Your worst experience(s) of politics in TKD

I've started this thread so that MAP users can share their experiences of politics in TKD. It is actually to serve a purpose: to analyse the major issues, find solutions and promote change. I feel politics are destroying much of what is good about this art; I also believe we can make changes if we all try hard enough!

To avoid this becoming an association bashing thread, please do not name specific individuals or organisations.

Cheers!

 

A certain TKD org advertised on their own website that they were seeking submissions of article on a TKD subject written by any TKD student, except students of the ITF

 

There are of course internal politics that all orgs & groups suffer from. In additional there is politics of rival orgs & of course the politics of a nation when they accuse, brand or tarnish someone's name. Gen Choi was labeled a communist sympthazier when he introduced TKD to the Eastern Bloc nations by SK. It was of couse a double standard because when the 3rd WCs that were held in Chicago, USA some of the travel expenses were paid for Communist member nations to come & compete in Chicago. The same criticisms were not directed towards other TKD leaders making the same outreaches. Then of course when Gen Choi took his TKD Demo Team to north Korea in 1980, he was labeled an outright traitor. Twenty years later the president of SK went to NK & was given a Nobel Peace Prize. Two years latter in 2002, a couple of months after Gen Choi passed away, a TKD Demo Team from SK went & performed in NK. A double standard & dirty politics for sure. It should be noted that Alex Gillis's great book on the untold history of TKD documents many dirty politics of a serious nature that SK, through its own KCIA did to many TKD men around the world & how the KCIA used TKD men to carry out nasty deeds for their brutal & oppressive military dictatorship.
It should be further noted that Gen Choi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize & I am sure history in the end will judge him more favorably & credit him for some groundbreaking work that had wonderful results

 

+1

Perhaps it is the personal insecurities of those at the top of associations that causes much of the politics?

 

power, money & ego
either one, or any possible combination thereof
which imo does not belong in the MAs

 

To be fair, hasn't the ITF pretty much just done the same with their new magazine?

 

Yes I will try my best to be fair.
Now 1st, which ITF are you talking about? & What is the name of their magazine?
Are you sure you are not talking about a private venture by an ITF-C BB member who just launched on his own accord, as a business venture recently an ITF only E-Zine?
If so it doesn't apply imo. If you are talking about an official ITF publication, then I am not sure that applies either. You see an org can have a magazine or publication for its members.
However the major TKD organization on its own website asked for submissions from any TKD student. They ONLY EXCLUDED the ITF members. That I think to be fair is different. That org was not saying only their members can submit, but rather all can, independents, other orgs etc. except the ITF. IMO it does not equate & am open to consider reasons why I may have missed something, or why I am not being fair

 

TKDStudent - you are correct, I was mistaken as the magazine is just the venture of an individual rather than officially backed by the org.

 

You reminded me of a quote by one of Gen Choi's right hand men who said "Taekwondo should never be taught for money, because money corrupts and Taekwondo needs to be above corruption." Or something like that. Gah, I can't remember who it was but I'll try to dig it out.

Could commercialism be the biggest threat to TKD?

 

Is that Tezzer?

 

Politics in TKD wow

Personally - Arranging and hosting a seminar, booking the hall, handing out flyers etc, being told that the association is right behind this and then on the day only 5 or so people turn up leaving me big time out of pocket. The reason I was given by my instructor's instructor 'The head of the group down here said it wasn't TKD and that no-one could go.'

From others
Having your posters torn down.
Having students from rival groups disrupt lessons
Having students from rival groups disupt seminars
Having your entire car covered in your flyers

And the point of all of this was? One person was teaching something that the Senior Instructors of my group had never learned, the other was possibly taking away students from another school.

So what? If you don't know, learn it or be happy to send your students to the other classes. That's what I do. If you're losing students find out why and address it! Don't vandalise someone's car ffs.

 

Sound like a bunch of kids:bang:

Edit: Not kids. Not all kids act like this. Schoolgirls! Bet they write comments on your Facebooks and text you crap! Bloody schoolgirls!

 

Being humiliated to the point that you no longer feel welcome to go back to a club because when asked after loosing your first fight and no longer being in the "golden boy" group your told your too fat, slow, have no skill and should question yourself as to why you want to do TKD...

And now because you have broken away to do your own thing you can no longer go to certain events because there will be refereeing and other costs will be biased to your students because you left that association to go alone.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I was given the green light by a former instructor of mine to arrange a seminar with a highly talented and well known martial artist, only to be told I'd be thrown out of the association if I did. Their reason was they were trying to protect me for insurance reasons; funny how they were keen up to the point I said "No" to the seminar being advertised on the association website and keeping it closed to other orgs. At the time I didn't have the courage to leave, until the association flexed its muscles again and told us how we should run our club. That was when I'd had enough and left; sadly my instructor at the time didn't show the same courage.

I think a lot of associations forget they are there to serve the needs of their members, not the other way around.

 

Grappling tournament at a Karate/TKD competition run by a man who does not know what a "naked choke" or keylock is, but spends half the rules discussion explaining how dangerous and illegal they are. Same man is asked if heel hooks are okay, and then demonstrates a hook kick to the head and says "Oh yeah, that's fine". Same man separates the grappling divisions based on TKD rank with hilarious results.
Forms at said tournament. Scoring of said forms valuing screaming, aPALLING body mechanics and posing over amazing displays of movement and form.
(I'll drop the tournament at this point, it's just that it's my most recent experience with TKD/Karate and it sincerely amazed me)

Ranking in my former school being based on time spent and bills paid, teachers having little to no interaction with students except to lead exercises and "give" techniques to people. Schools disallowing participation except with contract. Schools disallowing equipment unless bought from the school. Schools and organizations in general catering to themselves with regards to rules and judgement while claiming superiority.


All these things fall under the common threads of apathy and preservation of the illusion of superiority, or money, not in TKD as a martial art.

On the other hand, I know TKDists who forsake all those things and will legitimately wreck people with it, and the root of my standup is based on TKD. Taking the "ideal" form from my TKD and then adjusting it to generate force with smaller movement has paid off greatly. Oddly enough it looks like Bujinkan or lazy kyokushin now, but I can't deny that I got it mostly from TKD.

 

When Gen. Choi went to N. Korea, it was as a private citizen without the official permission of his home country (i.e. S. Korea). North Korea is considered an enemy of S. Korea; and for Choi to take it upon himself to introduce martial arts to an enemy nation without the support of his gov't would indeed be questionable.
During the Cold War, if I went to the Soviet Union to spread Taekwondo without the official permission of the U.S. government, I could rightfully be labeled a traitor.

 

Heres a few:

1. Told I couldnt wear the dobok I had paid for when I first set up my club as it had my former associations badge on it - so I told them to refund my money for it and I wouldn't They didnt, so I wore it until I sorted out new ones for the club.

2. A 'down the grapevine' threat that a high ranked (and handy) instructor was gonna turn up in the middle of my classes, in civvies and challange & spar me to make me look bad in front of my students. I sent a message back that if he turned up, it wont be sparring (he was a heavyweight champ btw) , we`ll be fighting, so not to both bring his gloves.

3. Being told that my students can enter a competition "as long as I didnt turn up" due to the fact I had left the organisation and the previous time my students they did a bit too well lol

4. A more personal one for me was paying lots of money to compete in a World Champs, plus flights, hotels etc. Doing really well only to end up fighting against one of the top dogs son.. a fight I won convincenly but still lost cos the judges were afraid to draw against him.. funnily enough he won that whole section in the end!

Theres a few, I can probibly think of loads more. I had a similar experience to Matts with a GKR club, but it wasnt politics per se, it was jealously and money orientated.

Stuart

 

Bit of a side track but wasn't one of the kickboxing associations (ill let you guess) charging a minimum of something like £1200 + to go away and stay in a hotel only to turn up and see the room rate advertised at the front desk for the week was a third of the price?

All about the money, thats where politics always start

 

What always upsets me most are the attempts to block events hosted by other groups. One of my friends was hosting the Polish Championships and a while before the tournament date there were faxes sent to all the local authorities from both the biggest association in my country (claiming to be the sole authority over the whole non-Olympic TKD in the country but not allowing onyone outside of their own ITF fraction to join them) and the former president of our group (democratically kicked out at the AGM) claiming that the event is illegal and should be stopped by the police! It took my friend a couple of days to sort everything out and prove he's not a camel As I met him on the weigh-in day he looked like he was just released from a prison somewhere in an obscure country...

I remember my friends being robbed of the certification fees which dissapeared somewhere between the exam location and the Kukkiwon with no trace, and at the same time I was offered a Kukkiwon grade over the phone by the very same examiner, the only thing I needed to do was pay the money... an offer which I politely declined

Listening to the former president of our group explanining me that we don't do TKD anymore in our group and we should change the name... but at the same time promoting people from 1st to 4th Dan in 2 years didn't bother him at all :thinking:

Being told that I am not allowed to wear a T-shirt from an open event on the ITF championships by one of the ITF top dogs. Even if there was a huuuge ITF contingent present at the open event.

Interesting thing is, many of the actions were taken by the people who have TKD Tenets published all over their websites and books :evil: