Hmmm funny things Jungle drums you never know if they are in your language!! Agreed on the politics thing, I just want to train!! Although been mostly instructing for the past year. Can't wait to get back to being a student again. Lot's to learn, need to develop more!
Hey Craigwarren. When I was in UKTA I was just a coloured belt but I noticed that the gradings were only done by master Rhee (now grandmaster obviously) & Mr MacCallum (now master). I know that one of the reasons that UKTF formed was because of the difficulty we had back then in getting gradings in scotland, as grandmaster Rhee wouldn't let anyone else do them & was very reluctant to grade anyone past 3rd degree. It was all to do with money as the grading examiner gets a cut of the grading fee, & GM Rhee was getting a fair income from it. I know that I waited almost a year to grade to yellow tags as we couldn't get anyone to come north of Glasgow to grade us, & eventually Tom MacCallum did a grading in Aberdeen which we went to. I like the gradings to be smaller affairs as I think it gives people a harder grading (especially when it's my International, David McNairn 5th degree, coz he's a dinasaur heh heh). As long as your Instructor is good, teaches a good class, & inspires & challenges you, I don't think it matters what association you're in. Like I always say, we're all in this together, & every association has it's good points & faults.
Yeah, I always wondered what "boom boom budda budda boom" meant. It's great when you get a chance to be a student again. I teach full time & it's great to get on seminars & just be Joe Bloggs again. When I passed my first degree I took about five years out just to study other martial arts & stuff, was a great time. I still love studying other systems, the more different from TKD the better.
Heh Heh Heh, remember craig- your instructor seems to be watching, & sparring is always just around the corner.
I'd love to be able to say I'm doing Aikido aswell, but workload at Uni is really too much just now. After my exams i swear I'll buck up my ideas!! I really like the simple stuff to Aikido, I can relate to you saynig completley different though. Really wouldn't mind immerssing myslef in MA once my exams are over.
Yeah, fair one, your studies HAVE to come first. I was lucky, many moons ago I was an art student & we had an easy life, hehehe. I enjoyed training in Aikido. Their principle if Irimi, & their Tai Sabaki are very usefull. Of all the other styles I've trained in though, I have to say it's been the Filipino martial arts & some of the other Korean systems I've enjoyed the most. I'm currently messing about in capoeira when I get the chance, it's a hoot.
I've been quite interested in Hapkido as it seems like not too harsh a transition. Fancy a weapons based art though
My current instructer is great ( im not just saying that cause he's tosh) we get a lot of work done, im motivated to actually do the work i need to in tae kwon do and the club has a really fun atmosphere. As for other martial arts im activly looking for a new art that contains weapons and perhaps ground fighting. not much luck atm though.
I think thats a great idea & thats why I got involved in Pekriti Tirsia (kali) & Sul Sa Do. They both involve weapons work. To really understand how to defend against a weapon you really need to know how the weapon can be employed. You should try Ricky Young in Edinburgh, he's an excellent instructor. Sorry for dissapearing suddenly earlier Tosh, had to go beast my Dundee students
Ricky is a real 'performer' with huge ability, & a nice bloke into the bargain. Mike & Steve Krause in Glasgow are good blokes to train with, though the last time I saw them was about 15 years ago! Filipino Martial Arts are the perfect 2nd martial art for someone who does TKD as they really improve your movement & tactical awareness for self protection, & there isn't a stick or knife system out there which comes close. You can't argue with guys like the canetes, who have field tested their system.
Cool, when I get 5 mins to myslef I'll be sure to look them up. Stay tooned, Dundee students eh? My heart goes out to you! Heh
I was at a breaking demo about 7 years ago in Manhattan, KS. The finale was WTF 5th Dan Master Chris Garland lying on glass with concrete slabs on his stomach, as an assistant broke the stack with a splitting wedge. The assistant arced it instead of coming straight down, sweeping through the bricks and catching Master Garland in the groin. You'd have thought he was James Brown the way they escorted him away. The demo was hokey, but that school makes some good fighters.
LOL! he old slabs on the body trick. Basic physics - disipation of forces etc. I witnessed a demo once where this guy lay down with 6 concrete slabs on his chest and his assistant was about to smash them with a sledge hammer. He asked for any questions so I asked if he could make it easier for himself and take away all that heavy concrete - just let me hit him with the sledge hammer in the chest- now THAT would have been impressive. He wasn't too keep
Dave! What have I told you before! Play fair with the other kids! I'll bet he wasn't happy! I was at a Karate board breaking demo once, and the board broke in the holders hands! How embarrasing!
Hehehehehehe Was doing a TKD demo at the Edzell village fete about 10 years ago. Had two guys at either side of me holding big marley tiles for me to jumping back kick. Did the kicks, smashed the tiles. looked around & there's Graeme, one of the other blackbelts, standing there in a state of shock with a big bit of tile sticking out of the top of his head. He'd decided to move closer to the break to get a photo, & ended up getting more than he'd wanted.
I saw an ad in an MA mag a while back that advertised wooden boards for breaking that were "Garanteed to break everytime." Is it me or does that kinda defeat the whole object of the exercise
Buy some, leave them outside in the rain for a couple of days to remove the brittleness, take some film of you and some mates trying to break them and then send it to the company with a demand for a refund and a whole pile of free boards for firewood.
