needing tkd info

tipptom

my son has been doing tkd for the past year,he seems to like it but was wondering will it eventually make him good in self defence which i have mainly sent him for,even though i like the rest of their ethos. i am also unsure about the belts,are these coloured tips on each belt the usual or just an excuse to pick up 30e in between colours belts

rom

Yes its the norm.

Doug Cartel

tipptom wrote: »

are these coloured tips on each belt the usual or just an excuse to pick up 30e in between colours belts

Why do you use the word "or"?

yomchi

tipptom wrote: »

my son has been doing tkd for the past year,he seems to like it but was wondering will it eventually make him good in self defence which i have mainly sent him for,even though i like the rest of their ethos. i am also unsure about the belts,are these coloured tips on each belt the usual or just an excuse to pick up 30e in between colours belts

Hi there,
About the self defence bit, it really depends on the club. A good Taekwon-Do club will teach your son how punch and kick. As a coach to many kids myself, I don't teach self defence per se as it's an unhealthy environment for a child to develop, it's a bit like reinforcing the concept of the bogey man. Having said that we train for sport and within that we do a lot of pad drills and sparring where functional gross motor strikes are to the fore.

The belt system in Taekwon-Do is mixed between solid belts and tips or stripes. The belts go in this order;

White
yellow stripe or tip
yellow
green stripe or tip
green
blue stripe or tip
blue
red stripe or tip
red
black stripe or tip
black

Some clubs use the stripe belt some just stick insulating tape on the end of them instead, both are the same rank and equally legitimate.

Hope that helps some.

dudara

If he is training well, and being trained well, then he'll gain fitness, flexibility and the ability to strike well. This isn't self-defence per se, but it is confidence building.

rom

dudara wrote: »

If he is training well, and being trained well, then he'll gain fitness, flexibility and the ability to strike well. This isn't self-defence per se, but it is confidence building.

I agree with this also. I am going for my black belt in June and would have to say that TKD is not the best for self defense. As 70% of a grading mark is for patterns then there is a lot of time spent on them. Good technique is achieve through it.

I also do Muay Thai and would recommend it more for self defense but as I started it after doing TDK for 3 years I found it more beneficial.

Also in TKD kicks are more important than punches as they score more. If you look at video's on youtube of top level TKD fights you will see it is as if they don't have hands at all as they use them so little.

In Muay thai both are important. You also learn how to grapple which would be more important in a self defense situation than being able to do a spinning back side kick. In Muay thai you can grab legs, kick below the waist, knee, elbow etc which are likely to happen in a fight.

TDK sparing should be semi-contact where you have to show control where you retract the hand/kick.

I have also done Karate up until black belt. I would recommend Muay thai or boxing for self defense more as the level of training builds strength and fitness more.

it is also the case that Muay Thai may be too much for someone starting off.

In the past year I have got fitter and stronger more since doing Muay Thai also than in the 3 pervious years doing TKD.


This is just my opinion/experience and am not looking for a debate on it.

tipptom

thanks for the information guys,i understand better now what he is doing,i think fitness,confidence and dicipline are great for him and i understand better the moves he is doing. i will let him get a few more years of tkd under his belt and he may be ready for the boxing gym then.

yomchi

How old is he?

If you are considering moving him to boxing at some point and he is old enough (11) to join a boxing club now I would advise moving him instead of waiting.

The vast majority of TKD instructors have no boxing knowledge and if your goal is to have him boxing, a boxing coach will spend at least six months undoing all the bad habits he will have picked up at TKD.

I found that when I started boxing at 15, I had 4 years of TKD already done and I had to re-adapt. If you find a TKD club with a focus on Kickboxing also (ahem) you'll find the coach there as more of an understanding of boxing.

tipptom

he is 8,would be thinking of some form of self defence training,trouble is i live right out in the sticks and it s a long way from the nearest town so when they started tkd in local hall i jumped at it. what did you get yourself from 4 years of tkd and do you think you could defend yourself with it.apolagise for my ignorance about the whole subject.

yomchi

tipptom wrote: »

he is 8,would be thinking of some form of self defence training,trouble is i live right out in the sticks and it s a long way from the nearest town so when they started tkd in local hall i jumped at it. what did you get yourself from 4 years of tkd and do you think you could defend yourself with it.apolagise for my ignorance about the whole subject.

Well after four years I managed to improve my fitness considerably and I was a confident competitor in that field. I took up boxing as a friend of mine was a coach in Phibsboro ABC and I wanted to improve my hands. After six months of boxing I was knocking down opponents with my hands, something I couldn't do after four years of Taekwon-Do, we didn't learn to box in TKD.

22 years later, I'm coaching now and while I'm not a qualified boxing coach I do teach my guys what I know, I also have a boxing coach teach at my place a few times during the month hence my competitors always excel at TKD events and we can step onto the mat with kickboxers and represent ourselves well.

A good TKD coach will teach your young lad to kick and punch well. Training for specific self defence is a different kettle of fish altogether. There is much much more to self defence training than learning to kick and punch, but learning this well is the foundation to defending yourself.

If I were you, I would have the young lad in a club that promotes a positive athletic outlook and promotes healthy living, from there your son will become naturally confident in his ability. This natural confidence will serve him well. His self defence training should come from yourself helping him to understand about not talking to strangers and reporting bullies.

I hope you're picking me up right, I'm not telling you how to do your job as a daddy, it's just my opinion.

What do you think?

tipptom

agree with you completly and take everything on board without feeling your sticking your nose in and appreciate your advice as you have more experience with young fellas in this field than me.i wouldnt be the sort of dad who would want him to be punching anyone for just some argument but i would like him to be confident and not meek towards bullies as in the news lately has shown that a lot of schools do not act quickly enough towards bullies if at all and it can destroy young people.

yomchi

tipptom wrote: »

agree with you completly and take everything on board without feeling your sticking your nose in and appreciate your advice as you have more experience with young fellas in this field than me.i wouldnt be the sort of dad who would want him to be punching anyone for just some argument but i would like him to be confident and not meek towards bullies as in the news lately has shown that a lot of schools do not act quickly enough towards bullies if at all and it can destroy young people.

Yes I agree. Again if your TKD coach is good he or she will teach your son good striking skills.
I keep harping on about a good TKD coach simple because there are many bad ones out there. Taekwon-Do being a traditional art can tend to lean heavy on impractical ways of developing athletes. Kicking the air, lack of pad or bag work, and patterns training (as a form of fighting) will inevitably give the practitioner incomplete skills.

At age 8, children lack the ABC's, those standing for Agility, Balance and Co-ordination. The training for a child at age 8 should be all about developing these attributes which lays the foundation for an able bodied teen to develop into a strong striker.

Best of luck with it!

rom

tipptom wrote: »

agree with you completly and take everything on board without feeling your sticking your nose in and appreciate your advice as you have more experience with young fellas in this field than me.i wouldnt be the sort of dad who would want him to be punching anyone for just some argument but i would like him to be confident and not meek towards bullies as in the news lately has shown that a lot of schools do not act quickly enough towards bullies if at all and it can destroy young people.

Just like in the rest of society the aggressor gets more rights than the victim.

As for bullying self confidence which is achieve more through team sports is the best. Bullies want a reaction and if a child is self confident then they will move on to an easier target for them.

There is plenty of big strong kids being bullied by kids half their size. Confidence is the key.