| WHAT IS TAEKWONDO? |
| Tae Kwon Do is an Olympic Sport. |
| Tae Kwon Do is the National Sport of the Republic of South Korea. |
Tae Kwon Do in it's simplest form is translated from Korean as "the art of kicking and punching".
As practiced today in the U.S. , that's pretty much all there is to it. The difference between "Traditional" schools and "Sport" schools is
that the "traditional" schools do not compete in "sparring" competitions. Traditional students get to train like they are going to compete
but they don't get to go have fun in the ring. If they are fortunate enough to have that RARE good, honest instructor they WILL learn
many valuable and worthwhile things that will help them to improve and grow in every area of their life and become a better person.
The Sport of Tae Kwon Do in America takes one of two forms, either "olympic sparring" or "point sparring".
Both sports are essentially a game of "tag". The essential difference between the two is that olympic players are allowed to
tag (kick or punch) the permitted, and heavily padded, target areas on the opponents body with "full contact" whereas the
"point" athlete is only allowed to tag the opponents body with "light" contact. Taekwondo players like to think of themselves
as "fighters" but they are not.
Taekwondo is NOT "fighting".
Despite the representations of many instructors, Training in Taekwondo will NOT prepare you to "win a real fight".
Taekwondo is a "training art". Taekwondo is a sport. While effective at "tagging" an opponent and winning "points" in the
restrictive and stylized environment of the sparring ring, the strategies and techniques taught in the dojang just do not work
in "real life". The sad fact is that Taekwondo Black Belts, if that is all they know, get their butts handed to them in a real fight.
.Ask yourself, "Why would you learn to fight from someone who's never been in a fight?" The vast majority of
Taekwondo instructors have learned everything they know on the dojang floor and have never once in their lives put it to the
test in the real world. If you want to learn to fight go to a MMA or Kickboxing Gym.
Taekwondo is NOT self-defense.
"Learn self-defense" is one of the top advertising come-ons of nearly any Taekwondo school. When you get to class,
however, you are taught the same sport-oriented stances, blocks, punches, kicks and "forms" as everyone else. If there is
actually a specific "self defense component" to the classes you will in all likelyhood be instructed in how to use those same
sport-oriented techniques to overcome your "attacker". That is not self-defense! Those "techniques" will be practically
useless in a real self-defense situation.
Let's be absolutely clear about this. Those techniques will not work! This author knows what he is talking about.
After seven years as a Special Forces soldier, including three combat tours in Vietnam, he then worked in clandestine
services in some of the toughest places in the world for another twelves years. He has also worked as a bouncer at the
toughest Latin night club in L.A. He has BEEN that bad ass you could be "defending yourself" against.
But just for the sake of argument, lets say someone gets in your face and you do (somehow) manage to take them down
with your Taekwondo kicks and wipe the floor with them. What happens next? The police come. You tell them your story and
SURPRISE! SURPRISE! They don't believe you. In fact, they arrest you for FIGHTING. Why? Probably because, as far as
the law is concerned, that is what you were doing. But wait! You say your Taekwondo instructor didn't cover the picky little
legal differences between self-defense and fighting? Oh well. Too bad! Maybe you can ask about it next time you see him.
In the mean-time you better be thinking about how you are going to convince the booty patrol down at the county jail that you
really don't want to be their "date" tonight. I hope you brought a jar of Vaseline to the party. Do you really want to learn to
defend yourself? Start by reading this page (click here).
As practiced today in the U.S. , that's pretty much all there is to it. The difference between "Traditional" schools and "Sport" schools is
that the "traditional" schools do not compete in "sparring" competitions. Traditional students get to train like they are going to compete
but they don't get to go have fun in the ring. If they are fortunate enough to have that RARE good, honest instructor they WILL learn
many valuable and worthwhile things that will help them to improve and grow in every area of their life and become a better person.
The Sport of Tae Kwon Do in America takes one of two forms, either "olympic sparring" or "point sparring".
Both sports are essentially a game of "tag". The essential difference between the two is that olympic players are allowed to
tag (kick or punch) the permitted, and heavily padded, target areas on the opponents body with "full contact" whereas the
"point" athlete is only allowed to tag the opponents body with "light" contact. Taekwondo players like to think of themselves
as "fighters" but they are not.
Taekwondo is NOT "fighting".
Despite the representations of many instructors, Training in Taekwondo will NOT prepare you to "win a real fight".
Taekwondo is a "training art". Taekwondo is a sport. While effective at "tagging" an opponent and winning "points" in the
restrictive and stylized environment of the sparring ring, the strategies and techniques taught in the dojang just do not work
in "real life". The sad fact is that Taekwondo Black Belts, if that is all they know, get their butts handed to them in a real fight.
.Ask yourself, "Why would you learn to fight from someone who's never been in a fight?" The vast majority of
Taekwondo instructors have learned everything they know on the dojang floor and have never once in their lives put it to the
test in the real world. If you want to learn to fight go to a MMA or Kickboxing Gym.
Taekwondo is NOT self-defense.
"Learn self-defense" is one of the top advertising come-ons of nearly any Taekwondo school. When you get to class,
however, you are taught the same sport-oriented stances, blocks, punches, kicks and "forms" as everyone else. If there is
actually a specific "self defense component" to the classes you will in all likelyhood be instructed in how to use those same
sport-oriented techniques to overcome your "attacker". That is not self-defense! Those "techniques" will be practically
useless in a real self-defense situation.
Let's be absolutely clear about this. Those techniques will not work! This author knows what he is talking about.
After seven years as a Special Forces soldier, including three combat tours in Vietnam, he then worked in clandestine
services in some of the toughest places in the world for another twelves years. He has also worked as a bouncer at the
toughest Latin night club in L.A. He has BEEN that bad ass you could be "defending yourself" against.
But just for the sake of argument, lets say someone gets in your face and you do (somehow) manage to take them down
with your Taekwondo kicks and wipe the floor with them. What happens next? The police come. You tell them your story and
SURPRISE! SURPRISE! They don't believe you. In fact, they arrest you for FIGHTING. Why? Probably because, as far as
the law is concerned, that is what you were doing. But wait! You say your Taekwondo instructor didn't cover the picky little
legal differences between self-defense and fighting? Oh well. Too bad! Maybe you can ask about it next time you see him.
In the mean-time you better be thinking about how you are going to convince the booty patrol down at the county jail that you
really don't want to be their "date" tonight. I hope you brought a jar of Vaseline to the party. Do you really want to learn to
defend yourself? Start by reading this page (click here).
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