ITF Closer to Traditional TKD?

[Kane]

Is ITF more closer to traditional TKD? It looks like they do a lot more contact and have much less armour. Like in the video below;

http://www.tkd.risp.pl/Juras_HL_Extreme.wmv

Also, does anyone have anymore ITF videos or does anyone have an ITF match I can watch? Thanks!

 

[Dusty]

sorry, but that is not itf taekwon do, just some guy brawling with an itf logo on his dobok. i do believe that itf is closer to traditional taekwon do, but what i just saw looks more like something out of a bad ufc fight.

 

[MichiganTKD]

ITF is simply Gen. Choi's version of Tae Kwon Do. There is also traditional WTF, WTA, ATA, Kwan-based, and independent Tae Kwon Do. If it uses traditional manners, traditional uniforms, traditional technique, and traditional etiquette it is traditional. What organization it is should not matter.

 

[Kane]

Ok right now I am trying to search for a TKD school that teaches more traditional TKD schools. Does anyone know a school directory for traditional TKD and does anyone know organizations of Traditional TKD? That is true it does not matter on the organization but it seems finding a private Traditional TKD school would prove to be a challenge.

 

[FearlessFreep]

I agree with Dusty; that guy in the video is aggressive and dominating, I will give him that, but both my sabomnim and I thought he looked more like a brawler than a TKD fighter. His technique didn't seem too strong. Notice how often he is very forward on his feet; not in a very balanced position, which means he is both off balance for a counter strike or counter movement, but also not able to get his full body weight/motion into his own strikes*. He just overwhelms his opponents with aggresiveness and fast flurries of attacks. Ironically, if he was in a real street fight against an angry aggressor, not against a sparring opponent, he would probably get in trouble against someone equally as aggressive who just came in throwing fists and pushing back.

As far as "Traditional TKD" school, well, it depends more on the instructor than the organization.

Real question is, what do you want to do? Learn TKD for self-defense in a street fight? Learn it as a physical artistic expression? Learn to spar? What you intend to do with your knowledge and skill will influence what you want in a school, which will shape your questions to those organizations


*At least in how I'm trained, balance and control are at the basis of every other technique. If you start out in a stable position, then you can get full body weight and motion into a strike. Punches and kicks get a lot of power from hip motion and foot movement, which requires a good point of stability to get full power. Also, comeing out of an attack in a position of balance is important so that you are ready for your next attack or in a good position to deal with a counter attack. This is probably even more crucial in a street/bar fight where an opponent can grab you and throw you down if you get off balance.

 

[Spookey]

Kane,


Where are you located?

TAEKWON!
SpooKeY

 

[Miles]

Kane,

One could argue that there is no such thing as "traditional TKD" as it is a relatively modern martial art.

The flipside is that the "tradition" of TKD is that of a martial art which is alive and still evolving. I tend to agree with this position-you can have and teach traditional values (quickly described as: adherence to basics, hard training, poomsae/tul/hyung, contact sparring, development/cultivation of character and moral code) and still enjoy and be training in TKD. FWIW, I think/hope both ITF and Kukki-TKD are evolving.

Miles

 

[searcher]

This looks very similar to some knockdown fights that I have been in. The rules are very lax and it can be somewhat dangerous. If this is what you are looking for I suggest that you stop and reconsider. I have been fighting knockdown for almost 15 years and this type of fighting still makes me nervous. It make me nervous that somebody is going to get really screwed up and/or killed. They try to make it out like they are some bad dudes, but they are really just stupid, IMO.

If you are looking for some ITF forms videos go to Master Mac's Korean Forms resource page. Master Dennis McHenry has a really nice sight.

 

[FearlessFreep]

It looks like they do a lot more contact and have much less armour.

For what it's worth, Olympic sparring has a chest protector, forearm and shin/instep guards (under the dobak) and head gear. They do not pad the feet or hands. Point sparring (like I think is most of the video) uses haedgear, forearm and shin instep guards, and also gloves and padded footies. No chest protector. Point sparring allows punches to the head; olympic sparring does not. Olympic sparring gives extra points for kicks to the head. So...in point sparring you are more likely to swinging at the head; in olympic sparring you are more likely to see high kicks to the head. Also, point sparring stops action after a point is scored. olympic sparring does not. So I think you are more likely to see more of a 'rush in swinging' approach in point sparring and more of a manuvering and positioning chess match in olympic which, at first look, appears like point sparring is encouraging more contact, it's just a different kind of contact. The last time I saw a point-sparring match, it seemed to me to be a lot of swinging punches that did not really land as proper solid hits.

Anyway, just different rules for scoring that encourage different kinds of contact and different tactics. I'm only barely at the point where I can even understand what I'm watching; but more motion does not mean more hard contact, it's just different

 

[Kane]

Kane,


Where are you located?

TAEKWON!
SpooKeY

It depends. Durring the school year I am in Providence, Rhode Island. Of course there I can just do TKD in the college.

Durring summer break I will be in Sunnyvale, California. Do you think you can find a traditional school there? I would think because Silicon Valley seems to have everything.

 

[Marginal]

It looks like they do a lot more contact and have much less armour.

For what it's worth, Olympic sparring has a chest protector, forearm and shin/instep guards (under the dobak) and head gear. They do not pad the feet or hands. Point sparring (like I think is most of the video) uses haedgear, forearm and shin instep guards, and also gloves and padded footies. No chest protector. Point sparring allows punches to the head; olympic sparring does not. Olympic sparring gives extra points for kicks to the head.

That's continous sparring. Point sparring would incolve stopping the match every time a point was scored, awarding the point, and then resuming action. Typically ITF sparring's supposed to be light contact, but it didn't look like that was the case in the video (I've been told it's rougher in European/international competition)

The ITF sparring the guy in the video was doing didn't blow me away (especially when he almost stomps on a downed opponent) but that was a nice side turning kick for a KO in the MMA competition footage.

 

[Gizmo]

Just as a sidenote, the guy on the video is Lukasz "Juras" Jurkowski from Poland, an ITF 1st Dan actively pursuing his career in MMA and ITF TKD simultaneously (he's ITF World Cup winner from Orlando). The video is a collection of scenes from his competitions, both recent and older ones (you may see him wearing a green belt during some ITF fights)

Regards

Gizmo