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Chazzchuan
06-13-2001, 04:27 PM
Hello to everyone.... I am the new guy on he block. I have gotten alot of enjoyment out of reading the posts and seeing all of your various thoughts and opinions. I think I will like being here and perhaps getting to know some of you.

Anyway to the point... :confused:

I just moved to a small town in the stix of OHIO. For the past 7 years I have studied Tien Shan Pai and Shaolin Gung Fu. Obviously, there is no such school where I now live, nor is there any Northern style schools around that I have found. Heck I would even be happy with a good southern style if I could find one. But there is nothing. Anyway, I am now training with my buddy who also moved here from Chicago where he is a black sash in a Praying Mantis school. This is o.k. for me because I already have learned the foundations and basics in gung fu, and I can learn new things easier as well as continue to practice that which I have already learned. My problem, however, is that my 8 yr old son is now ready to learn. I don't feel that teaching him myself is really best because #1 I am still learning myself and #2 He will not take it as seriously if it is me (as he would at a formal school with a legitimate Sifu). Anyway, I figured that I would enroll him into a local Tae Kwan Do school for a while. Good kicks are really the most difficult to learn and as we can all admit, the korean art definitely concentrate on this and has produced to wicked kickers. Meanwhile, I have been working on the very basic foundations of gung fu, such as stances. Anyway, It has been about 2 months and my son has improved his kicks greatly, and has earned his yellow belt and will soon test again. While I am happy with his progress, I must say that I was outraged by what I saw at his first tournament. I probably should mention that I am 100% behind the CMA and I do not mean any disrespect to any other art, but I strongly believe in the original.
Anyway, at the tournament, my son sparred for the first time. Like most of us can remember, the first time he was timid and non aggressive and his personal performance didn't bother me since it was more of a learning experience at that point. But when the other much more experienced and higher ranked students attacked him (almost exclusively with an endless barrage of roundhouse kicks like a german march) he would reverse punch to their totally unprotected chest, back hand to the side of the head, heck I even saw a ridge hand somewhere in their. It was obvious that he had learned that stuff from me and my tournaments. Anyway the judge came to me after his second fight and told me that those strikes didn't count for anything. I couldn't believe that!!! He probably landed at least 4 to one total strikes on his opponents, but because it wasn't a kick, it doesn't count? :mad:
What kind of a system is that? I tried to get myself to just see it as a kicking game, but that doesn't cut it. I mean I have fought several TKD guys in tournaments over the years, and not had too much trouble beating them because you know they are pretty one demensional, but I had no idea that they were taught to avoid punching all together. This makes no sense to me. I left there absolutely fuming...
Anyway my question is am I hurting my son's martial arts developement by enrolling him in TKD?

Oh and p.s. Just wait till the next tourney. I taught my boy how to do a Dragon Tail sweep. That is TKD's worst nitemare. Should be interesting to see the judges reaction to that :p

shaolinboxer
06-14-2001, 05:26 PM
If you enter a tournament, it is your responsibility to understand the rules and play by them. This in itself can be quite a challange.

TKD is a great way to start practicing martial arts. Forget that is all kicking...it's sort of irrelavent in the long run. In the early stages of training, it is important to develop distance timing, intent, what is means to be "fast" or "slow", how to deal with sparring...What ever tool get you there, use it. If you stress these elements, your son will have strong foundation that will help him in all endeavors and with practicing any style.

MonkeySlap Too
06-15-2001, 01:02 AM
One of my classmates decided he wanted to do some TKD sparring. We got a friend to ITF certify him and off he went.

The judges knew he was a kung fu guy, so they were not scoreing his points. So he started knocking everybody out. The chief judge came over and asked why he was so violent. My teacher said that my classmate would stop knocking everybody out when they started scoring his points.

Heh.

I am a big beleiver in luck. The more I work, the more luck I have.

Colin
06-19-2001, 08:05 PM
Please do not think I am telling you how to raise your child.
But being kicked repeatedly in the head with roundhouse kicks is surely not something that will benefit an 8 year old child.

Colin
06-19-2001, 08:08 PM
Do you think that children should be allowed to fight in comps after only 2 months training?
Surely they cannot have learnt enough control to be let loose on the mats.

These are of course only my personal opinions.

regards

Colin............

Ben Gash
06-20-2001, 11:48 PM
It's good to get in there early.
As I understand it in WTF tournaments you have to rock your opponent with a strike for it to score. Now while you or I as skilled Chinese martial artists could rock an opponent with a bodyshield on, most TKD guys and all kids wouldn't manage it.
BTW, sweeps just get you disqualified. Tiger tail kicks might well be effective though.

"Weapons are the embodiments of fear,
the wise use them only when they have no choice"
Lao Tzu