Tomcat's Taekwondo

RSS Feed Homepage

Longer training
2008-04-24 10:47:00
The Wednesday adult class at Mitcham is now running for an hour and a half (it was an hour until recently) and I finally got along to it last night. Really good lesson - I can always tell by how much difficulty I have walking the following morning!I was very pleased to get some heavy practice of Yuk Jang (the sixth Taegeuk pattern). It's a lot harder than I thought it would be though. The stances are quite a bit more complex than the previous patterns and my finishing position is way, way too far from my starting position. It's going to take a lot of practice to get this one right.
More About: Training

The origin of Teakwondo
2008-04-23 19:08:00
Steve Conway mentions on his site the large number of differing way Taekwondo is spelled, in particular "Teakwondo" comes up time and time again. I've always thought this must just be a simple miss spell on the part of the people using it, but have actually found an official source for this spelling.Page 60 of the Taekwondo Textbook (the official guide to WTF Taekwondo published by the Kukkiwan) refers to Teakwondo. I found another version on page 78 - "Thekwondo" although I've never seen anyone using that particular one and hope I never will ;)
More About: Origin

Are you a black belt?
2008-04-04 19:31:00
The first question you get asked when someone finds out you're practicing a martial art tends to be about the mythical Black Belt . Normally to try and avoid this one I just tell new people I meet that I do fitness training, rather than mentioning Taekwondo at all, but that's not always enough. People tend to find these things out and once the cat's out of the bag the question of belt colour isn't far off.No is the reply and then comes a look of shock when I tell them how long I've been at it (it's getting close to a decade I think now). The important thing is that, to me at least IT DOESN'T MATTER all that much. If I was in it simply for a certain colour of belt I wouldn't go through all the effort, pain, sweat and tears. I'd just go out and buy the Black Belt (any sports shop will happily sell you one) and job done! Now, there may come a day, and what a day it will be, when I do reach First Dan or even beyond it. But it's not the reason I train. It shouldn't be anyones'...

Green Belt Grading
2008-04-03 10:20:00
Today I am the proudest dad in the world. James took his grading for 6th Kup (Green Belt ) last Saturday, and at last night squad training session in Mitcham he was awarded his Green Belt.James took his grading among the adults, and as such was allowed to attempt his first break. Master Rose asked him to break using back kick. Unfortunately, 4 attempts were not enough and James wasn't able to break the board, however, I tried my best to assure him that since at his age breaking wasn't a required part of his grading he shouldn't worry too much about it. He did say he felt happy with his pattern (Taegeuk Sam Jang - third Poomse), his Kibom, the 3 step sparring and free sparring.James is now just one belt behind me - better get moving and work on staying ahead or he'll be the one showing me what to do.Well done James!Here's a pic of his official BTCB certificate.

Black Belt Class
2008-03-28 19:21:00
I was very honored last week to get invited to attend Master Rose's Black Belt class. Before going (bare in mind I am still at 4th Kup - Blue Belt) I felt a certain amount of trepidation as to what to expect. Was I going to be the instructors punch bag for the evening? Would I struggle to keep up?I enjoyed the class enormously - Master Rose gave me a lot of help with the finer points of my technique which I will most certainly be doing my best to remember. I felt I was able to keep up reasonably well, although my instructor told me afterwoods he felt Master Rose had definately "toned down" the pace of things for my benefit and usually they are pushed a lot harder. I'm going to have to move my fitness level up quite a lot when I (hopefully) reach that elusive 1st Dan and start attending Master Rose's classes regularly.The club website has some fantastic pictures of Master Rose performing the flying side kick and split kick which if you have an interest in Taekwondo you'll appreci...
More About: Class

Chungdokwan Nationals
2008-03-09 23:43:00
I attended the Chungdokwan Nationals this weekend. Despite a great desire to come away with a gold medal I'm afraid this year, yet again, I came home wearing silver. I'd have to say, I was appalled at how badly I fought (losing by 7-0 in the first round) but am humble in enough to admit that even at my best I wouldn't have beaten the young man from Portsmouth University Taekwondo that I was lined up with - he was definately quicker, stronger and all round better in the ring. I'll be back next year of course and am hoping to get to some other tournaments this year, in particular the BTCB competition in Bournmouth.Unfortunately, my son James did not get the chance to defend his Gold Medal from last year as a pressing social engagement meant he missed the tournament. A lucky escape for whoever he'd have been facing! Hopefully James will be accompanying me to the next one.Hopefully the entire Chung Yong Squads results will be visible on the club website this week so be sure to tak...

James is allowed to train again (at last)
2008-02-22 09:59:00
James came back to training this week. Great to see him training again, and we both have high hopes of progressing this year. He'll be working on Taegeuk Sam Jang as he hopes to rise to Green Belt. Many thanks to all those who left comments, or sent messages through the contact page expressing their dismay/surprise at his not being allowed to train - I sincerely hope this will never happen again and that his mother and school come to appreciate that his Taekwondo training is only beneficial, not detrimental to his physical and psychological development. With James training again, I get to go more often, so from a personal point of view this is also great news - more Taekwondo for me!We're both hoping to compete in the upcoming ChungDoKwan National Championships next month. Hope to meet lots of other Taekwondo addicts there!
More About: Train , James

Something different
2008-02-19 09:34:00
Got an e-mail this week through the website contact form which I can't help but talk about. Mark sent me a link to his online collection of Taekwondo stamps. Check it out:Taekwondo StampsI didn't even know philately went on online, but obviously it does. Thanks mike, very nice work!

New year's resolutions
2008-01-08 19:22:00
Perhaps a bit late, and perhaps more for my own benefit than anyone else, this is what I want to achieve this year and I'm going to push hard for it!1. A gold medal for me (and my club of course!) in competition. Shameful, but Silver has always been the best I've managed. Watch out if you're in my weight category and keep your guard up!2. Up my training to 3 times a week as many weeks as I can so that I have a chance of...3. Moving up to Red Belt. This is going to be tough, but if it wasn't, it wouldn't be worth doing. Red tag needs attaining first of course, so time to get Taegeuk Yuk Jang "right".Happy new yearAndy
More About: Resolutions

Bad news
2007-12-23 10:33:00
My son (James) managed to get himself into trouble at school in the last week of term, tripping another child during a PE lesson resulting in a broken arm for the poor boy he tripped. James is heartbroken to have caused this injury to one of his friends, but his punishment seems inappropriate.After speaking to the school, my wife and his teacher have decided he should stop training in Taekwondo. I'm absolutely devastated - James really enjoys Taekwondo, and I love doing a sport with my son, but I'm not the kind of father who won't support decisions made by his mother and his school. I would understand this if he'd used a technique learned in a Teakwondo class but this just wasn't the case - he was just involved in a game another child had started. James, through no fault of his own, is quite a bit bigger and stronger than his peers at school.Hopefully this will blow over soon - I'm going to try and speak to the teacher myself in the new term and let her know just how important...
More About: News , Bad News

Grading results!
2007-10-15 18:52:00
Well, we didn't get to go for over a week after the grading what with one thing and another, but we did finally get to a lesson on Friday. James did exceptionally well - he was one of only three people Master Rose rated as A* for their grading. I'm the proudest dad alive! Here's a pic of James with our instructor Mrs Gibbs and his certificate.Unfortunately Mrs Gibbs has her eyes closed in the photo, but you can see how happy James is.Despite my poor performance with my pattern, I got through as well and have moved up to 4th Kup - Blue Belt at last! It's odd, I really saw it as just another step on the ladder prior to the grading, but once I put the belt on I had a very real feeling that something had changed. It's difficult to put into words but it feels like a really significant transition going from Green to Blue.
More About: Results

Blue belt grading - 4th KUP
2007-09-30 21:27:00
This weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to take my 4th Kup (Blue Belt ) grading. My son James was also grading for his Green Tags (6th Kup). James, I felt, did me (and himself of course) proud. His pattern (while of course not perfect) was in my humble opinion well carried out, and he certainly has understood the sequence of moves, and how to get the stances right. I could clearly tell the difference between his long and walking stances, and that back leg of his has stopped bending in long stance. I didn't spot any errors in his three step sparring, and he was as exuberant as ever in free sparring - maybe a bit too keen as I did notice the odd bit of contact when he was sparring.My grading was a little longer - there were three other 5th Kup grades and we got to do Taegeuk O Jang, Sam Jand and Ee Jang. O Jang (the fifth pattern) being the main criteria for the grading. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I did my worst on that particular one - the last move in particular I manage...

How long does it take to achieve a black belt in Taekwondo?
2007-09-08 23:58:00
The length of time required to acheive the coveted 1st Dan Grade (Black Belt ) is an oft talked about topic. Should it take a year, 5 years or 10 years. I really got thinking about this after reading and commenting on a post here and after talking to a couple of girls on holiday this year who'd achieved their first Dan grades within 3 years.I've been training a long time, although I will be the first to admit my attendance is by no means the greatest. I always make at least one training session per week, try to get to two and on the odd week I make it to three. Realistically, a first Dan is AT LEAST another three years away from my grasp (and I am aware that I may not get it if I train for another 100 years!).How long it should take should be irrelevant. It's a question of a number of factors which will be different for every student including fitness, talent, number of hours trained each week, commitment and probably many more aspects.If a club tells you you WILL get a black belt...
More About: Long , Taekwondo

How much do you pay to take a Taekwondo grading?
2007-09-05 19:09:00
I recently met two Taekwondo students from the north of England. The subject of the cost of taking gradings in TKD cropped up and they told me at their club a KUP grade cost £45. On top of that, failing to pass the grading would result in having to pay the grading fee again.By comparison, at my club a KUP grade test is £15. If you fail it, you can re-take it at no further cost. I don't know what our instructor charges for Hapkido gradings (another Korean Martial Art he teaches) but would be surprised if there was any difference.The two Northerners told me they had achieved First KUP grade (red belt/black tag) in three years with their club - that'll be a topic for another post later...So how much is the "right" amount to pay for a martial arts grading? Should it be dependant on what the club needs to charge in order to stay operational? A quick glance at the BTCB website didn't offer any kind of guide, but I'd say £45 sounds expensive.

Finding a good Taekwondo (or other Martial Arts) club
2007-08-27 23:49:00
First up, this isn't purely relevant to Taekwondo - feel free to apply this to ANY martial arts club you are either already at, or considering attending.We met a great family on our holiday this year - the two younger girls in the family were twins, and when the subject of Taekwondo came up they told me that at their club you achieved black belt in three years ie it was not a question of anything other than time (and paying for the gradings of course!).I would suggest this is a great way to find out whether the club you are enquiring about is run purely to make money, or has instructors who are genuinely keen on passing on teachings and developing their students. If the answer is "you'll get a black belt in X number of years" you need to ask more questions. If the answer is "not everyone achieves a black belt and there is no specific time frame" you are probably in the right place to learn.
More About: Martial Arts , Arts , Club , Good

First leg technique
2007-08-22 21:50:00
Finally got around to adding the first leg techniuqe (Kibom Aree Il). Here's the page:First Leg Technique Be great to get some feedback on whether or not it makes sense done just in text - will try to do some images for it at some point.***yikes - for some reason I originally posted this with "third" when obviously it's the first! Don't blog half asleep;)***

Aches and pains
2007-08-22 21:39:00
Strange how quickly fitness suffers when you don't train even for a short space of time. One small two week holiday in Gran Caneria and seemingly my fitness, strength & flexibility have all evaporated (maybe it's all the sangria!).Managed to make Master Drury's Tuesday lesson last night and boy, are the muscles (particularly the legs) complaining about it today. Even managed to over stretch on a side kick causing my left leg to twitch all day today.We went though some self defense towards the end of the lesson. Master Drury gave a great bit of advice - above all else DO SOMETHING and do it QUICKLY. If it doesn't work (maybe your attackers' grab is too strong etc) do something else RIGHT AWAY and keep doing different things until the attack has been stopped. Once I heard it, it was so obvious, but just prior to that I'd been standing there scratching my head wondering what I should do. Don't want to get caught like that in a real situation.

Are patterns (forms) useful in Martial Arts?
2007-08-19 15:13:00
Many practitioners of other martial arts seem keen to question the usefulness of learning patterns (forms). Particularly those training in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts ) and other purely combat based systems. The argument runs that learning patterns does not in any way aid fighting ability. There are two problems with this.Firstly, Taekwondo is not just about fighting & self defense. It is a complete martial art in that the student is learning a wide range of skills that apply to situations in life other than combat situations. Mental discipline and physical fitness aid the Taekwondo student in most aspects of their lives. Learning patterns helps with mental discipline, gives the student a means to practice when alone and is of course the backbone of the grading syllabus. If Taekwondo were merely about combat ability a grading/belts system would not be needed. The senior students would be simply measured by their success in defeating other opponents.Secondly, patterns, when executed...
More About: Patterns , Forms

Effectiveness of Taekwondo
2007-07-23 00:03:00
Quite a lot of people I speak to that train in different arts seem keen to question the effectiveness of Taekwondo as a self defense system. Now, Taekwondo is an "offensive" martial art, as opposed to Jujutsu which would be classed as "defensive". The basic premise being that the Taekwondo practitioner blocks and then counter attacks with a strike capable of incapacitating the aggressor, whereas in a defensive system, the attack is worked against the aggressor typically using using twisting, painful grab techniques. Some Taekwondo schools perhaps leave it out, but at my club Ho Sin Sul (self defense) is an active part of the curriculum. Ho Sin Sul is in many respects very similar to Hapkido, the most well known Korean self defense system and really the Korean equivalent to Japanese Jujitsu.Taekwondo itself is, by it's nature, geared towards fancy high spinning kicks. These are perhaps not the best techniques to use on the street as a foot at head height, if grabbed, puts you in a ...

A word of warning
2007-07-05 09:59:00
Yesterday I was standing outside the office, the door was open, when suddenly a gust of wind attempted to blow it shut and lock me out. The old "lightning" reflexes jumped into action and I swiftly and accurately thrust my right leg forward to halt the doors' progress. There was a twofold result.1. The door was successfully kept unlocked.2. I lacerated both sides of the ankle as it came under pressure from on one side the (metal - ouch) door, and on the other a rather sharp edged brick wall.Anyone who's been at Taekwondo for a while has probably found themselves operating light switches, opening doors etc with knife hand techniques, or worse with their feet. Anyone who hasn't and is reading this probably has their mouth open in the sheer stupidity this would appear to imply.I just hope when it's really important, the reflexes operate properly.
More About: Word , Warning

Still aching from Tuesday....
2007-06-29 10:40:00
Boy, that must have been some lesson Tuesday night. My legs are STILL aching from it today (Friday).

Taekwondo on a Tuesday
2007-06-27 00:05:00
Finally made it along to the Tuesday session in Croydon held by Master Mark Drury (4th Dan). Exhausting, but certainly a great lesson. I'm definately going to try and make the Tuesday session more often as it's very different to the lessons I normally go to in Mitcham. I'm not, however, drawing comparisons as to which sessions are better - too much respect for my instructors to want to start doing that! It does seem to me though that training with different instructors regularly can't be bad for your overall Taekwondo development as there is different emphasis on the various aspects to the training.Not busy next Tuesday and live in or around the Croydon area? Grab a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt (plain) and just turn up - starts 8pm, runs for an hour and a half. Always good to see new people. The address is:Energie Fitness ClubStephenson House2 Cherry Orchard RoadEast CroydonSurreyTip: 1 minutes' walk from East Crydon train station. The class is for 14 year olds and up.

Er, argh!
2007-06-20 22:18:00
Somethings wrong - none of my old posts are coming up (must have done something stupid....). The pages are there at my hosting account. I can download them and right enough the blog entries are there but browsing directly to them with a web browser displays the correct URL, but presto I'm actually viewing the main blog page with the most recent post at the top.I'm foxed. Wondering whether posting a new entry will force it to behave itself....Hmph. No idea how, but rather than publishing to the correct directory via FTP, I was publishing to the blog.html file itself and Blogger had helpfully created a directory and was happily publishing into it. I'm pretty darn sure I didn't do that when I set it up.....

Tournament
2007-06-10 01:20:00
My club held a small tournament yesterday and invited the students from St Katherine's Taekwondo led by Master Sargent to attend. Unfortunately, while St Katherines did bring a large compliment of juniors, they didn't submit any adult fighters so all the Chung Yong adults had to fight members of their own club. I got Michael (he's recently moved up to 8th Kup) and he beat me 12-11 on points. Despite the obvious drawback of not winning, I really enjoyed the match and learned a few things about what I can do to improve on my tournament fighting.The St Katherines fighters were impressive to see - they have some very talented fighters there and I'm glad the two clubs are affiliated to each other.
More About: Tournament

Third pattern (Sam Jang) is complete!
2007-06-01 00:30:00
Just put the finishing touches to Sam Jang. This one is the "final" word on how they are all going to look. The main image no longer than 4 lines, so it should all fit height wise on most screens (at least 1024x768 and up). Will probably start on Pal Jang next as my stats tell me this is the next most popular one people search for. On the off chance someone other than me is reading this, check it out - the link is right above you in the "Taegeuk" menu.
More About: Pattern , Complete