why are people always knocking TKD?

[rkcann01]

haha, it was a small tourney in louisville. We've been getting pounded with snow, so half of the expected copetitiors did not show up. Instead of competing in wieght classes, we sparred within belts(black)

[Damian Mavis]

Ahhh that's right... WTF matches up based on weight only right? In ITF we are always matched up on weight AND belt level.... that makes for small divisions but at least it's always fair.

Damian Mavis
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[Andrew WA]

WTF tournaments match people up by weight and belt level. Just because a blue belt is 130 does not mean he will be in a division with a black belt who is also 130 lbs.


If the tournament is really small like most are then they have no choice but to match belt levels with the same belt level even though one is WAY bigger then the others. Its not fair and it sucks but whatever you know? If you are small and can win it means you are 100 times better then the other guy who is bigger and you worked harder.

I hate tournaments anyway. Bad judges plus im sick of the rules.

[Tom Yum]

haha, it was a small tourney in louisville. We've been getting pounded with snow, so half of the expected copetitiors did not show up. Instead of competing in wieght classes, we sparred within belts(black)

In the 90's open style tournaments were the thing. There were no weight classes, just advanced (brown belt and up), intermediate (blue belt and up) and beginner (white belt).

Master In Ju Suh (San Antonio, TX) held open sparring tournaments and the numbers turned up from shotokan, taekwondo, hapkido, kuk sool, and wushu. Beginner level sparring was point sparring; intermediate was light contact and advanced was full contact.

If your opponent outweighed you by 50+ lbs and you could frustrate him or knock him down, you would allmost allways win your match and advance. I won a match by TKO against a big Shotokan guy (~190 lbs) against me (148 lbs at the time). In the semis I lost a judge's decision to a guy about the same size who was a really good and hard kicker from Tang Soo Do.

[Damian Mavis]

Here in Thailand they match up based on weight but yes a yellow belt can go against a black belt, figured that was the way WTF worked but I can accept that this is just Thailand since they do everything halfassed and backwards here when it comes to TKD.

Damian Mavis
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[PaiLumUmar]

Thats crasy crap. what kind o test of your skill is that. Side aside you are saying they coul potentially put a yellow belt against an 11 year TKD black belt. Thats like a kamikaze mission. NO chance and no realt competition.

I agree way more with getting rid of weight divisions. At least at about the same stage of training you are expected to have about the same level of skill regardless of size.

[Damian Mavis]

That's ridiculous, there are weight divisions for a reason. Ok, you think it would be alright to put a light weight boxer in the ring with Mike Tyson just because they are about the same skill level? There would be a death in the ring if they did that. No matter how good my pro opponents are in Muay Thai sparring I still kick their ass if I outweigh them substantially.

Damian Mavis
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[Tom Yum]

There are some exceptions...Rocky Marciano was a 185 lb heavy weight and fought guys in the 210-230 range, Roy Jones Jr gave 30 lbs to his heavy weight opponents, Diamond Dekkers (145lbs) could walk through heavier training partners.

There's probably about a good 30-40 lb range that a fighter can handle, but when your talking about 50 lbs+ its too much.

[Damian Mavis]

Whoa training partners aren't the same as full opponents, the other 2 examples were good though.

I think the venue plays an important role in how much weight a fighter can handle above their own.

Damian Mavis
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[jubaji]

Thats crasy crap. what kind o test of your skill is that. Side aside you are saying they coul potentially put a yellow belt against an 11 year TKD black belt. Thats like a kamikaze mission. NO chance and no realt competition.
.

I think some resist such an idea because it would be too embarrassing. The sucky bb who has just hung around for 15yrs and has spent more time debating whether he could kick a guy off a horse than actually fighting gets beat silly by the scrappy yellow belt who just happens to have a good disposition to fighting, has learned enough to make it look a bit like tkd, and hasn't been around long enough to be indoctrinated into the mentality that he should fear Paunchy John of the strip mall dojang.

[rkcann01]

lol Interesting

[Tiger Claw]

opps posted in wrong forum anyways my tkd school is good and is also cheap. I like to spar and we spar alot.

[kicker2000]

To me it seems TKDs Just as good as any other martial art but like others have said its more well known. One thing I dont see is people knocking TKD more then things like Kung Fu.

[blade_cs]

Unlike other martial arts, TKD has millions of practitioners and is the most visible art in the world.... it's going to get tons of criticism for being in the limelight. The majority of those millions are soccer moms, fat older dads that work in an office all day, and little kids.... so with them representing TKD it is easy to critisize. If all people saw were the younger hardcore guys then TKD wouldn't catch as much flak.

Damian Mavis
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What about Karate and Judo? They were also olympic sports which made them common to many practitioners. But only TKD was criticized.

[Damian Mavis]

Karate is an olympic sport? And yes sport Judo IS criticised... but again it is no were near as large as TKD, TKD appeals to a much broader clientelle base and will catch more heat as a result.

Damian Mavis
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