Ok, so the rumor going around in my neck of the woods is that the ATA is in some kind of (secret?) talks with the AAU, and may join. Has anybody else heard this? Is there any truth to this? I find it hard to believe that an organization that's been closed for so long would consider joining the AAU, which is fairly open. Also the ATA has their own forms, the Songahm patterns, so I'm not sure how that could even work inside the AAU framework.
That isnt true im an ATA instructor thats not true because like you said we dont do olympic style and the sparring is very very different so it wouldnt work
Thanks for the update B3ast, that's what I had suspected all along. Knives this thread isn't a versus thread, or an anti-ATA thread. Simply wanting to find out if there was any truth to the rumor that the ATA was considering joining the AAU.
I haven't heard anything about this - but then I'm not in your neck of the woods either. I'm curious what the benefit might be - to the ATA or the AAU. And why would anyone consider a merger if there was no benefit?
If ATA go AAU wont they have to start opening there doors to non ATA at their comps? untill now they have kept a ATA only structure
Some of the schools are mcdojos and some aren't. It’s the same in any system or organization. There will always be mcdojos out there. I have trained ATA style TKD for 4 of my 20+ years in the martial arts, and would say without a doubt that it is a good system when taught by a competent instructor. In a free market, it’s up to the consumer to protect themselves from charlatans. Do your research and if your local dojang, regardless of its organizational affiliation, doesn't meet your expectations don't spend your money there. The greatest power we have as consumers is choice. Also, I think it would be a shame if the ATA did merge with the AAU. Songahm is a great style and can stand on its own.
M4H it's just a rumor that came circulating around at a recent AAU tournament. The talk was that ATA point fighting, would have to improve because the ATA was talking about joining. ATA does continuous point, if I'm not mistaken, whereas the AAU still does stop action (which IMHO sucks). For anyone reading who doesn't know the difference between continuous and stop action read this.
Are there any Federations or Organizations in TKD that do just full contact sparring? All I hear of anymore is point this, and point that, and continuous point, and stop action point, and sometimes, I just want to go til one of us can't go anymore. Brian
I was under the impression that the AAU did Olympic-style sparring (continuous point) - but I'm not AAU. I do know that for tournament sparring, ATA does stop action point sparring. I wonder if you don't have local ATA school in your area that is considering converting to (or joining) the AAU. That would make more sense than the entire organization (of 300,000+ ATA members) joining.
AAU's largest contingent of fighters are Olympic, but they also do have point fighters, of the stop-action variety.
So do AAU fighters have an available path to the Olympics? There has been discussion on opening an avenue that would allow ATA competitors enter the Olympic trials. At one point there was even discussion for the Kukkiwon to acknowledge ATA ranks - though I haven't heard much about that for a few years.
Well the U.S. Olympic team is selected through an "open" that is managed by the USAT, (formerly the USTU). For a couple years the AAU was part of the USAT but they had a falling out a couple years back and kicked the AAU out. If I were an AAU athlete trying to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic squad, I wouldn't wear a dobok with AAU emblems on it to the open. (Here's some info I wrote a couple years ago about competing for a spot on the Olympic team, including how to contact the USAT, if you're interested.) And just one more point of clarification there is a difference between Olympic style and continuous point though Continuous Point is very closely related to Olympic, varying mainly in the degree of contact permissible. CP takes the "tag" aspect out of stop-action point, since a fighter can score "continuously" throughout the round, instead of having to stop after every score. Olympic focuses much more on power and KO's and de-emphasizes the punch and other hand techniques. CP does not allow KO's, and relies on speed and control.
Well, there's the WTF for one. Point-based scoring and full contact fighting are not, I say are NOT mutually exclusive. San Shou, for example, is another type of full contact fighting that uses a point system. If I'm not mistaken, Savate is as well.
I'm also an ATA instructor and I would bet everything I own that this isn't happening. The ATA has too much invested in their particular product to head in a new direction at this point. Songham TKD is a good system and can stand on its own accord, it doesn't need to merge with another discipline. Plus headquarters likes the closed system that we have. To the Mcdojo remark: All forms of martial arts have this problem. At our academy we have TKD, but cross train with BJJ. We have an instructor that has been in BJJ for many years. We also have above average weapons instruction. I would agree that some schools are mcdojos, I know of one that is ATA and it irritates me to no end. And I know of others that are the same that are WTF. Its not about the brand, its about the instruction. If you see a mcdojo, don't join. Tell others so they won't join....Set your standards high, and make sure you instructors do the same.
