I have just read this morning that the first Grandmaster Rhee Ki Ha has resigned from the UKTA and ITF. He states that he wants to continue to spread Taekwon-Do but with no ties or affiliations. I attended many of his seminars as he was my Grandmaster whilst I trained in this style. I admire his him as a person and for his decision now, but it has come as a bit of a shock to be honest.
Not that much of a shock, the rumours been circulating for a while now! Ever since he didnt appear at the WC's in NK recently. Still, what will be will be. Stuart
On the plus side he hasnt retired from Taekwon-Do hes freeing himself from the ties of his ITF's rules which prevented him from teaching his art to people outside of ITF-NK. Their loss our gain.
The politics in Taekwon-Do is totally ridiculous, it can even affect the students at grassroots level. I had to defect to the TAGB from the UKTA due to work reasons. During a pregrading with my TAGB instructor he asked me when did Taekwon-Do come to the UK? I answered that it was introduced to the UK in 1967 by GM Rhee Ki Ha. My instructor said to me that it wouldn't be a good idea to mention his name when answering this question during a grading. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, certain parts of Taekwon-Do history was to be ommitted to satisfy the association I was with? Ridiculous. I quit for good a year later as I was fed up with all the political BS..
Personally I think associations are only for those who make the money off of it. Hardly anyone I know cares what association a school is affiliated with. More often than not its looked at as a McDojo chain rather than a good school. Just my opinon though.
That's bizarre! Nobody I know in the TAGB has ever mentioned such an idea. I get the feeling sometimes that Instructors are over-sensitive to the politics in some ways that organisations might not care about. Mitch
There are a good many taekwon-do instructors and associations that are sensitive to ant names that suggest there is a taekwon-do out-with their given group. the TAGB ive never known to discount that they were once part of the UKTA untill 84 but again they do not promote the fact. When i did my instructors course with the TAGB in 05 they were quite active in putting down GM Rhee Ki Ha and how the ITF were so bad they had to form the TAGB. Master Donelley was always very proud of the fact he was once ITF and the only brit ever to be part of his Masters Tour. But not so much of a supporter of of GM Rhee.
When I did my Instructor's (I'll have to check the date, but about the same time I think?) they were open in saying why they split from UKTA and when, and the reasons involved. There wasn't a bad word spoken about Rhee Ki Ha personally, and certainly nothing disrespectful about his skill as a MAist. Mitch
One thing that always stood in my mind from that weekend was Master Walton commenting on how GM Rhee was so unfair on him for failing him twice for 4th Degree just because Rhee "didn't like him". Master Donnelley wasn't part of those courses but GM Rhee was a topic of conversation between us at scottish colour belt gradings as i had trained with UKTA and we knew lots of the same people. then again those courses are so boring only things that our brains feel important to hear are remembered.
There is that! I remember the faces of the people that asked the same question in a different way again and again and again. Only so I can hunt them down and kill them soon Mitch
those 2 courses could have been done on one day if it wasnt for those few who couldnt listen and interpret that same question over n over n over n over n over. 600 miles round trip and a overnight stay in that dank hole they call bristol to hear people say.....so what about ABC///yeah so what aboput ABC ...yeah so what about ABC.....i have nightmares about those sessions. if only the beep test on day two of part one culled the stupid
Amen! You've been with who, UKTA and GTF now? (sorry if that's wrong) Have you done any courses with any other org? Mitch
Got instructor certs with TAGB & T-UK ( T-UK came about after the GTUK split earlier this year and went back to the ITF ) I will Have my ITF IIC ones by the end of January, T-UK is national qualifications and the ITF ones will be international Qualifications All my TKD choices have been mostly geographical due to lack of a horesless carriage opposed to politics.
One story I was told my instructor with the ITF, who incidentaly is a Senior Master now. He told about the forming of the TAGB and one of the TAGB Master in particular. This Master had the job of coaching a competition team and felt himself qualified to grade up to the next Dan grade just because he was successful with the competition squad. GM Rhee said no because although he was successful with the squad, he had actually neglected his own training and his standard had slipped. Apparently toys came out of the pram. My Master wasn't just slating TAGB instructors as had a high regard for the skill of a few the practicioners who founded the TAGB, particulary Master Gayle. For my part GM Rhee was an amazing presence at a grading, it really lifted me to try harder. I just didn't get that same buzz in the TAGB being graded by Master Dew. To be honest I have looked at a few schools and I thought at some point people could turn up to a grading and do nothing and come away with a new belt. Shame..
Int Ins Certs Are you aware that ITF International Instructors Certificates are only valid for 2 years from their issued date? The ITF (during General Choi's reign) were very poor at administrating this, which has unfortunately continued into the current 3 ITF's. FGMR (First Grand Master Rhee) was continually pointing this out to ITF-HQ, insisting that an expiry date should be on every International Instructors certificate. Kind reagrds, Master Andrew K H Rhee
FGMR Resignation In resopnse to TONY MC's post regarding the resignation of FGMR. I would like to point out that although FGMR resigned from the ITF (Chang Ung Group) he DID NOT resign from UKTA. Since his resignation there has been much discussion between he & his UKTA Masters Council, this all came to a head when certain members of the Council informed him that he may have founded the UKTA but he was in fact, NOT a member as he did not possess a current membership! (I wonder if General Choi ever had a membership to ITF during his time?). Since that discussion both grand Master Cutler & Senior Master O'Neill have resigned from the Council, disgusted at the behaviour of the current Council Members. These existing Master Council members are now in the process of writting FGMR out of the UKTA constitution, they are also planning to remove his image from the Dobok, they have threatened legal action against him should the UKTA be expelled from Chang Ung ITF as a consequence of his resignation. FGMR has now walked away, he has said all along that he alone resigned from ITF due to their lack of Taekwon-Do ettiquette, he DID NOT instruct UKTA to follow suit. However, he did not expect to be treated by the Senior members of the Association he founded to treat him with such contempt. FGMR continues to promote the art that General Choi sent him out to pioneer in 1964! To date he has not resigned or been expelled from the UKTA. Kind regards, Master Andrew K H Rhee I have just read this morning that the first Grandmaster Rhee Ki Ha has resigned from the UKTA and ITF. He states that he wants to continue to spread Taekwon-Do but with no ties or affiliations. I attended many of his seminars as he was my Grandmaster whilst I trained in this style. I admire his him as a person and for his decision now, but it has come as a bit of a shock to be honest.
No I was never aware of that & have never heard of it nor have I ever read a regulation about it. An II cert has never had an expiration, nor did they ever have to be renewed. The ITF Plaque had to be renewed every year but the club owner paying the annual membership fee. This Plaque number as well as the II cert number of the examiner had to be (& still does) placed on the BB application. I have heard of applications being held up due to the yearly Plaque fee not being up to date, but never was that the case for an II cert! What is the basis for your claim? Additionally the ITF-V has placed in some requirement that a certain amount of IICs have to be taken during each Dan level for a candidate to be considered for promotion. Many think that this is placed in as a requirement to have more people take the IICs.
Grassroot politics - hidden in everyones mind... It absolutely is. But to be honest, how many of you ITF people would welcome an WTF DAN holder to train with you without letting him/her be de-graded? I think First Grandmaster Rhee has taken an important step as one of the leading Taekwondo'ists in the world to teach anyone regardless of organization. I hope the intention is to propagate the teaching's of General Choi to all TKD practitioners and with that I mean, all, not just different ITF organizations. I think there is a long way to go, FGMR can do what pleases him when it comes to seminars and so on but for his message to spread a lot of protectionism within the ITF has to go away and we have to open the borders. Are those Masters agreeing with the choice made by FGMR willing to open up the borders? In the Legacy CD General Choi clearly states that WTF black belts are welcome joining the ITF without being degraded, just send their Kukkiwon certificate to the ITF. This was stated by the General himself. In reality, a WTF black belt is hardly even allowed training wearing his once-earned black belt on an ITF training. The protectionism - you didn't earn it at our school. Without a mutual understanding, there can't be *one* TKD.
I have always embraced any other MAist that wish to train & become friends. It never matter the style to me, but when it came to other KMAs they seemed like they were closer in a way, like a cousin in the family. I for one think that ITFers can learn a lot for WTFers, especially with this quick steps & light wing counter kicks! All MAs are related in some way. With all KMAs being a bit closer, with all TKDin being even closer in my view. It is people in power & orgs that put up the barriers as that helps them maintain control. Most MAists simply want to train, sweat, learn & share!
