TKD Master who found that tkd does not teach fighting

[silapathai]

This is kind of a sad story. Years ago I regularly attended a tkd school on the east coast. The head instructor was a Korean immigrant (suprise). He was a 4th degree black belt and was considered a real bad ass by the students. He could do also sorts of amazing jump kicks, etc.

One day he came in looking a little disheveled and asked the class who was there to become a "fighter." The whole group sort of looked sheepishly at each other and a couple of people raised their hands. He then said well, this is not what we're doing here. You will not become a "fighter" by taking these classes.

Alot of students were shocked. It turns out that our TKD master had been beaten up that day in some street dispute. There was only one guy and no weapons involved. His tkd was useless. Now this was not a yellow belt on the six month course. He was in his prime and had been doing this tkd since he was a child.

This is a lesson in how far fetched traditional U.S. martial arts training is. If you don't know the severe limitations of these martial arts, they can do you more trouble than good.

My Sr. year of HS I had allready competed in bare knuckle karate competition and competed in two Thai boxing matches, and won my division in USANKF(trad. karate) for sparring and forms the last two years..suffice to say, I was a decent martial artist for my age.
Anyhoo, there was a Korean student from Korea that was a 2nd or 3rd dan in TKD and even competed in some TKD tournament in Japan(which I found weird). I actually wanted to become friends with this guy and maybe train with him and vice versa..somehow, he got either jealous or wanted to be known as the only martial artist in our school and started fighting me one day. This wasn't a cliche planned out fight so I had to react..fortunately he was trying some flashy head kicks so all I did was leg kick him which caused him to fall than I kneed him in the head when he was on the ground..actually waited for him to get up and push kicked him into some nearby bleachers, end of fight. Never had a problem with him again...this doesn't mean to me that all TKD is bad just that not everyone using it can use it good. I've trained with some good TKDers in the past that have surprised me with there quick kicks.

[Piston]

with him and vice versa..somehow, he got either jealous or wanted to be known as the only martial artist in our school and started fighting me one day.

Sounds like an idiot who had not even grasped the five tenets of TKD. No wonder you beat the snot out of him (and a good thing you did too!).

I know these kinda people matey I got one in my dojang who reckons he's the hottest thing around, annoys the hell out of me that twats like that have the oppurtunity to practise TKD.

The arsehole in your story sounds like a WTF man anyhow *prepares to be flamed to oblivion*

[Blue Wave Gym]

did tkd for 6 years

could have been 2nd dan wtf only 1st but too busy with fighting kb and f.c. tkd at least in f.c. tkd you get to ko people still not much street app, if tkd 86ed forms, punched to the head in sparring(hard sparring only) and did ground stuff it would be much better also 86 the lame ass wrist locks that don't work/ don't work on drunks anyway

[Piston]

could have been 2nd dan wtf only 1st but too busy with fighting kb and f.c. tkd at least in f.c. tkd you get to ko people still not much street app, if tkd 86ed forms, punched to the head in sparring(hard sparring only) and did ground stuff it would be much better also 86 the lame ass wrist locks that don't work/ don't work on drunks anyway

I bet this would impart some sort of reality shattering wisdom if it was a coherent sentence and not kin to the ramblings of my local crack addict.

[Blue Wave Gym]

what ever mcdojo/belts R' us tma guy

check into reality some time, or beter yet keep kicking x-ray paper, focus paddles and doing forms and breaking boards LOL the rest of us want to leard sd and fighting skills not yes sir, hanna, duel, set, net ,dasot,yosut, and that'll be $500 for you're 2nd, degree yes sabomnim anything you and the master say I should pay kiss kiss kiss LOL LOL LOL

[Piston]

At first I had thought maybe you just had a problem grasping the basic sentence structure of the english language. However now I see that your problem goes much further than that.

The fact that you have the sheer arrogance to believe that you know better than the vast majority of jap/chinese/east asian martial arts that have been tried and tested, speaks volumes about you as a person and a martial artist.

"check into reality some time, or beter yet keep kicking x-ray paper, focus paddles and doing forms and breaking boards LOL the rest of us want to leard sd and fighting skills not yes sir, hanna, duel, set, net ,dasot,yosut"

This really does show that you do not understand most of your training in whatever you might have done/do in TKD, and lack the initiative to attempt to do so.

Back on topic, if you're instructor had been training for as long as you say he had, its entirely relative anyhow. How much street fighting had he done before? I'm guessing not a lot, it's one thing to know the in's and out's of an MA but it is quite another to apply it to a place without the rules of the dojang.

This is not to say that one should go out and pick street fights, my best answer for your instructors dilemma would to be to organise or get involved in as many cross-arts open tournaments as possible. I practise ITF TKD in the U.K and we cross-spar with Karate, Muay Thai, Kick Boxing, Boxing, Jiu Jitsu Ninjutsu at least once a month and its an eye opener.

[Blue Wave Gym]

news flash most tma instructors have like zero street fighting exp

and the ones that do usually aren't in ma for da money like most tkd"instructors" who run "schools" there are some good techniques in tkd and the kicks are good but that's the problem most of the time is spent kicking and if your chosen self defense response is kick first you're going to be in for a world of hurt, you show me a tkd school where you can punch to the head with the same level of force as kb and boxing, in class with all students and grapple on the mat and I'll shut my mouth, btw as for the I know better thing look up the difference between a do and a jitsu and you'll get your answer

[Piston]

if your chosen self defense response is kick first you're going to be in for a world of hurt, you show me a tkd school where you can punch to the head with the same level of force as kb and boxing

Show me a boxer/kb who only boxes who can kick as hard and as fast as a decent TKD practitioner....oh wait boxers just don't kick at all....What you've just said is ridiculous, you want a martial art that focuses on all forms of attack and defence. An MA that punches, grapples and kicks well and does so in equal amounts, good luck finding that. Also the minute I'm attacked I don't think "I do TKD I must kick this moron's head off" I will kick when it is appropriate and advantageous to do so, the same goes for punching and grappling. Oh and educate yourself more on ITF TKD, we do plenty of punching*maybe not to the extent a boxing does* because strangely enough TKD isn't boxing. We also have plenty of locks and grabs not in order to thro someone to the floor but to create a nice big hole for a powerful kick (like the ribs...ooh juicy).

P.S To aid you in your grammatical struggle look at this http://penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2002-10-11&res=l it might be video game orientated but i think the message is clear..

[Sircnay]

and the ones that do usually aren't in ma for da money like most tkd"instructors" who run "schools" there are some good techniques in tkd and the kicks are good but that's the problem most of the time is spent kicking and if your chosen self defense response is kick first you're going to be in for a world of hurt, you show me a tkd school where you can punch to the head with the same level of force as kb and boxing, in class with all students and grapple on the mat and I'll shut my mouth, btw as for the I know better thing look up the difference between a do and a jitsu and you'll get your answer

Okay.

My dojang.

We do all of that, only we're probably not as hardcore as you because we use gloves and helmets and elbow and shin pads.

[Blue Wave Gym]

I'm not harcore at all

in fact back in the day when I was a 11 year old karate student I didn't like getting hit.But if you can't get hit with head gear and like 14-16oz boxing gloves you're fully f***** on the street. Anyway show me a full-contact tkd tourny where you can punch full force to the face(yea I know anything that has full force punching to the face turns into kb like instantly so make it like 5pts for kicks and 1 pt for punches) and I'm there and you'll not hear a peep from me. no hard feelings though

[Piston]

in fact back in the day when I was a 11 year old karate student I didn't like getting hit.But if you can't get hit with head gear and like 14-16oz boxing gloves you're fully f***** on the street.

Maybe you don't grasp the difference between the 2 major styles of TKD. In America the most prevalent style is WTF, thats the style you see in the olympics that doesn't punch to the head. What is more common throughout Europe (I live in the U.K) is ITF style TKD which does allow it and in fact makes punches far more integral in combonation with kicks.

no hard feelings though

Also please don't try to be condescending. It doesn't suit you when you have shown so far that you have the grammatical grasp of a six year old.

[Tom Yum]

TKD, Boxing etc...

Its silly to assume that all TKD people can't fight. Its a different fighting style. Its true that alot of TKD is so watered down today, that alot of schools stay afloat by teaching forms and using point sparring.

Sadly, this is what evolves from most martial arts that are ranked on abstract tests with pre-set criteria and are out to make a buck.

Fortunately its a rareity today, but there are muay thai and grappling groups that are becoming Mcdojoish. I'm no expert in either art, but I've been to enough quality gyms and trained with enough different fighters to know the difference. Most of the well known gyms are the real deal.

[Blue Wave Gym]

yea WHAT EVER bathrobe boy

Maybe you don't grasp the difference between the 2 major styles of TKD. In America the most prevalent style is WTF, thats the style you see in the olympics that doesn't punch to the head. What is more common throughout Europe (I live in the U.K) is ITF style TKD which does allow it and in fact makes punches far more integral in combonation with kicks.



Also please don't try to be condescending. It doesn't suit you when you have shown so far that you have the grammatical grasp of a six year old.

HMM I'll bet you spend alot of time in your underwear in front of the mirror saying to yourself "I'm the alpha and the omega" btw you need to go back to intro to philosophy because you have no idea how to argue logically, wow attacking my spelling and grammer this is an example of what type of argument class?????

[Piston]

What in the hell are you on about? I was just trying to educate you on the major difference in styles of TKD, because you brought up the issue of punches which is a common misconception about TKD.

My comments on your spelling and grammar are not part of any arguement, but then with your shown grasp of written English I imagine its hard for you to tell the difference between an arguement and a statement. All I'm saying is if you can't even write properly don't try these flimsy attempts at put downs.

HMM I'll bet you spend alot of time in your underwear in front of the mirror saying to yourself "I'm the alpha and the omega"

Seriously witty and not at all purile and lacking in any form of humour, you should do comedy for a living.

[Sircnay]

in fact back in the day when I was a 11 year old karate student I didn't like getting hit.But if you can't get hit with head gear and like 14-16oz boxing gloves you're fully f***** on the street. Anyway show me a full-contact tkd tourny where you can punch full force to the face(yea I know anything that has full force punching to the face turns into kb like instantly so make it like 5pts for kicks and 1 pt for punches) and I'm there and you'll not hear a peep from me. no hard feelings though

Wait, first you said if I show you a TKD place that does face punching and grappling, then you'll shut up. But you're still talking.

I showed them to you. Now you want to see tournaments too? Okay well we have those as well. We have a combonation grappling/striking which basically follows MT/KB rules with pads, like a smoker match. And we have a pure grappling tournament segment as well.

Next you'll want to be seeing a school that does chi blasts and fights with live weapons. Get over yourself.