Hapkido As An Olympic Sport

[DuneViking]

Why not have Martial Arts as an Oly Sport, Forms, Full Contact Striking and Full Contact Submission divisions, and let everybody play as full strength as possible?

Also, I must agree- be careful what you wish for. Yes, you can popularize your art, and yes, that popularization can corrupt it. I had not seen Oly TKD until the last Olys when I got the competition on a DVD. Wow, was I dissapointed. I would hate to see that happen to anyone's art.

 

[Paul B]

I have to say I'm kinda curious as to how other Hapkidoin that advocate for Olympic style sparring practice their technique in the Dojang.

As far as our Hapkido..there is more of an emphasis on knee,elbow,and hand strikes to "off-limit" areas that lead into our desired "finish"..and I find nothing in Hanminjok rules that plays to those strengths (as it should) leaving us little to work with.

I still say the Hapkido works best when attacked and may not be the most offensive of arts out there suitable for a competition style setting. Furthermore...I would have a particularly hard time trying to justify the removal of of those very same techniques that are in our Kebonsu which are taught from day one. No thanks and have fun with all that.

That being said..I don't see why we should compete in ..say..Sansoo or San Da and call it Hapkido..just because we can kick/punch and use some throws..to me it's taking out the technical "flavor" that makes Hapkido what it is. My 2 c's.

 

[bluemtn]

I don't know- I just don't like the idea of making HKD an olympic sport, and just using the various strikes that's in the art. In the same breath, is there a good chance if you keep the joint locks in there, no one will get hurt (scaring future practitioners away)? It's fine to want to lure practitioners in, but I wouldn't want someone just expecting "another sport." Don't get me wrong- if you like the sporting aspect, knock yourself out. Olympic style TKD seems to be a dime-a-dozen today, and has had no real positive influences on the general public. This is coming from someone practicing "traditional" (not sporting) TKD.

 

[Mr.Rooster]

Bad idea to get Hapkido labeled an Olympic sport.
The Olympics would make Hapkido a watered down version of what it was originally intended to be.
There are parts of Hapkido that can be utilized in sport activities. It's like having a vehicle that can go up to about 120 mph, but normally we only get to a max of 55-70 mph for safety purposes.

 

[matt.m]

I do not have my dan in Hapkido, however my father is a 5th dan master. He learned from Great Grandmaster, 9th dan Lee H. Park, Lee studied under Won-kwang Wha, Won-Kwang Wha and Ji Han Jae were classmates of Choi himself. I do hold a brown in Judo. I study Tae kwon Do as well. The thing is this, Hapkido is not a sport. It was never intended to be. Hapkido is a graceful art that will indeed cripple someone.

If you put rules to hapkido, then it is not hapkido. Its ciriculum is not structured in a manner such as this. In Judo and Tae Kwon Do you have two distinct types of each. The martial art for defense and the sport aspects of each to gain points in two minutes or ippon.

Not only that, but there is no set ciriculum for hapkido either. Major similarities towards lets say kuk Sool hapkidoand Moo Sul Kwan hapkido but they are different.

in Tae kwon Do the forms are the same, it is up to the school you are learning from whether you have to know the WTF or ITF forms, my school requires both. The one step sparring is the same, the kicking ciriculum is the same. Hapkido is not designed in a neat package such as this.

Choi really didn't want it that way entirely either. From my understanding from my dad it seems that when the 11 students learned from Choi they were told to take his teachings and make it their own so it would all be similiar to each other but they had to be a little different. That is why the style names are different as well. Kuk Sool and Moo Sool Kwan (Won-Kwang Wha) then Moo Sul Kwan (Lee H. Park).

The last paragraph was explained to dad by Great Grandmaster Park in this manner.

Hoshin

Matt

 

[Davejlaw]

Agreed. While it's fun to fantasize about seeing full throttle joint locks in competition, Hapkido is not set up to be an Olympic sport. Now I have seen these videos available online of the Jin Jung Kwan Hapkido Tournaments but I've watched a few minutes of these and thought it looked like TKD tourneys. It's not that I would mind Hapkido becoming more popular but it should become more popular for what it is and is supposed to be. Also, many of you keep stressing how brutal it is. All martial arts are brutal. A Wing-chun throat strike is brutal, a aikido throw when it dislocates a shoulder is brutal, etc.

 

[Paul B]

..snip...Also, many of you keep stressing how brutal it is. All martial arts are brutal. A Wing-chun throat strike is brutal, a aikido throw when it dislocates a shoulder is brutal, etc.

I would venture that all martial arts can be brutal..but Hapkido is in itself from day one. An Aikidoka does not train specifically for a shoulder dislocation,but a Hapkidoin does. The philosophies are inherently different.I know what you meant though..you say tomato,I say potato.

 

[Davejlaw]

Exactly. I should have said CAN be or HAS THE POTENTIAL to be. Our Hapkido is taught to us as an art that has varying degrees of destructiveness. You can lock the shoulder and wrist to discourage your friend from continuing to fight when he's drunk for example, or the same lock can be utilized against a mugger with much more force causing a spiral fracture ending the fight. Almost all the Chokub San Mak Sool techniques we learn can be applied gently or forcefully but remain effective in either case.

 

[crushing]

To quote Yogi Berra, "Hey! it's deja vu all over again"..............:shrug:

Want to see what will happen to "Sport Hapkido"? Just take a look at TKD

Do you mean "Just take a look at 'Sport TKD'". I think many in TKD differentiate between the sport and the martial art.

 

[matt.m]

Dave and Crushing,

I couldn't agree with you more. Each statement is brought with merit. Now, to coincide with dave: In Moo Sul Kwan Hapkido we learn the 25 son mok soo and 25 eui bok soo, (Wrist and clothes) techniques for green belt. (White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown, Red, then dan rankings). Yes Hapkido is designed to be a quick fight ender. Period end of story.

Anyhow, each of the 25 can be done soft or hard. It depends on what needs to be done at the time that is presented. However it needs to be said that proper technique has to be done at all time.

Now with Crushing's statement, it is true in the aspect of Tae Kwon Do. You have the art of Tae Kwon Do and Tae Kwon Do as a sport. The sport Tae Kwon Do practitioners would get destroyed on the street in approximately immediately. For example, if a person throws a sloppy side kick in a fight then they will hurt themselves more than likely. Reason for this is there is no real chamber and rechamber and if you kick like that against something hard you just tore ligaments or broke your leg.