Dear All, For years and years I posted diligently, and now looking back I have altered my views of many things in the Taekwondo world, and having matured a bit in age, as do most, I have an altered view of many things... What I do know is that I have respect for all martial arts, and Taekwondo-in specifically, however I am a die hard Ohdokwan / Chang Heon practitioner! As we become the new generation of Instructors and Masters, and as the original generations have begun to fade, I ask the following question... What will you do to preserve the traditions of your kwan, your style or family of Taekwondo, your Master, and your lineage. How important is this to you, and what safeguards have you put in place to ensure the old school traditions are still observed a decade from now? TAE-KWON!
This is a difficult question, I suppose especially since I'm not an instructor yet! I've been studying the encyclopedia like mad, and am looking at bringing back some of the older ways of training, that I perhaps haven't learned in class. what I'm finding difficult is the idea of keeping up a high standard of TKD when we are so restricted in when/how long we have to learn!
This may not be the full answer you're expecting, but an example of something is that my senior (my "current instructor" if you will) does gradings very informally and ad-hoc. I prefer the way my instructor (my "original instructor") did them in that it was an announced date, a formal occasion. So now I'm starting my own club I'm bringing that tradition of the more formal affair back to gradings. I prefer to keep up with modern standards so I don't teach the techniques the same way my instructor did, but he taught me a lot about how to teach (I see students today learn how to do, my instructor made sure he took the time to teach me how to teach others) so I also plan to bring that to my senior students in time.
Tradition Sir, this is precisely the types of traditions I was referencing. There is no perfect answer to the question, it is more a matter of personal philosophy. The fact that you have something to contribute, realize something is missing, or posses something you value enough to cling to is exactly the type of emotion I am hoping to hear expressed in this thread. For me I agree, the formality of a testing, requiring students to wear their dobok during regular classroom training, stopping class to bow when a senior instructor or visiting instructor enters the dojang, are all examples. There may be more personal touches that are directly linked to your style, kwan, or lineage that only make for more intimate insight into the value of preserving tradition! Tae_Kwon!
My question is, how much of that is actually the old original way of conducting class, and how much of it is arbitrary atmosphere enhancers added later on or overemphasized by those preoccupied with the theatrics?
spookey, i wanna ask you some questions since i have a deep interest in the korean soldiers of the vietnam war, and oh do kwan. do you know which techniques were used in vietnam by the roks? if so, can you describe them?
Taekwon-Do in Viet Nam Dear Sir, I will first provide a brief summary of the Ohdokwan training in Viet-nam, and will gladly answer any specific questions that may arise! 1. Chang Heon - Taekwondo (as viewed in Taekwon-Do the art of Self Defense by Choi Hong Hi, Daeha Publications). 2. 20 Patterns (referred to as Hyung) which relied on a natural motion to combine, gravity, inertia, and acceleration to create what we now commonly refer to as centrifugal force and kinetic linking. 3. Belt colors at the time (1968 - 1971) were White, Blue, Red (recently taking the place of brown), and Black. 4. Sparring was controlled, unarmored sparring, and one step sparring 5. The military salute with verbal salutation of "Tae-Kwon" was used in place of an eastern bow Please feel to ask any additional questions, and start a thread of your own if you would like so that this one does not go too far off course. I would like to make sure it remains exclusive to no specific thought other than tradition and unity! Of course, I would love to tell you all I have to share regarding the Ohdokwan and Taekwondo from years past! TAE-KWON!
I would say I dont want to uphold the traditions and I want to move on and forward and get rid of the useless things and get an genuine idea of what things are realy for. The 'traditions' of Karate and so Taekwondo come from the Japanese military way of training alot of people at once and of creating soldiers who take orders and will die for the cause. Or taming things to teach in schools. Its that simple.Before that it was about fighting or fighting back. I suppose order is the key word. I say get it back to fighting and how to use things in the choas of a fight or SD situation where theres no order.
Hard to say. I've seen such a variety of formality. I have a Korean master, but overall it is informal (in comparison to some). When we break, for example, we do a bow and then we break. I've seen other schools where it is this elaborate process. I've even saw an Aikido school where the students had to dress and undress the instructor (fold his stuff, put it away, etc). That was a bit odd...
Im not a instructor but if i teach oneday i'll be the same... i want to keep in tradition but i dont want to teach things that are useless For instance kata...i want to keep but, but only with the knowledge and teaching of the applications being more practiced than i've seem at many places our teacher, teachs some...and i want to learn as many as possible...but the teachs when i did shotokan (karate i know but still same things applies), didnt teach us applications and i oftain found questions calling on deaf ears, i asked once "sir why do we practice kata" at a young age, with no reply, i felt quite lost...asking my teacher that i have now, i get the answers i seek, and if not he at least tries to find them for me and will tell me in a lesson not long after... I really want to put full contact in but, as i've found alot of places dont and alot of people are touchy about getting hit, it would be optional and age limited im thinking but i dont know...anyone any thoughts on this? i dont even let people see me get undressed except the person im with...that idea just, boggles the mind...i wouldn't undress my teacher...i think it would scar my mind for life and haunt even my nightmares
Focus on TKD as originally intended, SD! Tell the true story of how TKD originally developed, as well as the subsequent different paths taken along the way, which gave us diversity, crediting the many deserving Korean instructors who were acting as Goodwill Ambassadors for all of Korea, along with the next generation of leaders that the flames of the torch have been passed to!
