The early history of this Korean martial art is cloaked in mystery. Although the ancient sport has been traced back to 37 Bc. Taekwondo is now a modern martial art, characterised by it’s fast, high and spinning kicks. The name Taekwondo means: Tae ’to strike, or block with the foot’ or ’to kick’ and it also means ’jump’, K’won ’Fist’ or ’to strike, or block with hand’ and Do ’The way of’ or ’art’. Put this together and Taekwondo means: ’’The art of Kicking and Punching’’ or ’’The art of unarmed combat’’. The sport has been founded in Korea and is one of the popular modern martial arts.
There is no use of weapons in Taekwondo. The opponent is attacked with bare hands and feet. Taekwondo has become popular because its a very powerful sport and very spectacular to see. Taekwondo has no age limits and is a very good sport for children. They learn fast reactions through games, learn to respect others, learn to know their abilities and disabilities. Competition rules are a bit different for children then they are for adults. Although children wear full body protection (preferably thicker than the protection for adults) only kicks and punches to the body are allowed, no kicks to the head.
Although WTF Taekwondo is a full contact sport where it is allowed to kick to the head (punches to the head are not allowed), it is not very dangerous to practise Taekwondo. During training, there is no need to win by KO. During competition, full protection is used to protect the competitors.
To avoid head injuries, one is not allowed to participate in a competition for three months (this seems to vary) if one goes K.O. by a kick on the head. If this happens again after these three months, you’re not allowed to participate for half a year. Another K.O. on the head after this half year period results in a permanent exclusion of competitions.
Some Taekwondo is semi-contact. It is not allowed to attack the head with full force. However, it is allowed to punch to the head, but using the so-called ’’killing-blow’’, stop just an inch before the target. To avoid injuries, ITF uses gloves at sparring-competition.
As in all Martial Arts, ethics are of great importance. One can look at individual ethics, treat a fellow-man right, or one can look at social ethics, as part of a whole. It all comes down to one part, the difference between good and evil. But does this mean that we can kick one on the head? Because we don’t want a person to be injured we wear protection, so this is not really a problem. It is all part of the sport. Taekwondo is not a destructive sport, but a sportive one. As I see it, joining a competition is not to hurt your opponent, but to test your strength, in both physical and mental ways.
Taekwondo students can improve themselves physically, and mentally by training. The final goal is to achieve harmony with nature and yourself. Balance is gained by controlling both evil and good forces (Yin vs. Yang): A true Taekwondo student knows how to behave in all situations.
As I see it, Taekwondo (and I guess this goes for every Martial Art) is not only a way to improve skills to defend yourself, but it’s a way of life. Practicing Taekwondo gives the student more self-confidence, but this should not result in a false sense of superiority.
What goes on at Tae Kwon Do?
Our warming up starts with running rounds in the dojang, sometimes we play ’’games’’ which involve a lot of running and fast movements. Later in the warming up we do push-ups, sit-ups and more muscle exercises. When we’re all warmed up we can stretch our muscles. It is very important that the muscles are warm, otherwise it is easy to get injured. Flexibility is important for high and fast kicks.
When we’re training for a competition, we train speed, precision and power. This is done by studying several combinations with a partner. After a while we put on protection-gear to test our strength with the other students. When we’re training style we walk several Poomse’s ( forms or sequences) and train step-sparring with a partner. Various basic-techniques are studied over and over again. The Poomse is a strict pattern, in which one can practice all techniques without a partner. All opponents are imaginary. Depending on the students skill (the colour of the belt is an indication) the student practices a Poomse, and every new Poomse is a more difficult one.
Step sparring is a training form with one attacker and one defender. The defender has been informed on how the attacker is going to attack. The attacker takes a step backwards (into ab-kubi) and gives a chap (yell) to show that he or she is ready to attack. The defender responds with a chap to indicate that he or she is ready too. The attacker starts, with one punch (one-step), two punches (two-steps) or three punches (three-steps). One can also use kicks, or a combination of kicks and punches. The defender reacts with several blocks (depending on the number of punches or kicks) and a ’killing blow or kick’. The attacker and defender both get back to beginning position afterwards. All is done to show the skill one has gained.
The cooling down is a sort reverse warming up. We start with stretching our muscles, after all, we’re still warmed up. Again we do some muscle-training and practice some kicks in the air. We slowly reduce speed and strength.
I have trained for about a year now and have noticed great improvement physically and mentally. I have graded upto blue belt from being a white belt, which is four grading. This gratings are based on learning the forms or Poems to pass. There are 10 cup gratings which are different coloured belts which have tags in between. E.g.
White belt
white belt with yellow tag
Yellow belt
Yellow belt with green tag
Green belt
Green belt with blue tag
Blue belt
Blue belt with red tag
red belt
Red belt with black tag
Black belt or 1st Dan
There are 10 Dans or stages of black belts but there is a set time between taking each one. Between Ist and 2nd Dan there is a period of 6 mths. Between 2nd and 3rd a period 1 year and so on. All in all it would take you a lifetime to achieve all 10 Dan. Incidentally, you can only achieve 10th Dan when you die. This is the Korean way of achieving enlightenment.
I have competed in one tournament so far, won my fight , and received a trophy too. It was a brilliant feeling to compete, and to also win. It was a whole day tournament, so I took my camcorder so could video the groups fights, as well as someone doing mine. We learnt a lot from the video and are now better, stronger, and quicker.
I would recommend Tae Kwon Do for any person who wants to learn some discipline, as well as keeping fit and staying healthy.