What are your views on TKD?

[Steelsings16]

Ummm about 3 months, but I went to 2, 1 hr classes a week, and the guy was paying attention to all the other little kids and advanced us all at once...it was soooo sad. I got my yellow belt after about like a month and a half--actually two months, and I advanced to my orange belt after 2 weeks after I changed classes

[ryanhall]

i don't know your school or the teacher, so i won't make any blanket statements. however, it really sounds like a classic karate/tkd belt factory to me. two belts in three months? i don't do trad ma's any more and belts mean nothing to me, but if you are made to pay for testing or belt costs, the guy is trying to make easy money off of you. watch out. you may want to reevaluate what the situation is at your school.

just my opinion,
ryan

[Steelsings16]

yea i kinda figured that out...i just do it for sport now, to get in shae...when my legs get conditioned enough i might try MT....but the new instructor is hot! lol but thats just an added bonus....

[Steelsings16]

OMG i am SO pissed off at Mr Tinnon, my instructor--i got my orange belt today (yay for me!) and at the class later that day, (I went to makeup testing), another boy that had been advancing at the same time that I had been asked Mr Tinnon if he could test for his first orange belt stripe after class. He knew like 1 out of 3 excersises and the git gave him a stripe anyway! And there were 3 other kids who did the same thing with Ryan, the kid. Mr Tinnon went and walked through it WITH them when they didn't know it, and gave them a stripe anyway!! even this dojo, which is tougher than my old one, is an MCdojo.

I wan't even ready to test this month, but my instructor didn't want to make me wait until next month, so he went ahead and gave me my stripes anyway. I knew 3 out of my 4 sparring excersises, and 1 of my 5 fighting excersises--actually, I knew them, i just forgot which was which. But he passsed me--I can't say I'm going to argue, but I don't think I was really ready. im stuck here till the end of Dec., them i might try Krav MAga, or even hapkido at the place that H@pkid0ist recommended.

[ryanhall]

good god steelsings. leave before this moron imprints any more of his mcdojo idiocy upon you. do yourself a favor. let me guess--you pay for belt testings? how about the belts themselves? here's a plan: just cut your losses and leave. i don't know your particular reason for training ma's, but whatever it is, it will be severely hampered by the guy trying to steal your money...er...i mean your teacher. drop this idiot like third period french. at least that's what i would do. i'm guessing that you'll hear similar opinions from others.

ryan

[H@pkid0ist]

For 4, 5, & 6 year olds I can see that. You have to keep their attention and make them feel like they are accomplishing something or they will loose interest and get bored. But for teens and adults, I can't fathom it. When you GIVE a belt to someone thats not ready then you are doing nothing but building their ego up and then you better be prepaired to catch them when someone knocks them down. When they earn the belt its through hard work and lessons learned. I have found that those who earned their belt are least likley to get big heads or get into trouble over their status in their MA school. THey learn through the hard work that what they learn is nothing to brag about, or to take lightly. At least this is how I see it. I guarentee that all of my students know how every technique feels, and they know what is capable of happening when a technique is applied properly. In turn they know that what we do is no game and to be taken seriously. The only issue I have is that my GM is looking at kinda retireing soon so he is trying to get BB fast to open their own schools, and expects me to keep them up to grade and competant. It can make for one hell of a workout sometimes. But I do my best to ensure that everyone that walks out of our doors are the best MAists they could possibly be. That is truley important to me. THey are an extended family to me.

[reyjrar]

tkd sux?

I was reading all these messages getting rather annoyed at the stereotyping. I guess if everyone's experience with TKD has been at schools like Steelsings then I suppose its justified.

However, I studied at a school through a local Parks and Rec. The instructor was incredible. I spent 6 months at white belt without a mention of testing for yellow belt. At belt test time, my instructor came to me and suggested I test. I tested for Yellow belt with 10 other students, some of which had been there longer than me. Only 3 of us received yellow belts. One of my friends had taken TKD at a national chain TKD school and gotten to "Provisional Black", when he failed the yellow belt test, he got pissed off and quit. I stayed a yellow belt for another year after that, until my instructor left the area.

The school taught the TKD basics, the history of the art, and more importantly the philosophy of the art. We had full contact sparring sessions, where our instructor would often throw things into the mix to simulate real life. We had a blind folded sparring session once a month and routinely our instructor would come around and tell us to spar without using our right hand for anything or keep 90% of your weight on your left foot for the duration of the fight. During testing we had to explain the history of TKD, and give a 2 minute speech on what it meant to us. Kata was also broken down to more than just the typical mindless monkey movement . Our instructors took time to explain the meaning and feeling of each Kata. I only learned 2 Kata while there, and only ranked to yellow belt. Years later, after having slipped in my training thanks to my career, I can still confidently full contact spar black belts of other karate and tkd schools.

If TKD is taught as an art, as it was to me, it becomes more than kicks and punches. At that point, its incredibly worth it. I strongly believe you have to want more than kicking and punching out of it, and you need to have an instructor who's not looking at money, but actually trying to cater to what you want out of the art. I was lucky, I found an instructor who wanted to teach what I wanted to learn.

-brad..

[Steelsings16]

Yes, I did pay for the testing. 35 dollars! I'm not sure if that's expensive, but I'm paying for it all the same. I'm going to stay in my little MCdojo through the end of December, just to try and get in shape a bit more, then I'm going to see if I can try a different place--either the Krav MAga place or H@pkid0ist's place that's near my house. And just to show how lame my school is, I'll tell you about some of the people in it. One girl who's a green belt just kind of stands there throwing an arm or leg out randomly, and she got her green belt. Another girl who came to assist in instructing sdid the same thing--she was a brown belt. We have like 4 asst. instructors, so no one really cared, but that was SO lame. And, even worse: a man who;s a regular asst. instructor is a black belt with a red stripe, and his son, who's maybe 7 or 8, is the same ran. Whuile we do the pledge to open and close class, he fidgets and slumps; while others are learning their forms or testing for their next stripe and we are supposed to be sitting 'correctly', he leans against the wall, unfolds his legs, and sometimes even gets up and runs aorund, leaving the room whenever he feels like it for water or just because he's bored. And he's an asst. instructor too! Only ONCE have i seen my instructor give him pushups, and he was supposed to do 3. He made a triangle with his arms and legs, wagged his sorry little butt a few times, anf got up--ant the instructor did nothing. I seriously envy you, reyjrar.

[ryanhall]

brad,
as an "art," i'm sure that something as aesthetically oriented as tkd would be great. unfortunately, most places are mcdojos, and even if tkd was taught "properly," with enough of an eye towards the martial aspects, i would not touch it. from a physical aspect, kicking is the least important range to be proficient in, as it is the least likely place you will find yourself. in addition to this, this range has a low probability of neutralizing an opponent. tkd's punching is sub par, and so is the stance. for these reasons, i would definitely stay away from tkd as self defense. if it's art you're into, however, take what you can get from it. if you enjoy the experience you had, why not stick with it?

ryan

[platinum_angel]

not enough training with you arms

[Core Nobody]

My 2 cents...It is what you make it.I myself have watched my daughter progress through the ranks in the past 2 years with much effort,only to see someone of less skill get promoted along with her.Very frustrating.They do learn the basics,but some people actually think some of those moves will work.I taught her some MT and kickboxing skills for there sparring but they always want her to spin or jump.Some of the kicks are good as they will teach balance,but to do double and triple kicks, thats nuts!!!! I have seen grown men in there say if I went for a take down on them, they would simply kick me in the head.Right! Boards teach technique,they don't hit back.-

[platinum_angel]

i agree some of the moves they teach are stupid. i had a freind that had the same problem your daughter did. my suggestion would be train her your self.

[Core Nobody]

Actually she enjoys the school,but when she gets her blackbelt[brown now]she wants to try something new.It will probably be Judo or Kickboxing.It's not really the school that bothers me so much,it's the false sense of security it will give some people to reach a higher rank.The instructor is really good with the art,and is a former full contact TKD practicioner.The school is more of an art than a fighting school so most of it wouldn't even work on someone who was a decent athlete.