Tae Kwon Do Nun!

Yeah you read that right. It's a nun who kicks ass in the name of the Lord! No I'm not blaspheming, it really is the story of a black belt nun who gives tae kwon do lessons in Singapore to kids recovering from cancer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24478533

Linda Sim sounds a redoubtable woman and a caring person who has dedicated her life to helping others first, as a nun, and now through martial arts.

A touching story and an illustration of how martial arts gets under your skin and stays with you. Regardless of how long you spend away from any given martial art that you once dedicated yourself to,  something still remains.

Picture reference: BBC

Drawing of a mother and her children at the Taekwondo Olympic Tournament

Aaron Cook injects optimism into team GB Tae Kwon Do

Aaron Cook wins in the 80kg weight class at the British Open Tae Kwon Do Championships and ranks him number one in the world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/taekwondo/9035815.stm

I do find it strange that competitors can lose so much composure following a point score though. It seems to me more like gamesmanship than martial art. They also seem to not follow up if they themselves are convinced of having scored a point, appealing to the judges often and crying and moaning. Oh dear. I think I'm getting old. Or at least am I old fashioned?

Nobody likes Tae Kwon Do (or everybody hates being kicked in the head)

Well, the commentator certainly found this kick "impresionante" but what I found interesting was that the guy was falling over and still had the presence of mind (or was it just an intense, drilled, fighting mind) to kick as he went down...

Incredibly shabby handwork! These guys were within hand striking distance but didn't even look like they'd be prepared to swat a passing fly, let alone hit each other with their hands. They didn't seem to block with their arms either. It has to be said though that I have trained with the University Tae Kwon Do squad and those guys are really sharp with their legs: rapid and strong so *if* you can get past their legs and through their leg guard you can be effective, if not you get thumped on the way in.

But you know what, I'm not going to churn out all the old chestnuts about Tae Kwon Do because it seems that many other martial artists look down upon it anyway, so I don't need to.

Surely though, all 'games' (or disciplines if you prefer) have rules? You wouldn't pick the ball up in football would you?

More on Aaron Cook, British Tae Kwon Do Olympic 2012 hopeful, here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/taekwondo/8676257.stm

Rotary Martial Arts Festival

Sunday 16th May, 2010, from 1.00pm to approx 4.30pm

Bath University Sports Village, Main Sports Hall.

http://www.rotarymaf.com/

Featuring demonstrations from 12 different Martial Arts

Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Kung Fu, Kenbudo, Krav Maga

Ju Jitsu, Stav, Capoeira, Aikido, Systema

Combat Jutsu & Mixed Martial Arts, F.A.S.T. Defence

Olympics 2012 'Fighting Chance'

UK sport is drumming up interest for their 2012 teams. This video is for the Tae Kwon Do team. Does this mean there isn't a decent UK team yet? Haven't UK sport got any good links with the TKD organisations and federations? It does seem like this campaign is opening up the entry to all martial artists: open to people with, "Current success at national level or above in a kicking orientated combat sport". Or in other words, Sportification of martial arts.

Sine wave in forms/hyung/poomse

I'm currently reading a fascinating book by Alex Gillis regarding the history of Tae Kwon Do which is called 'A Killing Art-The untold history of Tae Kwon Do'. This is an excellent read, if somewhat dry in parts, and reveals some interesting facts about this very modern art.

I often thought that certain Korean Tae Kwon Do practitioners had a certain bobbing up and down feel to their forms somewhat and reckoned this was due to stylistic or cultural differences. I've always been told to move through from one technique to another aspiring to keep the head as level as possible and to minimise 'bobbing'. Gillis says that General Choi introduced what he called a 'sine wave' to his forms when he was introducing Tae Kwon Do to North Korea in 1980. This, maintains Gillis, "distinguished it from Karate and Kim Un-yong's Tae Kwon Do".

This sine wave relies therefore on gravity for power and not a hip rotation and as Gillis writes, "gave Choi's...patterns a distinct style-slower, more rhythmic".

Whether or not this is more powerful I cannot say as I have never practiced the sine wave but it helped concretise the schism within Tae Kwon do and meant Choi could claim the North Koreans were practicing "pure Tae Kwon Do" and that other instructors were "fakes".

Here's an interesting video showing the diminuative Choi himself emphasising the 'big' sine wave:

And this other video shows 'Choong Moo' hyung being performed showing this chracteristic bobbing motion:

Olympic Tae Kwon Do hopeful opens NZ brothel

How far would you go to raise money to fulfil your dreams? Logan Campbell, a New Zealand Tae Kwon do hopeful was sick of tapping up his parents for money to fund his Tae Kwon Do training so he started his own business. He's opened a 14 room 'gentlemen's club'!

He's hoping to raise $NZ300,000 to help towards his Olympic dream but the selectors may well take a dim view on the way the money was raised.

Logan says, "I'm an owner of an escort agency [not a pimp]."

Semantics?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8146782.stm

Taekkyeon or Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 76

Ok so I'm getting it. Slowly, but I think I'm getting there. You see it's difficult when you've been fed the Tang Soo Do party line for a long time you kind of ... accept it. But after a bit of digging and reading around you realise that things aren't quite what they seem.

All the official manuals would like you to believe that Tang Soo do is an indigenous Korean martial art with a heritage of 2000 years and including the Hwarang Knights in its family tree. You can tell I thought something wasn't quite right:

Chinese heritage of Tang Soo Do

Korean Kicks (all through the night)

...and these ruminations were confirmed by reading 'A killing Art' by Alex Gillis which shows how General Choi and his main technical director Nam Tae-hi both trained in Karate-do, called in Korea Tang Soo Do. When Choi met the South Korean president, Rhee Syng-man,  soon after the Korean war it was the president who insisted that the demonstration of martial ability that had just been laid on for him by Choi be called Taekkyon. Rhee, understandably, didn't want to hear that these Korean warriors were practicing a Japanese martial art. This got Choi thinking about a new name and a new art form and he ultimately went on to form Tae Kwon Do.

What Rhee was talking about, Taekkyon, is a traditional kicking martial art performed in Korea and while it may not be the pre-cursor to Tae Kwon Do or Tang Soo Do as some insist it must have an influence on these styles post-Second World War. How can I be sure? Check out these videos and you'll see what I consider to be typical Tang Soo Do kicks. Of course there may have been some cross-fertilisation between the two arts. Taekkyon had been banned during the Japanese occupation (and before that Confucian ideals frowned on physical feats in favour of intellectual ones) so both Tang Soo Do and Tae'kkyon attempted to recreate themselves in the late 20th Century. 

Tae'kkyon has an intriguing dance-like quality similar to the jinga of capoiera but the kicks look powerful and focused enough to make a mess of your face! Interestingly it is has the crazy sub title of 'Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 76'!

Good Taekkyon history site (in French only).

...and compare the Taekkyon initial 'dance' to the Brazilian martial art of capoeira and it's 'Jinga':