Are You Thinking of Joining a Taekwondo Club?

By Seph Talbot

Taking up the art of Taekwondo is very rewarding. Published below is a quick top level view of the style so you will be more able to evaluate whether the style suits you.

What's Taekwondo?

Taekwondo is a fighting art from Korean that was forged by years of history and convention. The art of Taekwondo is still reasonably young, having been created in the 1950s however it was more a formalising of conventional korean fighting practices that have much deeper routes. This combination of old and new makes for an interesting style as it is always developing.

Taekwondo History

Taekwondo is like most of the standard arts having evolved over hundreds of years. As you progress with your technical learning you may also soak up the rich heritage and interesting past of this Korean art. For further information please visit the links below.

Features and Benefits

Striking, defending and kicking methodologies are the base of Taekwondo but there are further elements such as respect and control that make it perfect for children. Later on in the pupils study aerial maneuvers are taught that are the signature moves of the art. The new student will get other faster benefits like feeling fitter, being more flexible, and gaining self-confidence.

Taekwondo Belts

The new student begins at white belt and moves forward through 10 Kups to reach their black belt of First Dan. Beyond this the scholar can progress thru the Dan rankings.

The Kup grades jump between a solid colour belt and a stripped belt in the order below:

- 10th Kup White

- 9th Kup White with Yellow Stripe

- 8th Kup Yellow

- 7th Kup Yellow with Green Stripe

- 6th Kup Green

- 5th Kup Green with Blue Stripe

- 4th Kup Blue

- 3rd Kup Blue with Red Stripe

- 2nd Kup Red

- 1st Kup Red with Black Stripe

- 1st Dan Black

How Long To Realize Black Belt?



A club that is affiliated to a recognized body (like WTF or ITF) should not give a black belt earlier than three years of regular coaching, there are clubs who can do it quicker but the ethos should be the student has to earn the black belt not be given it.

Typical Coaching

A standard lesson must always include a 10-15 minute warm-up and stretching after which it can be comprised of any mixture of the three elemental elements of Taekwondo training (see below). If the session has been hard then a warm down will most likely be obligatory at the end.

Basic methods (Kibon)

Basic systems include varied different striking kicking and defensive methods either performed all alone or in sequence.

Sparring (Kyorugi)

Depending on the style this is often full, light or non-contact. However the student should progress from rigid basic sparring up to full freestyle as they advance in skill, beware a club that gets you full sparring from the first day.

Patterns (Poomse)

Poomse are a sequence of set moves, they consist of multiple techniques engineered to simulate a fight with multiple imaginary opponents but performed in a classy way. As the student progress thru the belts they are going to learn one pattern for each belt beginning simple and getting more complicated till they know 10 patterns for their black belt.

Conclusion - The above is a short intro to Taekwondo, if you feel it is for you then research the Taekwondo Clubs in you neighborhood and pick one that is suitable for you and that you are happy with. For more about the history of taekwondo visit www.worldtaekwondo.com.

About the Author:

Seph Talbot has studied Taekwondo in South East London for many years. For more information click the link Taekwondo in London