Well, I visited my new Dojang in the US yesterday. It is a US Soo Bahk Do Federation gym. I have a lot of catching up to do!
It seems that the US SBD Fed is much different from how the Korean SBD Association teaches. Either that, or my instructor taught differently there. There are many changes to style that I will have to make for this gym. Mostly very minor, such as how they execute Choon Bee, where hands go for open hand blocks and chops and the fact that they audibly exhale with every movement, while I was taught in Korea to be silent.
In addition to the stylistic differences, I will have a great deal of the SBD standardized material to learn, such as Ill Soo Sik and Ho Sin Sul. They also use a great number of combinations that are standardized and must be memorized.
One possible point of concern is that I was told by the assistant instructor that they will "honor" my rank, but I would probably have to re-test by their standards at some point. This doesn't really bother me, in fact, I told him that I would start over if I had to....but I'm kind of concerned that they may make me PAY for another Cho Dan test. The first one was kind of expensive...not sure I want to pay again!
Has anyone had any similar experiences or any thoughts on moving to a new gym in the same style?
It seems that the US SBD Fed is much different from how the Korean SBD Association teaches. Either that, or my instructor taught differently there. There are many changes to style that I will have to make for this gym. Mostly very minor, such as how they execute Choon Bee, where hands go for open hand blocks and chops and the fact that they audibly exhale with every movement, while I was taught in Korea to be silent.
In addition to the stylistic differences, I will have a great deal of the SBD standardized material to learn, such as Ill Soo Sik and Ho Sin Sul. They also use a great number of combinations that are standardized and must be memorized.
One possible point of concern is that I was told by the assistant instructor that they will "honor" my rank, but I would probably have to re-test by their standards at some point. This doesn't really bother me, in fact, I told him that I would start over if I had to....but I'm kind of concerned that they may make me PAY for another Cho Dan test. The first one was kind of expensive...not sure I want to pay again!
Has anyone had any similar experiences or any thoughts on moving to a new gym in the same style?