FearlessFreep
Senior Master
Tonight I had a long chat with my instructor and I've decided to move on from his school for now. Don't read that wrong, it was a very good conversation and it really comes down to the areas of my interest in study are different than his areas of interest in teaching. I'm still a part of the family, my kids will still train there, he wished me well in my growth and offered help and I will be back both to learn and instruct in the future, very likely.
So what am I looking for now?
Tae Kwon Do as a self-defense art. Strong emphasis on strategy and tactics as well as practical responses.
My view on forms is as such. Forms define the full scope of the techniques of the art and all the techniques within should be practiced for practicality in themselves. That's kicks, knees, punches, elbows, knife-hands, etc...etc.. forms are good for teaching balance, control, focus, etc..etc... but sometimes you need to stop forms as just an abstract art and take the techniques out of the form and practice them for power, against resistance, etc..etc..
My view on sparring is as such. "The army doesn't train to excel at war games, the Army does war games to prepare for winning a war". As such, I think Tae Kwon Do as a full martial art should be practiced for effectiveness in it's entirety, and then you put the pads on and limit your attacks to some given rule set just to test your speed and your strength and what you can do against an intelligent and skilled opponent. I still want to compete on occasion, but I don't want hat the focus of my training. Ideally, i would like to compete in non-Tae Kwon Do venues (such as amateur MMA or whatever) to test myself against people who don't train like I do
My other thought is to go back to my old Hapkido instructor (who is good friends with my Tae Kwon Do instructor, btw...he is also a Tae Kwon Do BB under my current instructor and sat on my BB test and critiqued some of my techniques). But I feel in many ways I left some ares of my training incomplete when I left him (as a purple belt) so it's tempting to use his very-pragmatic Hapkido/MMA approach to round out and buttress and strengthen my Tae Kwon Do base
I live in Colorado Springs. I know I brought this up before but I thought maybe being more detailed (as my understanding has become more refined) would help to see if anyone know someone in the area that would be compatible with my goals.
Thanks
So what am I looking for now?
Tae Kwon Do as a self-defense art. Strong emphasis on strategy and tactics as well as practical responses.
My view on forms is as such. Forms define the full scope of the techniques of the art and all the techniques within should be practiced for practicality in themselves. That's kicks, knees, punches, elbows, knife-hands, etc...etc.. forms are good for teaching balance, control, focus, etc..etc... but sometimes you need to stop forms as just an abstract art and take the techniques out of the form and practice them for power, against resistance, etc..etc..
My view on sparring is as such. "The army doesn't train to excel at war games, the Army does war games to prepare for winning a war". As such, I think Tae Kwon Do as a full martial art should be practiced for effectiveness in it's entirety, and then you put the pads on and limit your attacks to some given rule set just to test your speed and your strength and what you can do against an intelligent and skilled opponent. I still want to compete on occasion, but I don't want hat the focus of my training. Ideally, i would like to compete in non-Tae Kwon Do venues (such as amateur MMA or whatever) to test myself against people who don't train like I do
My other thought is to go back to my old Hapkido instructor (who is good friends with my Tae Kwon Do instructor, btw...he is also a Tae Kwon Do BB under my current instructor and sat on my BB test and critiqued some of my techniques). But I feel in many ways I left some ares of my training incomplete when I left him (as a purple belt) so it's tempting to use his very-pragmatic Hapkido/MMA approach to round out and buttress and strengthen my Tae Kwon Do base
I live in Colorado Springs. I know I brought this up before but I thought maybe being more detailed (as my understanding has become more refined) would help to see if anyone know someone in the area that would be compatible with my goals.
Thanks
