ok,
So this may or may not apply to a lot of people....
"Traditionally" (whatever that means) there were 10 gup ranks. But, the WTF only has 8 color belt forms (not sure about other orgs). For those of you who follow this format (or something similar) what do you teach when you run out of forms?
Currently, we add in some weapons in between. So you'll learn TG 5 at blue, and then focus on nunchakus and some hoshinsool at high blue, then back to TG 6 at red.
I think another option would be to only have 8 levels (belt colors) but consider one "color" as both 3rd and 2nd gup (for example), depending on the time in grade.
What do you do? And if you don't have a new form at each level, what do you teach?
Just to clarify something: The WTF has no ranks at all, gup or otherwise. Rank and such is through the Kukkiwon. The way that the two orgs are joined at the hip is simply confusing to most and they really ought to just merge (my opinion).
Anyway, there are ten levels, so to speak, but really only nine earnable gups, unless you count dan bo and call it a nominal gup.
White belt is "tenth" gup, but you don't earn it exept by showing up.
At ninth gup, you learn Taegeuk Iljang and must successfully perform it, along with all of the technique and basics that you learn, in order to earn eighth gup.
This goes on through second gup, where you learn Taegeuk Paljang, which is a requirement for earning first geup.
At first gup, you don't generally learn a new form, but are drilled on comprehensive knowledge of the eight forms and all gup rank material in preparation for either ildan or dan bo, depending on the school.
At first dan, you learn Koryo.
I'm not sure at what point you 'run out of forms', but there is a great deal to taekwondo other than learning forms. Once the Taegeuk forms are learned, they should be perfected. Old material should be perfected. Fine detail of the students technique should be honed at the dan bo and first dan levels.
A lot of schools throw in weapon forms at some point, though I am not in favor of that in taekwondo. Weapon forms are always grafted onto a curriculum that never was intended for weapons, and is really done just to keep students from quiting.
Generally, I feel that there are more productive things to do for students than getting them into weapons, especially in the colored belt ranks. Even a blackbelt still has a long way to go before weapons should be introduced, and for colored belt students, I feel that it is a disservice.
I find that there a lot of aspects of taekwondo that get glossed over in enough schools, so much so that weapons are a distraction.
Keep in mind that that is my opinion; some
very good schools differ in their philosphy on weapons, my own school included, though our school won't do weapons until you're a blackbelt (kendo not withstanding).
Some of my opinion regarding weapons is that to really learn a weapon is full discipline in and of itself. The mindset is different and the technique set is often radically different.
I
do feel that if a weapon or weapons are well integrated into the curriculum in such a way as to work synergystically, that it could be very beneficial. That is not what I generally see when weapon forms are added to taekwondo. They're often added just to have another form to keep students interested.
Okay, sorry for the side track, Lauren
Daniel
