Honorary Titles?

RSweet

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http://www2.teamusa.org/~/media/USA...s/Board Reports/2012 June 22 Board Report.pdf

In the first two paragraphs, Eric Parthen discusses selling Honorary Team Captain Sponsorships.

I can see that USAT needs money. Part of me is maybe ok with it moneywise, but I would think there would be some conditions like not sending out press releases that you will be over the men and women's teams and that you were appointed. One such is all over the NC press. The majority of me says it makes a mockery of the position.

What does anyone else think?
 

Gorilla

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Funny... I saw the article on lady Tkd...takes allot of nerve to claim what he claimed no mention of an hon. title....what won't they sell...I stopped buying what the USAT had to sell in 2010...will comeback if Brandon Meek is elected...Givens also!! Right now AAU and NKF Karate are just fine...still a member will have a coaches vote!!!
 

Marcy Shoberg

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Although I sometimes think taekwondo should stop trying to be a martial art and just be a life improving sport, I think, at anything higher than the local level, politics/keeping-the-bills-paid entirely polutes the beauty of taekwondo. What I'm trying to say is yes, I think it makes a mockery of it.
 

terryl965

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It is absolutely a joke and makes my art/sport a joke. The nerve of an Master to say he is appointed the coach for the US TKD team upsets me. I guess people will do anything to make a buck or two and this is why I have problems with alot the USAT does.
 

Jaeimseu

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I don't have any problem with honorary titles or awards, but I definitely think it's dishonest to misrepresent them. Is this any different from the various halls of fame that people can belong to?
 
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I don't have any problem with honorary titles or awards, but I definitely think it's dishonest to misrepresent them. Is this any different from the various halls of fame that people can belong to?

Interestingly enough, a friend of mine was so outraged by this, she called one of the reporters and asked her where she got her information for this bogus story. "Him". She asked if she verified anything. no. She asked if the reporter wanted to write about how she had won Ms. Universe. What is really nauseating, is even after being shown the USAT website piece on selling honorary Captain titles, the reporter still maintains it is a good story and she is not doing anything else.
 

Archtkd

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Interestingly enough, a friend of mine was so outraged by this, she called one of the reporters and asked her where she got her information for this bogus story. "Him". She asked if she verified anything. no. She asked if the reporter wanted to write about how she had won Ms. Universe. What is really nauseating, is even after being shown the USAT website piece on selling honorary Captain titles, the reporter still maintains it is a good story and she is not doing anything else.

Your friend should have called the editor (the reporter's boss). The editors should verify stories before putting them on the page/air.
 

d1jinx

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to me, this is no different than all the "STATE CHAMPIONS" and "JUNIOR OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS" that people claim. The other day I saw a TV show that had a "World Champion" and "Multiple International Champion" statements about a taekwondo-ist. He WAS ATA. and all his titles were ATA titles. No mention that the Competitions were "Closed Org comps" or that ATA wasn't on an INTERNATIONAL level, even if they have a school here and there outside the US.

I think this is the typical use of a title for self publicity. Someone using a "bought" title for financial gain.

I dont see anything wrong with USAT doing this, However they need to be strict and enforce the use of the title. Anyone should be able to use the title, but the COMPLETE title.... HONORARY COACH. any claim or implied title different should be revoked and penalized.


another favorite one i have seen is "United States Olympic Team Member Alternate"..... really?
 
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Marcy Shoberg

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I remember once a karate school in my town advertising they had an "olympian" at their school. He was a child and the add implied he had represented the US in the olympics in the sport of karate.
 

Tez3

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At one of our fight nights we had a coach asking for a kickboxing match for a girl he said was a world champion, he showed us articles in local newspapers about her winning, she seemed to have a good record so we accepted her for a match. We found a woman trained by Micheal Bisping who came to corner here. Well the upshot was the poor 'world champion' was totally outclassed and got knocked down by her opponent, the ref told her to stay down to save her embarrassment as she was crying her eyes out. Turned out she was 'world champion' with an organisation that did it's own comps and titles. It can be dangerous to say you are something you aren't, this lass only ended up with a black eye but it could have been far worse if she'd thought she could have defended herself in a street situation, she very clearly couldn't even cope with being punched.
 
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RSweet

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Your friend should have called the editor (the reporter's boss). The editors should verify stories before putting them on the page/air.

She did. He didn't know anything about it. Said he would look into it but she got the impression that he had no such plans as he didn't even want to know where to look for the statement by USAT about selling them.

This is not one article, this is several articles and at least two tv stations. Not one questioned it. Just google Olympic Team Captain Taekwondo Woo Sup Kim. Lots of links
 
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ralphmcpherson

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to me, this is no different than all the "STATE CHAMPIONS" and "JUNIOR OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS" that people claim. The other day I saw a TV show that had a "World Champion" and "Multiple International Champion" statements about a taekwondo-ist. He WAS ATA. and all his titles were ATA titles. No mention that the Competitions were "Closed Org comps" or that ATA wasn't on an INTERNATIONAL level, even if they have a school here and there outside the US.

I think this is the typical use of a title for self publicity. Someone using a "bought" title for financial gain.

I dont see anything wrong with USAT doing this, However they need to be strict and enforce the use of the title. Anyone should be able to use the title, but the COMPLETE title.... HONORARY COACH. any claim or implied title different should be revoked and penalized.


another favorite one i have seen is "United States Olympic Team Member Alternate"..... really?
To a degree, arent all events "clsoed org comps"? I mean for instance, you cant go to the olypics unless you are a kkw tkdoin, and Id assume you cant compete at the top level ITF events unless a ITFtkdoin etc
 

Gorilla

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I am declaring myself the Grand Poobaaa of TKD....after all I am a Master BB on Martial Talk....
 

bugatabugata

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Man...this is like a shyte onion: with every layer you peel off, you discover -- oh look, more shyte!...Think I'm gonna keep my head down, keep practicing and ignore the "big picture" politics as much as possible. Sadly, not an option for the kids that have invested years of their lives and tons of hard work into going pro, just to have to deal with people trying to make a buck. It's a shame, but it is what it is... and it's not unique to TKD.
 

ralphmcpherson

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Man...this is like a shyte onion: with every layer you peel off, you discover -- oh look, more shyte!...Think I'm gonna keep my head down, keep practicing and ignore the "big picture" politics as much as possible. Sadly, not an option for the kids that have invested years of their lives and tons of hard work into going pro, just to have to deal with people trying to make a buck. It's a shame, but it is what it is... and it's not unique to TKD.
Thats what I do. Find a good, reputable school, train hard and ignore politics.
 

granfire

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She did. He didn't know anything about it. Said he would look into it but she got the impression that he had no such plans as he didn't even want to know where to look for the statement by USAT about selling them.

This is not one article, this is several articles and at least two tv stations. Not one questioned it. Just google Olympic Team Captain Taekwondo Woo Sup Kim. Lots of links

Ah, this is not so much a TKD problem as a media one.

You can hardly find anything anymore that is actually researched and halfway true.

On top of that it's badly written that you need a compass to keep your bearing straight!

I don't mind honorary titles such as team captain, be it that they are given as reward or even sold. $$ is great support for a team. But claiming to be appointed to something you bought your way into? :lfao: that's rich!
 

ralphmcpherson

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I remember a story once where a child at our club won the club championship for sparring. I remember hearing a few years later that the child had got into a top school because their parents had written "state tkd champion" (within our form of tkd). Technically they had told the truth as their child was in fact the undefeated sparring champ within our form of tkd, but we only have 4000 members so it was quite misleading. But then again, people do this in all walks of life.
 

miguksaram

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I remember a story once where a child at our club won the club championship for sparring. I remember hearing a few years later that the child had got into a top school because their parents had written "state tkd champion" (within our form of tkd). Technically they had told the truth as their child was in fact the undefeated sparring champ within our form of tkd, but we only have 4000 members so it was quite misleading. But then again, people do this in all walks of life.
You have to love the art of Spin Doctoring the truth. :)
 

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