowed her opponents to get under the leg and jam the kick. Hands-up, hands-down, how do block a kick for which you donÂ’t know the angle of attack until it is un-chambering?
But getting back to hands-up or hands-down, the distance of experienced fighters has grown over the years. A good fighter should be slightly outside of head kicking range and slightly inside of body kicking range, hence, the hands down. These hands are usually found about a foot or so away from the body as to absorb the blow of the kick if the fighter finds himself unable to avoid the kick. I believe someone on this thread referred to this negatively as “passive blocking”. However you want to label it, this method of “covering” the target area has been proven to be efficient and effective time-and-time-again. Anyone believing to directly "strike the kicking leg with your block" is an effective method for blocking may want to revisit high school physics concerning collisions of stationary and moving (towards and away at different speeds) objects.
Let me leave you with this thought, instead of quickly judging other styles, why not see what you can learn or borrow first.
