Taekwondo
Taekwondo is one of the most common
martial arts being taught. Usually, it is taught during summer to cater
students when they are on vacation. Taekwondo originated from Korea and was
developed by the collaborative effort of a group consisting of members from the
nine originalkwans. Choi Hong Hi coined the term Tae Kwon Do. Tae means “to stomp” or “to strike with
the foot”. Kwon means “to strike with
the fist”. Lastly, do means “way of
life”. It can be summed up as “the way of the foot and the hand”.
Taekwondo is quite similar to
Karate. It is because of the fact that taekwondo was heavily influenced by
Shotokan Karate. Taekwondo started to be famous during the 1940s. The sport was
nameless up until in 1957. This martial art was also adopted by the South
Korean military. This adoption increased taekwondo’s popularity among civilian
martial arts school. In 1973, World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) was established.
Taekwondo is also one of the only two Asian martial arts (the orther being judo)
that are included in the Summer Olympic Games.
Today, many world renowned mixed
martial artists are using taekwondo as one of their weapon in their arsenal.
Some of these mixed martial artists are Anderson Silva, who is a former UFC
Middleweight Champion and holds the longest title defense streak in UFC
history.
Taekwondo is differentiated from
other martial arts with its emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping, spinning
kicks, and quick kicking techniques. Unlike in Karate, taekwondo stances are
narrower and less stable than the wide stances of karate. But in the International Taekwondo
Federation, they still stick to the traditional way it was taught: shoulder
width and half long stances, and shoulder width wide stances.
In taekwondo, power is defined by
speed and agility. In Choi Hong Hi’sTheory
of Power, he observed that the power of the strike increases quadratically
with the speed of the blow while the mass of the striking object only increases
the power linearly. Choi also advocated the “relax then strike” principle in
taekwondo. This means that when performing a technique the performer should
relax the muscles in the body and then tense it while doing the technique. It
is believed to increase the blow or strike of the technique by conserving the
energy of the body. The Theory of Power also included; Reaction forces,
concentration, equilibrium, breathe control, mass, speed.
Every taekwondo club or school is
different in teaching the art but the student, taekwondoin, typically learns or
takes part in the basics of the art. One of which are the patterns. This serves
as the study of traditional taekwondo forms derived from the Shotokan kata.
Then comes the sparring in which the student spars with other pupils. There are
three kinds of sparring; free-style, step, and point sparring. Free-style
sparring is where the student isn’t interrupted for several minutes. Meanwhile,
step sparring is where the student practices pre-arranged sparring
combinations. Lastly, the point sparring is where the student engages into a
simulation of a professional bout where the sparring is only interrupted after
every point scored then resume again.
Taekwondo is also famous for the
breaking of boards. We often see a taekwondoin break boards in television to
impress fans. This act is also a requirement in practicing taekwondo. There are
three types of breaking; power breaking, speed breaking, and special
techniques. Power breaking uses straightforward techniques to break as many
boards as possible. Speed breaking focuses on the speed required to perform the
break. In special techniques, the taekwondoin breaks boards using jumping or
flying techniques to reach a greater height to clear obstacles.
Self-defense is also a learned in
the curriculum. Throwing and falling technics are also being taught in
taekwondo. Of course, the student is not just always offensive. He/she must
learn to defend in times. Anaerobic, aerobic workout, stretching, meditation,
and as well as breathing control is also learned in taekwondo. Since it is a
martial art, the student is being taught to focus on mental and ethical
discipline, etiquette, and, respect.
A taekwondo student normally wears a
uniform called dobok with a belt wrapped around and tied around the waist.
There are many variations of colors but white is the traditional and is often
used at formal ceremonies such as belt tests and rank promotions. Colored dobok
is oftenly used for special teams such as demonstration or leadership teams or
to separate a higher-level taekwondoin, usually the instructor. There are also
two major styles of the dobok. One is the cross-over front jacket which is
called the ITF style and the other one is the V-neck jacket which is typically
worn by WTF taekwondoin. Belt color indicates a student’s rank. Different clubs
use different color schemes for belts but in general, the darker the belt
color, the higher the rank. Taekwondo is traditionally performed with bare feet
but sometimes, martial arts training shoes can be worn. During sparring, padded
equipment is worn to protect the students. In ITF, only the hands and feet are
padded because ITF sparring is light-contact. While in WTF, full contact
sparring is facilitated by more extensive equipment to protect the students’
head, torso, feet, shins, groin, hands, and forearms. Dojang is the term for
the school or place where taekwondo is held.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) supports taekwondo
from a long time and it established different clubs to develop this martial art
sport. One of the clubs is UAE Taekwondo & Karate Federation which was founded
in 1990 with the aim to distribute the self-defense sport between the people.
From that time, UAE always developing and encouraging taekwondo and related
sports until it become now boasts over 600 taekwondo martial artists with more
than 50 of which are Emirati, according to UAE Taekwondo and Karate Federation
statistics. Also, this club is hosting different competitions from clubs,
universities and forces academies. In addition to that UAE is host each year the
WTF. Moreover, UAE participate in many World Taekwondo Competitions like
World Taekwondo Championships which hold in 2013 in Mexico and in the 2012
Asian Taekwondo Championships in Vietnam. Furthermore, UAE has realistic hopes
of participation in Rio 2016.
Learning martial arts is really a
good form of exercise where in you are making your body healthy and at the same
time acquiring a bit of a self-defense. All forms of martial arts should be put
into good use and not to abuse other people. It is made to protect people and
not to harm others. Taekwondo can be viewed as a fun sport but it can be deadly
if performed elsewhere other than the dojang. Thus, all should remember that
martial arts shouldn’t be performed outside the gym unless in times of emergency.
Taekwondo is a fast spreading sport and maybe in the next few years be one of
the most popular sports like the ones we have today.
References
Cook, Doug (2006). "Chapter 3: The
Formative Years of Taekwondo". Traditional Taekwondo: Core
Techniques, History and Philosophy. Boston: YMAA Publication Center.
p. 19. ISBN 978-1-59439-066-1.
Gillis,
Alex (2008). A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do. ECW Press. ISBN
978-1550228250.
Park, S. W. (1993): About the author. In H. H. Choi: Taekwon-Do: The Korean art of
self-defence, 3rd ed. (Vol. 1, pp. 241–274). Mississauga: International
Taekwon-Do Federation
Sik,
Kang Won; Lee KyongMyung (1999).A Modern History of Taekwondo. Seoul:
PogyŏngMunhwasa. ISBN 978-89-358-0124-4.
World Taekwondo Federation (2004). "Kyorugi
rules". Rules.www.wtf.org.
Archived from the original on
2007-07-02. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
