Question for Rogue

[Gluteus Maximus]

Hi Rogue,

I know very little about Taekwondo but am curious about a local school. I want to stick to WC and don't want to cross-train per se, but would be interested in taking at least a few Taekwondo lessons to get a feel for what it's about, provided it's a style of Taekwondo worth pursuing. I remember you posting a while back about different styles of Taekwondo. This one is apparently part of W.T.F. How does that fit in with the different styles you mentioned before? What's your opinion of W.T.F. Taekwondo?

Cheers,

Max

Yooby Yoody

[Sihing73]

Hello,

You may want to post this on the Kung Fu Board as well.

Peace,

Dave

[Gluteus Maximus]

Good idea. I haven't the time to do so just now as I'm feverishly packing to leave on a two-day trip, but will post the question on the other board if Rogue hasn't replied here by the time I return.

Cheers Dave,

Max

Yooby Yoody

[Martial Joe]

Dont post on the Kung Fu bored...they will move it to Related Arts right away.Anything that isnt kung fu they move now...

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/lolup.gif IXIJoe KaveyIXIhttp://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/lolup.gif
I am Sharky's main man...

[rogue]

I'm not a WTF stylist or really an ITF either, our style is one of the early iterations of TKD which is a variation of Shotokan. With that said I'll give you my impressions from visiting some schools. For the most part WTF TKD is TKD, or at least what most of us think TKD is. It contains a heavy sport element, how heavy will depend upon the school. Of the schools that I've visited some schools have zero self defense training concentrating on tourniments, some will teach self defense as an almost seperate subject. The stances tend to be very high, the fighters tend to bounce and use a fast leg switching technique to switch between left and right stances.
Do not under estitimate the damage these guys can do, in a tourniment they only score a point if a punch successfully delivered with the first two knuckles on the mid part of the body (on the chest protector), a kick successfully delivered on the front half of the head or on the body (on the chest protector), a kick anywhere on the chest protector provided that the opponent falls down as a result of the power of the kick when, as the result of a powerful kick or punch, the opponent is staggered, dazed or falls, and is momentarily unable to continue. And that's wearing head and body protection. WTF is the opposite of WC in it's very light on the concepts and heavy on the hands on.

Personally the WTF style is not for me and IMO is not the most street ready art out there, but having been on the receiving end of those kicks I'd rather not play their game. If you can get past the legs you can try to sweep them, if they turn their back watch out for a spinning back kick.

Also if you're given the opportunity to spar, be courteous, remember they might be training only for sport so stick to their rules as using WC infighting is considered cheating and could get someone injured. If you can, try and recruit some of the TKD guys into a sparring group where maybe you can all be a little broader in what techniques get used.

You may want to ask Robin over on the main forum for more accurate information since she is a WTF stylist and does mantis also.


Rogue, you're an @ss!! Watchman

Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. It sounds swell when you write about it, but it's hell when you meet it face to face in a dark and lonely place.
Louis L'Amour

BTW, did I mention that Rogue was an @ss? Watchman

[Gluteus Maximus]

Thanks, that gives me a pretty good idea of what it's all about. From your description I don't really like the sound of it, as I was hoping it was the other non-sport style you were talking about before, but I'll go along and try to find some guys who would be prepared to spar with us on an informal basis. There's only one other guy I know in this town who's a Wing Chun practitioner - we practise together regularly and wanted to either learn some TKD or Karate techniques to practise against each other or find practitioners who can spar against us.

Cheers,

Max

Yooby Yoody