Kiddies,
How many of you are not associated with either WTF or ITF? I'm not. Just curio.

I used to do a form of TKD called Rhee TKD, which is predominantly in Australasia. I finally figured out it was a bit of a joke as I watched people being pushed through to their black belts within 1 1/2 years, purely so they could get more instructors and Master Rhee would get more money from doing more gradings. So, the quality of the blackbelts was a joke, and once you got to black belt that was it, you instruct only, forget about even learning anything towards dans. They didn't have competitions, which doesn't really matter, but the practitioners had no idea how completely useless they would were. And STRICTLY no videos in gradings(I wonder why - I don't think it could possibly for want of hiding there secrets). I changed to ITF.

Kiddies,
I'm with the ITA under GM. Pelligrini. And I've heard of of Mr. Rhee and his students. Interesting that Father of American TKD would do such a thing. Unless this is a diffrent Rhee....

It's a different Rhee. (Rhee's about the Korean equivalent of "Smith" in the US, so name overlap's not too shocking.)

I hate it when my tounge (Okay fingers, whatever) and my brain are out of sync!

Originally posted by Marginal

It's a different Rhee. (Rhee's about the Korean equivalent of "Smith" in the US, so name overlap's not too shocking.)

no, thats "Lee" and "Kim" :p

Yep, a different Rhee. His name is Rhee Chong Chul. Anyone else ever trained in any of his schools. He has heaps of them in Australia and a few in NZ, where I am.

Combat/Military TKD. No association. Just you, your training, and your instructors.

Originally posted by Galvatron



no, thats "Lee" and "Kim" :p Actually, Rhee's just another romaniation of Lee, so there's no conflict there. ;)

Hollywood1340 wrote:

"Kiddies,
I'm with the ITA under GM. Pelligrini......."

Hey, Hollywood. I'm going to move to NC in 5 years. I noticed Mr. Pelligrini has a school there. Does the ITA have a website I could check out? Or could you give me more info on it?

Who here now is associated with the ITA and how has it grown in the last gouple of year, ether for the good or the bad?

Which ITA?

I am International Taekwondo Alliance...

I imagine Terry is talking about Independent Taekwondo Association headed by John Pellegrini. He always has ads in Taekwondo Times. Haven't heard much of his TKD group. It really seems like his Combat Hapkido gets a lot more play on message boards.

How do you like the new form changes in the ITA by the way, Granfire?

Kiddies,
How many of you are not associated with either WTF or ITF? I'm not. Just curio.
I come from an ITF background, and we have the occasional individual member who is a member of the ITF because s/he wants to compete at a higher level - but in general we're independent.

I imagine Terry is talking about Independent Taekwondo Association headed by John Pellegrini. He always has ads in Taekwondo Times. Haven't heard much of his TKD group. It really seems like his Combat Hapkido gets a lot more play on message boards.

How do you like the new form changes in the ITA by the way, Granfire?



hehehe, so not going there. ;)

The forms as we do them now are not bad. I am not at it long enough to really judge them. The CAT2 moves, or sped up motions are a bit tough to teach to the kids.

We are, in practice, completely independent, although my sahbumnim is 5th dan KKW certified, and our BBs receive KKW certification. We do not follow the KKW curriculum at all. We do the Palgwes, not the Taegeuks, my instructor teaches the Pinan kata set, as well as Rohai, Empi and a number of other Japanese forms that were the original bread-and-butter of the first generation original five Kwans. We emphasize hand-techs and heavy use of elbow and knee strikes, with a distinctly SD emphasis. This is in line with our lineage, Song Moo Kwan, a literal translation into Korean of Shotokan ('pine tree (training) house'. Our Kwan founder, Byung-Jik Ro, was a fourth dan in Shotokan and was very loyal to the the teaching of his instructor, Gichin Funakoshi. With that kind of 'mission', so to speak, there's very little room for interference by the Korean TKD Central Directorate! :wink1:

I come from an ITF background, and we have the occasional individual member who is a member of the ITF because s/he wants to compete at a higher level - but in general we're independent.

I was under the impression from the link in your sig you were part of yomchi under Lang.

I was under the impression from the link in your sig you were part of yomchi under Lang.

Yes, that is correct; Mr. Arnold is my instructor, and he is GM Lang's student - we have the occasional (rare - and none recently) student who joins the ITF independently for competition purposes. Since none of them are in Colorado, I know very little about it.

Taken further beyond the ITF and Kukkiwon, there are just martial artists who call what they do "Taekwondo." If their practice benefits them, it matters not what they call it.

Miles

Taken further beyond the ITF and Kukkiwon, there are just martial artists who call what they do "Taekwondo." If their practice benefits them, it matters not what they call it.

Miles

This is so true Miles I know a few that has no association and just train and are far better for it.

Well, i'm only a beginner. (Y2) but my training is affiliated with Taekwondo Australia, which is also affiliated under WTF. The head instructor and owner is a 7th Dan, and 3 of the assistant instructors are all recent 5th Dan grade.

Well, i'm only a beginner. (Y2) but my training is affiliated with Taekwondo Australia, which is also affiliated under WTF. The head instructor and owner is a 7th Dan, and 3 of the assistant instructors are all recent 5th Dan grade.

Beong affiliated with WTF that is great but remember the WTF and the KKW are two seperate identities. So do you recieve KKW cerification or are the done though the Tae Kwon Do Australia?

My teacher is affiliated with A-kato.

My teacher is affiliated with A-kato.


If you do not mind what is A-kato?

That's Keith Yates' org, I believe. If I recall correctly he's in the Allen Steen-Jhoon Rhee line.

I think that it is good to move beyond ITF and WTF so that their quarrels do not become our quarrels, and more than anything, so that we do not get bogged down with Korean nationalism or Korean nationalist agendas. If a school is no longer affiliated with either org, then they can create their own curriculum to meet their own students' needs, and they can practice the forms that they choose to practice, not the ones that are dictated to them for nationalist purposes. Going beyond ITF and WTF will allow Taekwondo to truly move forward and evolve. I hear so much about a possible merger between ITF and WTF, but it seems that most people are fed up with the politics and are simply going their own direction - letting whatever happens in Korea, happen in Korea. They are creating their own orgs and putting the whole ITF/WTF thing behind them so that they can focus on what's really important - training.