Korea Bound

[bjc999]

Hi everyone, I am planning on travelling to Korea next year for 6-12 months (maybe longer) to experience the country and culture, but mostly to dedicate myself to studying Taekwondo.

I took up Taekwondo when I was 8 years old and over about 10 years I trained and tried various other arts. Looking back it was a mistake to hop around several martial arts becoming a jack of all trades... but master of none.

The biggest mistake I made was quiting martial arts all together about 5 years ago and for years now I have thought about getting back into it, but finding a decent authentic school in London is pretty much impossible. I have been to about 20 classes in London in the last year but have not found a proper authentic Taekwondo class yet.

So I thought if I really want to follow my dream I'll need to go abroad. I've seen online there are good schools in USA, but I figured what better place to go than its birth home - Korea.

What I was hoping is that someone on this forum might have some experience of good Taekwondo schools in Korea. I don't mind where in South Korea, my main objective is to find a good school, even if it is in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks in advance!

Ben

 

[Wey]

More power to ya man. I want to do the same, only with a focus on Hapkido. I don't know of any schools, but I doubt it will be hard to find a decent school over there. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[ATC]

Wow that is great. A few of our students went to study in Korea and only for 3 months. When they got back they were scarry good. They were good before they left, but man, I did not think they could get that much better but they did.

They said the training was brutal. They did 3 sessions a day, and each session was pass the limit.

Not sure how old your are, but I hope you are not pass your late to early 30's. I would hope that they have different levels, like one level for teens and yound adults, and then another level for old guys like me.

Well, good luck and congrats.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

It will probably depend what sort of tkd you are looking for as to how easy it is to find a good school. My old instructor (very old school, hates olympic style with an absolute passion) went to korea for 3 years and said most of the tkd he saw there was olympic style which really just turned him off the whole idea of studying tkd over there. In saying that, he is not the type of guy who would have tried very hard to find the type of school he was looking for, he probably just tried half a dozen , had no luck and gave up trying.

 

[Miles]

Good luck in following your dream!

Here is the Sang Rok gym-it has an excellent reputation for hosting foreign Taekwondoin:
http://sangrokgym.com/

 

[bjc999]

Thanks Wey, I too would like to study Hapkido. But from my experience of hopping between arts over the years I really want to concentrate on one thing at a time. But Hapkido is definitely in the future plans! Hopefully finding a good school or teacher won't be too hard! Thanks again!

Hi ATC, where is your school? Three brutal sessions a day sounds perfect! Where abouts did they go to train? That is just what I am after! I am 25 now, so I need to get over there and catch up before it's too late! If I would of stuck at it all those years ago I would be a much better martial artist and much healthier... I have some serious catching up to do! If you could kindly point me in the direction that your students studied, that would be a massive help to me! Thanks again!

Thanks ralphmcpherson for your reply, I am looking for authentic too rather than Olympic style. I am the type of guy to hunt down a good school if it kills me! But I thought coming on here might save me a lot of time so I could get straight into it as soon as I got there! If you have any pointers I would be very grateful! Thanks!

Thanks for the link Miles! Checking it out right now!

 

[ATC]

Hi ATC, where is your school? Three brutal sessions a day sounds perfect! Where abouts did they go to train? That is just what I am after! I am 25 now, so I need to get over there and catch up before it's too late! If I would of stuck at it all those years ago I would be a much better martial artist and much healthier... I have some serious catching up to do! If you could kindly point me in the direction that your students studied, that would be a massive help to me! Thanks again!

I will ask our GM as he sent them over with another GM that he knows. I do know that they spent time with one of the colleges but not sure what one. I will have the info for you by tomorrow.

 

[Manny]

Looking back it was a mistake to hop around several martial arts becoming a jack of all trades... but master of none.
Ben

Ben can you be more specific with this? Certanly I understand it but want to know why you think so and how many MA did you study and wahtg were the gradees you erned?

Manny

 

[MBuzzy]

Just be careful going to Korea like this. Do a lot of research. A lot of people think that just GOING there will help. You're doing the right thing in asking around for a good school. there are just as many bad schools there as there are here.

 

[chrispillertkd]

Congratulations on your decision to go to Korea. I'd love to go there sometime, myself.

A friend of mine recently moved back to Korea. He lived there the first time for a decade and found that the state of tradition Taekwon-Do training there was ... not great. He started training in Hapkido, however, and really enjoyed it. He does have some plans of setting up both Hapkido and Taekwon-Do classes I think by next year so if you are interested in either or both let me know and I'll put you in contact with him.

Pax,

Chris

 

[bjc999]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the very late reply. Life gets in the way all too often.

Thanks for all your help re Korea. My dream is to study different martial arts in Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, The Philippines and the US with authentic schools and teachers, rather than business/money driven schools here in England.

I have decided to start my journey in Japan, studying Karate and Aikido primarily. I don't want to work and train at evenings a few times per week. I want to train full time, all day, 7 days a week, for as long as it takes!

If anyone has any info on somewhere that this is possible I would be very grateful.

I am ready to quit my job and go!

Many thanks,

Ben

 

[puunui]

I have decided to start my journey in Japan, studying Karate and Aikido primarily. I don't want to work and train at evenings a few times per week. I want to train full time, all day, 7 days a week, for as long as it takes!

<br><br>I don't know about Karate, but if I were to study Aikido in Japan, I would first go to the Aikikai Headquarters. I believe they have western students studying there, so you will at least have some other ex-pats to talk to.<br>

 

[andyjeffries]

I don't know about Karate, but if I were to study Aikido in Japan, I would first go to the Aikikai Headquarters. I believe they have western students studying there, so you will at least have some other ex-pats to talk to.

To the OP, the term you want to research (for Aikido at least) is Uchideshi. Roy Dean lived as an Aikido student for a while and there were some great blog posts on his site, but he seems to have removed them recently as he's expanding on them to make a book "A Year With The Master" (due for release later this year).

A good article about becoming an Uchideshi is here.

Good luck!

 

[Rumy73]

Hi everyone, I am planning on travelling to Korea next year for 6-12 months (maybe longer) to experience the country and culture, but mostly to dedicate myself to studying Taekwondo.

I took up Taekwondo when I was 8 years old and over about 10 years I trained and tried various other arts. Looking back it was a mistake to hop around several martial arts becoming a jack of all trades... but master of none.

The biggest mistake I made was quiting martial arts all together about 5 years ago and for years now I have thought about getting back into it, but finding a decent authentic school in London is pretty much impossible. I have been to about 20 classes in London in the last year but have not found a proper authentic Taekwondo class yet.

So I thought if I really want to follow my dream I'll need to go abroad. I've seen online there are good schools in USA, but I figured what better place to go than its birth home - Korea.

What I was hoping is that someone on this forum might have some experience of good Taekwondo schools in Korea. I don't mind where in South Korea, my main objective is to find a good school, even if it is in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks in advance!

Ben

Ben,

Do you speak and read Korean? If not you will have a tough time there. Especially in terms of finding a school that meets your needs. Many schools focus on Olympic style. However, that being said, there are schools that are more traditional. In addition, there are hapkido, soobahkdo, and other martial arts dojangs. Without overcoming the language barrier, I am not sure how you might locate them.

R.