Fluffy
Number of posts : 23 Age : 50 Location : Snohomish Martial arts style : Hwa-Rang Taekwondo, Largo Mano Escrima Martial arts experience and current school : 23 years in TKD, Owner/Chief Instructor Snohomish Taekwondo Registration date : 2007-09-18
| Subject: Taekwondo in America Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:12 am | |
| I have a question for anyone who knows anything about TKD. What are your thoughts about the state of Taekwondo in the United States? Ed Parker, the father of American Kempo recognized a change in his martial art years ago when the Chinese system did not exactly work for the body structure of the American male so changes were made and his style (a popular style in the US) was born. Have the same changes occurred in TKD over the years? Remember TKD, in its modern version, has been in America for about the same amount of time as it has in Korea.
For example view the differences between the ATA and the WTF. In sparring: the WTF is a constantly moving sport, never stopping for points, hands down (because in this style you don't have to block mostly evade) always bouncing; in ATA sparring you stop for points, 50% (just about) of points are scored with hands, so evading is not always an option so the hands are up, the best in this style of sparring do not bounce, and there is only one round per fight.
In forms, American style forms tend to have solid stances, deep knee bends, very strong block - punch combo's with equal amount of kicks and punches. I have found the traditional ITF Chang Hun Ryu forms to be great for tradition, but I question the lack of kicking in the forms. In the first three forms there are only 2 kicks; in the American (ATA) Songahm forms there are over 14 (if my memory serves me correctly) in the first three.
Anyone else feel that there should be a recognized American style here? | |
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