Tae Kwon Do

• Up • History of Tae Kwon Do • Tae Kwon Do Forms • Break Test • Hosinsul •

Tae Kwon Do

What is Combat Tae Kwon-Do?

Traditional Tae Kwon-Do is the original style of Tae Kwon-Do.  It differs from modernized forms of Tae Kwon-Do and other martial arts in several important ways:

 The emphasis is on each student's own personal self-improvement rather than on competition with others.
 It is more aerobic than other styles.
 No physical contact is allowed in free sparring.

What are the goals of Tae Kwon-Do?

Unlike sports where the primary goal is to defeat an opponent or to set a record, a traditional martial art does not emphasize competition with others.

The primary goal of Traditional Tae Kwon-Do is to build:  to help each student develop physically and mentally to his or her full potential.

The black belt is not actually the goal.   The belt is simply an external symbol of internal growth.

Goals for all students include the development of courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, self-confidence and self-defense skills.

What is Tae Kwon Do?

Tae Kwon Do is a modern Korean martial art, characterized by it's fast, high and spinning kicks. There are multiple interpretations of the name Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do is somtimes translated as 'the way of hand and foot'. The most widely used definition of the name Tae Kwon Do is

Tae=  'to strike or block with the foot' or 'to kick', it also means 'jump'
Kwon= 'Fist', 'to strike or block with hand'
Do= 'The way of' or 'art'.

This together means: "The art of Kicking and Punching"

Disciplines of Tae Kwon Do

Tae Kwon Do  has four disciplines which are explained in a separate page/chapter of this site. The four disciplines are:

	Patterns
	Sparring
	Self-defense
	Break Test

It is the combination of these four disciplines that makes the art called Tae Kwon Do.

Objectives of Tae Kwon Do

	To develop an appreciation for Tae Kwon Do as a sport and as an art
	To achieve physical fitness through positive participation T
	To improve mental discipline and emotional equanimity
	To learn self-defense skills
	To develop a sense of responsibility for one self and others.

Tae Kwon Do for Kids

Tae Kwon Do has no age limits and is a very good sport for children. They learn fast reactions through games, learn to respect others and learn to know their abilities and disabilities. Competition rules are a bit different for children then they are for adults. Although children wear full body protection (preferably thicker than the protection for adults) only kicks and punches to the body are allowed, no kicks to the head.

Is Tae Kwon Do Dangerous?

Although WTF Tae Kwon Do is a full contact sport where it is allowed to kick to the head (throwing punches to the head are not allowed), it is not very dangerous to practice Tae Kwon Do. During training, the sparring and competition is much less intense and closely supervised. During competition, full protection is used to protect the competitors.
To avoid head injuries, a competitor is not allowed to participate in a competition for three months (this seems to vary) if one was knocked out by a kick to the head. If the same incident happens again after these three months, you're not allowed to participate for half a year. Another K.O. to the head after this half year period results in a permanent exclusion of competitions