It'll be okay.

Well, I gtg. See ya later Chi!

I am a Tae Kwon Do third dan. I started TKD after taking a six-week class in Tai Chi. I loved executing the harmony of movement and breathing, together with the Eastern philosophy that went along with the actions, but in the end I wanted something a little more dynamic that focused preferably on kicking, because my legs were the strongest part of me (something that just happens when you're also a cyclist!).

A little history, which those of you involved in American or European TKD might be interested in: I did some looking around, and in November 1998 I started classes with a Korean Grand Master who had studied at Moo Duk Kwon in South Korea under the great master Hwang Kee. Hwang was one of only five Grand Masters of the then-unnamed Korean martial art who had survived the Japanese Occupation of World War II. During that time, the practice of martial arts in Korea was punishable by death. Once the war ended, the Grand Masters met to discuss how to unify and teach their art to the newly-free country, and what they would call it. It was agreed that the art would be called Tae Kwon Do as the national sport of South Korea, and Tang Soo Do when taught together with philosophy. There is no difference in the execution of the strikes and movements; it's simply that one is intended for competition and the other as a traditional manner of self-defense.

I earned my black belt in 2002 by going to class five times a week, sometimes to double classes. The normal progress from white belt to first dan in my school is six years. I began teaching classes to juniors in 2003, earned my second dan in 2004, began teaching adults in 2005, and was awarded third dan in 2007. I was invited to test for Master (4th dan) in 2010 and 2011, but declined because as a new parent I do not have the time to devote to spreading the art that is required of a Master. So, my title is currently Bu Sa Bum Nim, or Assistant Master. In competition, I am a Sam Dan Yu Dan Ja, or simply Third Degree Black Belt.

@Everlost, when teaching the purely defensive style of Tae Kwon Do, as you're discussing, it is more properly called Hap Ki Do. This part of the art is very closely related to Japanese Aikido and was probably influenced by Japanese nationals when Korea was occupied. I will have to ask my Kwan Chang Nim (Grand Master) about that. Have you done one-step sparring defense as well as pure self-defense? I love how dynamic that is.

I remember early on, when I was learning, I would ask my contractor friends to be my partner for self defense moves. I had a lot of trouble when they grabbed my wrists. I asked them to hold on as hard as they could, and they really got into it. I soon discovered that what works on the mat with an instructor does not always work in the real world. I executed the move perfectly, but the truth is that with someone a lot stronger than you who is expecting you to twist your wrist so that the thin edge is against the overlap of their fingers, they can anticipate my movement and hold on. I went to my instructors with the problem and they were great. They advised me to improvise and surprise, and suggested that I stamp my heel onto the instep of my attacker first, to get their attention with a little pain and then pull away. It worked great. The lesson is to think on your feet. If something you practice in the training hall doesn't work, quickly figure out why not and take immediate steps to correct it and get away.

Geez....you wrote....like...a novel....O_O

Um....well....where to start....

I don't know many of the Korean terms for things. I live in the US and we still learn korean. But it's more of a basic counting, moves, simple terms, and other things like that.
Next year I plan to become a Dan, at the moment I'm only a Pom. I'm hoping to become a 2nd Pom before I get my Dan, but...I can deal with staying a 1st Pom. I've participated for 4 years in out program. We practice 2 days a week, 3 different classes. I usually stay for all three, each of which is an hour.
I don't think I've done one-step sparring defense. Perhaps I have and my Master used a different name for it. But, our gym doesn't really focus on sparring (unfortunately). But self-defence, I love it!

I like the forms/patterns. I can't spell the names, but I can say them. I also love nun-chucks and plan to begin learning how to use the swords (can't remember korean name for them) and Sia next year.

I teach almost all lower belts. Mostly just supervising. Though Master Richard likes to let me train the no-belts and white belts that start late and are the only ones of their belt. Most of the students start with a large group, but some don't. I'm currently helping to train the red belts over summer, as they have their test soon.


As for the wrist trick, we are all taught to use a mindchanger (anything that causes pain) if the move doesn't work and we are still caught.

Have you learned the knife and gun self defense?

I think the only reason my school teaches so much Korean terminology is because our Grand Master is Korean. Did not mean to write so much! It is just one of my great passions in life.

Self defense is by far the most important aspect of a martial art, as it is the only one that truly applies to a real life situation. Of course, you should always try to get away without fighting if you can, should you find yourself in a bad position, but knowing how to block, strike, and get out of various holds is knowledge worth having, and it could certainly save your life one day.

Yes, I have learned knife and gun self-defense, although that is not taught until a student is at least a black belt. The philosophy in my school is that a first-degree black belt is someone who has mastered all the basics of self defense, sparring, forms, and breaking, and is now ready to move on to truly mastering the entire art. Our gun self-defense classes are taught by a Master who is also a Pennsylvania state trooper, so his lessons are invaluable because he can put us in real-life situations for defending against these attacks. With a knife, the first thing he said was, "When you defend yourself against somebody who attacks you with a knife, accept the fact that you're going to get cut. How badly is up to you." He's a hard case! But we love his classes.

Our school is also very conservative about weapons. Lower belts learn only the staff. Red belts may begin using nunchuks in practice, but are not taught any of the forms or defenses against them. First dans learn dagger and nunchuks. Second dans learn cane, escrima/kali. Third dans and above learn all the rest of the traditional weapons: sword (long and short), spear, sai (I cannot remember the Korean term right now), scythe, and so on.

Good luck with the red belts, and congratulations! I have always found them to be the most difficult group to train, because they are so close to black belt that they can taste it, and sometimes they begin to get a little arrogant. That is what the Cho Dan Bo belt is for (half red, half black) -- to remind students that they still have much to learn and that they must be humble and patient in order to earn their black belt.

It's so great to talk to other Tae Kwon Do practitioners.

I'm just wondering, where do you live? 'Cause your school seems a lot different from mine.
Knife and gun is the same for us, you have to be black-belt to learn it. We also only have one Master, Master Richard, who teaches us everything. He also says almost the same thing as the one who teaches you knife! What a coincidence!

My brother is beginning to learn the staff and he's a 2nd Pom. We start the lower belts with nunchuks when they have their blue belt. That's when they learn the first form. By the black belt test they've learned all three. My brother knows four and keeps trying to teach me, but I seem to find the weird flipping thing quite impossible! xD Master might try to teach five to us soon.

Our gym seems a whole lot looser than yours. The black belts can learn any weapon as long as Master knows it and has it, and they ask. Then he'll teach it during the half hour after the 3 classes.

Also, the half red, half black belt is for Junior Black Belts, Poms, in our school. You have to wait until you're 15 to become an adult black belt, Dan.

I think that if you came to my do jang, or I went to yours, we would find that while teaching styles may differ, the techniques we both learn are nearly identical. I have taken classes as a guest at do jangs in Oregon, Maryland, and California and have found that the biggest difference is in non-traditional forms, which seem to be specific to each school while having some similarities by rank.

The "traditional" forms are very old, and any school that teaches them is not supposed to take any liberties with them, so that they will always be performed the same way worldwide. They are Bassai, Rohai, Jindo, and the three Naihanchi (horseback stance) forms. There are probably more traditional forms than those six, but as 3rd dan they are the only ones I have learned.

I live in New York right now, but started studying martial arts in Pennsylvania. My Grand Master and his brother have expanded their schools through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and now California (I think they want to retire there because it's warmer, lol!).

If your school uses the term pom, or poom, then it must be affiliated closely with Kukkiwon, which is the governing body of traditional TKD in South Korea. WTF is the organization that oversees competition; it is the job of Kukkiwon to make sure that all schools worldwide adhere to teaching Tae Kwon Do the way it is meant to be taught.

You were discerning between WTF and ITF earlier. There is very little ITF Tae Kwon Do practiced in the United States that I know of. It's a North Korean splinter group from the WTF and is practiced mainly in Canada and in some places in Europe - Germany or Austria, I think. I am not as familiar with its rules and tenets. However, any ITF practitioner is welcome to compete in WTF tournaments.

I would agree that my do jang is fairly strict. My Grand Master is a wonderful man, but he takes his art very seriously and runs a very disciplined school. I remember a class I took when I was a blue belt that is seared into my memory forever! Our do jang rule is that once you have dressed in your uniform and belt, you enter the training floor under the arch, salute the flags (right fist over heart), and bow to all the black belts on the floor. Well, that night it was super crowded. There were three or four black belts and probably 20 or 25 gup belts. I saluted, bowed to each black belt in turn, and went into a corner to practice my forms and wait for class to start.

Well, we get lined up, run through the codes and tenets, and are about to start warming up when this deep bellow comes from behind us: "Sheo!" Boy, I saw the instructors' faces go white, and I was petrified. Everybody snapped to attention. The instructor said, "Turn and face Kwan Chang Nim," and we all did, and there he was in the entrance with this scowl on his face. He stalked to the front of the room, told the instructors to line up with us students, and proceeded to tell us that he had watched every single student enter the training floor, and only one of us had bowed to the black belts. Now, I knew that had been me, but there was no way I was going to say anything! He told us that we all needed a lesson in discipline, even his instructors, who had not enforced the rule of showing respect to the black belts by bowing to them. He then proceeded to run us through a class that had me shaking by the end of it. We never stopped moving, not even to stretch. Three people had to leave to throw up. It was like something out of Kill Bill. It was crazy.

Our black belt classes are actually quite a bit looser in structure, even if they are much more physically and mentally demanding. We often have classes to either learn something new by request, or to brush up on basic techniques or some of the trickier forms. I like those; they are two hours long, and when Grand Master hosts an instructor class, which happens about twice a year, they are three hours long.

I'm curious why the cho dan bo belt is only used for juniors at your school. Mine uses a red belt, then a red belt with a single black stripe, then cho dan bo with red on top. Once a cho dan bo has passed the preliminary phase of black belt testing, she flips the belt so that the black is on top, signifying her readiness for the final black belt test. We do this for both children and adults. We test children (under 14) up to black belt, then promote them to full black belt when they turn 14. Their abilities are assessed at that point and the instructors together decide when a 1st dan has reached a level of maturity, confidence, and mastery of new techniques and is ready to pre-test for 2nd dan. We don't allow 2nd dan juniors, and sometimes will even re-test a junior black belt when she moves up to senior.

But, I bet if you came to my school, you would find the self defense techniques very similar, and would be able to master the first two or three forms at least with just a few minutes of practice.

Sorry this is so long, again. Your Master Richard sounds like he is very proficient, and I commend him for being able to run the school and teach every class by himself. Before I had my baby last year, I taught three children's classes and two adult classes every week, and that was quite enough for me! Hopefully by this fall, I will be back to teaching again one or two days a week. My techniques are getting a little rusty, with being able to only take one class a week and not teaching at all.

When you move up to senior black belt, will you have to repeat any testing?

I haven't heard of any of those forms, maybe Jindo. But, I haven't learned it yet. The forms/patterns we learn are Palgue Sa Chang, Palgue Som Chang. Ones like that. Every black belt should also know Koreo.

I'm also wondering, do you learn the Series'? Like Face Contacts and Intermediates. Have you learned 21 Movement or 22 Movement?

For us, the red belt is the belt before Black. That's when you start training for the black belt test. But, we don't have the red with one black stripe. If you aren't 15 then you get your half black half red belt, if you don't wear it to class with the black on top you get a scolding and aren't considered a black belt for that class. It's pretty funny when someone forgets. But, I always feel sorry for those people, probably cause I've done it. xD Though, I'm pretty sure everyone has done it once.

I'm sure I could do well at your school, I'm told that I'm a fast learner. So I doubt I'd have too much trouble. It would be a very interesting experience.

Master Richard is an awesome guy. He's amazing with kids but can get scary strict when he has to. The black belts help out with every class, so he doesn't do it all by himself.

When I become a Senior black belt I will have to do my black belt test again, but this time at the adult level. I'll be testing next year, at the moment I'm only 14. I'm not worried though, I passed at the top of the class at my first black belt test.

Our do jang sounds really small compared to yours. lol

It is so awesome to find a fellow Tae Kwon Do lover.

Each school has its own name for its gup-level forms. Mine teaches yeon mu il jang (simply means "empty hand form #1) to white belts, yeon mu ee jang (empty hand form #2) to orange and yellow belts, and on from there. Despite their different names, they are all very similar. For example, a white belt form will differ in its pattern from school to school but is likely to contain center punches and high punches, low blocks and high blocks, with all steps performed in a front stance or, sometimes, a fighting stance. The next form up will probably add front kicks and knife hand blocks in a fighting stance, and so on. The forms tend to reflect the techniques that are taught at each level, as you have no doubt experienced.

I have seen 21 Movement performed at tournaments, but my school does not teach it. I believe it is taught primarily in ITF schools, although not exclusively. I am not sure what you mean by Series; I haven't come across that term. I wonder if it's similar to one-step sparring, which is a give-and-take choreographed pattern of blocks and strikes -- to face, neck, legs, and all the vital striking points in between -- that flows from one attack to the next. By black belt, there are 15 one-step sparring patterns to memorize. Black belts learn another 15 through the first three Dans.

I am curious why your school does not focus on sparring. While it is certainly the easiest way to get hurt, it is also the only way to practice your techniques at full speed and think reactively against an opponent whose next move you cannot predict. I do know that schools that are not competition-focused often don't spar as much, nor do schools that are based in universities, because of liability issues.

For our school, you have to know 21 and 22 Movement for about half the tests, including Black Belt. I think your One-step sparring sounds pretty close to the Series.

I think it's just my certain do jang that doesn't focus on sparring, it's kinda a matter of the Master's opinion. We have Tournaments once in a while, but sparring is optional. I don't really like it, mostly cause my small size puts me at a disadvantage. And because my advantage is speed and agility, but all the safety equipment is bulky and slows me down. So I usually lose. I'm much better at forms and weapons, usually I get a 1st or 2nd on that. Except last year. I as doing Koreo for the first time at a Tournament. Wasn't too confident about my ability to do it, since I had just learned it from my brother. When I was up to perform it......yeah......I got nervous and froze up, rushed through the pattern, totally butchered it and got last place. I was about ready to cry, seeing as I hadn't even finished the pattern in front of everyone. Horrible day, that was.