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Dennis Krawec
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Is WTF TaeKwonDo Martial Art or Martial Sport.

Over the last year my wife is trying to convice me to join the local WTF TaeKwonDo(TKD) club (no local Karate club). I have come to the conlusion that even though there may be some training benefit, I can't as it seems to me that WTF TKD has devolved down to a sport (martial sport).

  1. WTF TKD is very kicking centric. For the sessions I have attended in two years (watching/participating), there has been no work on blocking or arm strikes other than when they run patterns.
  2. In the sessions I have attended the focus of training is on sparring competition (strictly using kicks), and developing good endurance.
  3. Lack of hidden jewels. Again this may be partially out of ignorance of the higher/finer points of TKD, but the forms in TKD seem to require no interpretation of thier use other than the movements presented. Unlike in karate where a block can alternatively be a strike, or throw.
  4. Overall there seems to be little to no training for combat situations other than sparring.
  5. No development/coaching on focus or power for blocks or punching (this is confirmed by an incident at a recent testing for the school where a black belt was called out to break several blocks of wood, and failed - if you do not train focus and power how does one expect to pass?)

One final point I make might be more a fault of the particular school, but seems comparable to what I have heard and encountered previously.

      6.   My wife made Black belt after barely a year and a half, and my son(under 11) is testing this fall after two years, and his techinique is lacking. I have no doubt that in an open kumite match between my wife and myself (green belt), I would win. She admits as much.

Thanks

DK

Anf
Anf's picture

I'm not sure there can ever be such a thing as a martial sport. Or if there is, that says something very dark about human nature. Martial means pertaining to war. So a martial sport would be a war sport. I had an idea. I have no idea if this could work for you (I guess it depends largely on what schools are in your locality and what you are interested in trying), but how about do the taekwondo for the footwork, flexibility, speed etc. But also look at something like wing chun or the martial side of tai chi or something for the incredible handiwork? I train in tang soo do, which is basically karate with a Korean twist. Unlike taekwondo, tang soo do very much keeps the hand work and is not very sports oriented but even so, I have a friend who trains in tai chi, he envies my kicks but finds my hand techniques a bit clumsy and predictable despite my best efforts. When we spar together, if I let him get into hands range he always dominates, but I can usually keep him back for a while with kicks. After our bouts we compare notes and give each other tips. If I could find a local school that does the hand techniques my friend does (he lives far away unfortunately) I'd definitely supplement my tang soo do training with that. I think based on that, taekwondo plus tai chi or wing chun could make a pretty formidable system.

Dennis Krawec
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Thanks again Anf, however where I live martial arts schools are somewhat limited in choice.

Your post from  "Karate is Rubbish"

"The Japanese occupied Korea from I think 1903 to just after their surrender at the end of WW2. During the occupation they tried to eradicate every aspect of Korean cultural heritage, including their martial arts. Of course some Korean influence prevailed, but the Japanese styles became dominant. After the occupation ended, Korean styles began to emerge, helped partly by the fact that US military personnel were still stationed in Korea and they worked with the native Koreans to share military skills including unarmed combat. At some point, the Korean government called up the nation's leading martial artists, and asked them to form a new style that would be uniquely Korean and outshine the Japanese styles. Taekwondo was born out of that. Understanding that I think helps us to understand that while many wanted to keep the 'real' skills, the temptation was there to sacrifice that to some extent in favour of the show skills."

While this might seem a reasonable arguement Okinanwan Te (Karate) had to survive a simlar ban on its practice for a much longer period of time and yet seemingly survived.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawan_martial_arts

DK

Anf
Anf's picture

Okinawan karate wasn't banned. It was just restricted to the military and the aristocrats. Okinawan karate also isn't a thing really. A common misconception is that karate is a single style that originated in okinawa. Karate is an umbrella term for a number of different styles from the area. What we now recognise as okinawan karate is largely Chinese kung fu (another umbrella term for many different styles), modified a bit for whatever reasons. In fact, even the name karate, used to be written such that it translated to the Chinese hand way. It was later written as empty hand way for political reasons to hide any Chinese connection. To be fair to the Korean styles, you make a fair point though. But I think a problem with the western idea of martial arts history, we tend to try to hard to fit everything into neat boxes. Karate is Japanese/okinawan. Taekwondo is Korean. Etc. The truth is far more blurred. We must remember that people travelled and interacted as much a hundred or so years ago as they do now. Martial artists from all over the region learned from each other. Taekwondo, in its original form is no different. It is an awesome style that takes from karate, taekyun, and probably lots of styles. It's just that one popular subsection seems to have stripped it right down and turned it into a point sparring sport.

Dennis Krawec
Dennis Krawec's picture

True, nothing is created in a vaccuum. Just as Okinawan Te (Shuri, Naha, Tomari, & decendents) are derived from Chinese martial arts, other eastern martial arts would have been affected from outside influences adjusted to suit local needs. You see the similar in food, take the humble dumpling/perogy/vareneke/gyoza, all sorts of delicious goodness wrapped in dough. Though just because there are similarities, they are not the same.

It is just unfortunate then that the only game in the town where I live now, appears to have been stripped of its martial aspects, and has become overly focused on sport sparring. Guess I'll keep on running Kata, and put on my boxing gloves in the basement.