I was up at our home dojang in Michigan this weekend for a testing (not my own). While there, we were introduced to new changes coming down from the WTF/KKW. The poomse's have been changed (not the movements, but the transitions are now different), as have the basic blocks. As someone who comes from an "old school" lineage, I'm finding these changes a little hard to take. Some of them make sense, and I can easily agree with them, but some of the new bits just seem like they're 'dumbing' things down. I thought it was bad enough when they bumped all the blackbelt poomse back a rank (koryo is now the poomse you learn AS a 1dan, you perform it for your 2dan testing)... I dunno. I'm feeling a little irritated by it all. Anyone else heard of/seen these changes? If so, how do you feel about them? Cait
wow. i haven't heard of any changes. But I'm curious... why does WTF change so much? Does ITF do the same? And if the forms ar ebeing "dumbed" down as u say... i hate that because i find WTF forms a bit ummm static as compared to ITF. coul u elaborate mor eon what you heard or saw in terms of the blocks and such?
Hey Cait, The BB's at my dojung have been working on the "new poomses" for a couple of months now and some of the new movements just feel weird. Some blocks have changed completely as well. As for Koryo for your 1st Dan test... that change has been there for quite some time. I remember when I was training for my BB in '06 and I went on the KKW site and it said that you learn Koryo as a 1st Dan - not for your 1st Dan cert. The Master instructor said that we are testing for our 1st Dan and we should know it as a 1st Dan. If you look at it according to KKW I know pretty much what a 2nd Dan knows Hey... where's my second stripe? Is it Irritating... yes. Is it frustrating... Hell yes. But this is the way TPTB have decided to go. I think they are taking all the individuality out ot the poomses and making it too cookie-cutter. i think it will be hardest on us because we have done it the "old" way so long it's a force of habit - you just fall into it. It will take a while to get used to it this way.:bang: Best of luck. G
I too would love to hear more Cait. Our school has always done Koryo for 1st Dan. Now remember, I have only been training for 3 years so I don't know how "new" this change is...
but think of all the money they can make by making all the instructors go to courses to learn the new stuff
Yes, that's just what we were saying... it must be the money! The shift in the poomse (koryo to 2dan) has been changed for a year or two - i was ust pointing out that that was something I found - dumb, strange, irritating.. take your pick - but to add these new changes is even worse. As for the changes themselves, I haven't got all of them. The chambers for all the basic blocks have changed, and I'm not sure I can fully describe them. Middle block has moved from a chamber at the ear (or behind, depending on how you did it) to (now) a straight extention from the shoulder. The biggest thing I'm noticing is that the fluidity it being taken out - the moves seem more robotic They have new DVD's out that reflect all the changes - I haven't even seen everything with the poomses.
Change shouldn't necessarily be feared, progress is a good thing. having an open mind is a great asset. But change for change sake is pointless exercise it only leads to people falling out and the art being fragmented even further.
Which is exactly why these most recent changes have left me staring at the wall in a confused manner! I'm usually pretty open-minded, if you give me a reason that can be backed up, I'll roll with it. I just can't fathom the reasoning behind these most recent ones.
Next change: Kicks below the belt and punches to the face with grappling as well! =D Here's hoping...
Could you describe some of these changes that you noticed. In addition as far as I know the requirement for 1st dan has always been taegeuk 8, at least that is what it says in my KKW textbook from the 80s
The requirement for 1dan was Koryo, at least for a while. I talked about some of the changes here, but as I said, I haven't seen all of them yet. Mostly it's different chambers - both in blocks and other techniques. Like Taegeuk Chil, there's the knee followed by an inverted uppercut? The chamber for the uppercut is now palm down, instead of palm up. In Taegeuk Oh, the hammer fist at the beginning? Instead of just moving straight from the low block, circular transition to a hammer; now we've got both arms involved, the non-attacking hand goes into a sort of high block at the same time as you wind up for the hammer fist. Oh, and no more walking stance. It's gone. Just gone. My instructor's coming in tonight to show us more of the changes.
We don't. There's only a front stance. Nothing varies. I find it more than a little dumb, personally.
Nice to know that Oh Jang has changed since this is my current form. Once I am back in the dojang I will ask if we have knowledge of this change and if we are going to change as well.
I am just wondering are these new changes to those that were made about 2 1/2 years ago, or are you just now hearing of the changes that were made about 2 1/2 years ago?
