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Should Kenpoka be Breaking Boards? By Thesemindz - 06-03-2011 06:24 PM
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I've been reading through the TKD forums and they discuss board breaking a lot. I've rarely ever practiced board breaking. Once at a Superfoot Wallace seminar with re-breakable boards, and way way back as a kid when I practiced TKD myself. So I only have limited knowledge of the practice and I was curious what you guys thought.
At our school, we do a ton karate a ton of different ways. But we don't practice with boards, except occasionally as weapons. Not usually breaking. We actually do have a few re-breakable boards that our head instructor bought a while back, and we do play with them occasionally, but it's never a serious part of our method. It's more like screwing around before and after class every once in a while, and usually it's the younger students who find them in the equipment room and get all excited. Then we show them how it works, and that's fun for a day, and then they go back in the closet. Personally, I've always preferred body work to anything else. The music is made for the instrument. But my students spend a lot of time in class doing air, pad, mitt, shield, and bag work too. Just not boards.
It's just not the way I was brought up. I think there was always a little bit of a dismissive attitude towards the practice. Boards don't hit back, never been mugged by a board, that sort of thing. But I'm reading these TKD forums, and I'm intrigued by some of what I'm seeing.
Generally, I take TKD with a grain of salt. It's not that there aren't some really amazing TKD players out there, and some really great schools. I did TKD myself, and I have a huge amount of respect for the instructors I worked with. But most of the TKD schools I've personally been in are the kind where you see mom and dad and their six year old chasing each other around with foam paddles. That's ok. I'm glad those people have something wholesome to do together. It's just not the kind of karate I'm in to. I know there are also hard fighting TKD schools, they're just rarer.
But I see these same moms and dads talking about how when they tested with their ten year old last week they had to break a stack of wooden boards to get their next belt. Now that makes me look at these guys in a whole new light. My students fight all the time, and they're tough, and we do occasionally injure each other in our training, but we don't spend significant amounts of time practicing breaking wooden boards with our basics. Maybe we should? I don't know, but it's got me wondering.
There's another thread over there where they're discussing the importance of basics and what is perceived by some to be a general lessening on the emphasis placed on proper basics. This is an old kenpo argument. Are we practicing basics enough? Is it enough to only practice them in our techniques? We've talked about that for years. Personally, I'm a big believer in practicing your basics. Stances, strikes, grapples. Drill baby drill. You can't practice your basics enough. You're only as good as your basics. I tell my students every class.
But here's a whole other way to practice basics, board breaking, that I'm not using. So I'm curious. Do any of you guys break boards? Do you think we should be? What's your take on board breaking in general? Pro's? Con's? Does anybody know if Mr. Parker had a take on board breaking? I honestly can't remember. If you are, why? If you aren't, why not?
I'm thinking about it. At least for advanced students. Might be a neat way to amp up my brown belts. What do you guys think?
-Rob
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I've been reading through the TKD forums and they discuss board breaking a lot. I've rarely ever practiced board breaking. Once at a Superfoot Wallace seminar with re-breakable boards, and way way back as a kid when I practiced TKD myself. So I only have limited knowledge of the practice and I was curious what you guys thought.
At our school, we do a ton karate a ton of different ways. But we don't practice with boards, except occasionally as weapons. Not usually breaking. We actually do have a few re-breakable boards that our head instructor bought a while back, and we do play with them occasionally, but it's never a serious part of our method. It's more like screwing around before and after class every once in a while, and usually it's the younger students who find them in the equipment room and get all excited. Then we show them how it works, and that's fun for a day, and then they go back in the closet. Personally, I've always preferred body work to anything else. The music is made for the instrument. But my students spend a lot of time in class doing air, pad, mitt, shield, and bag work too. Just not boards.
It's just not the way I was brought up. I think there was always a little bit of a dismissive attitude towards the practice. Boards don't hit back, never been mugged by a board, that sort of thing. But I'm reading these TKD forums, and I'm intrigued by some of what I'm seeing.
Generally, I take TKD with a grain of salt. It's not that there aren't some really amazing TKD players out there, and some really great schools. I did TKD myself, and I have a huge amount of respect for the instructors I worked with. But most of the TKD schools I've personally been in are the kind where you see mom and dad and their six year old chasing each other around with foam paddles. That's ok. I'm glad those people have something wholesome to do together. It's just not the kind of karate I'm in to. I know there are also hard fighting TKD schools, they're just rarer.
But I see these same moms and dads talking about how when they tested with their ten year old last week they had to break a stack of wooden boards to get their next belt. Now that makes me look at these guys in a whole new light. My students fight all the time, and they're tough, and we do occasionally injure each other in our training, but we don't spend significant amounts of time practicing breaking wooden boards with our basics. Maybe we should? I don't know, but it's got me wondering.
There's another thread over there where they're discussing the importance of basics and what is perceived by some to be a general lessening on the emphasis placed on proper basics. This is an old kenpo argument. Are we practicing basics enough? Is it enough to only practice them in our techniques? We've talked about that for years. Personally, I'm a big believer in practicing your basics. Stances, strikes, grapples. Drill baby drill. You can't practice your basics enough. You're only as good as your basics. I tell my students every class.
But here's a whole other way to practice basics, board breaking, that I'm not using. So I'm curious. Do any of you guys break boards? Do you think we should be? What's your take on board breaking in general? Pro's? Con's? Does anybody know if Mr. Parker had a take on board breaking? I honestly can't remember. If you are, why? If you aren't, why not?
I'm thinking about it. At least for advanced students. Might be a neat way to amp up my brown belts. What do you guys think?
-Rob
Read More ... or click reply below.
------------------------------
MartialTalk.com Post Bot - Kenpo Feed