What is the Difference

[Marginal]

Gen Choi was in charge of S Korea's TKD program right up until he was forced to leave S Korea. He moved to Canada, and founded the ITF there, its eventual base was in Vienna however, and the ITF had no real N Korean ties up (it was practiced in N Korea, but N Korea had no influence on the governing body, the development of techniques etc) until Choi's death, when he may or may not have turned over the ITF presidency over to a N Korean politician. (The legality of the appointment is a source of hot dispute) This is one of the issues that lead to the emergence of two of the three ITF's that exist now. The other formed earlier partially in anticipation of Gen Choi making that move, and partially due to Choi's son beleiving he should've been ITF president etc etc.

 

[bignick]

politics are a beautiful thing....

 

[Zepp]

politics are a beautiful thing....

By comparison to nuclear fallout.

 

[MichiganTKD]

The International Tae Kwon Do Federation actually formed in 1966 by Gen. Choi when he was still in Korea and had influence in the Korean TKD community. It was considered a private (non-government authorized) organization. When Choi was forced out, he took the ITF with him. Because it was a private organization, it was not obligated to stay in Korea.
As a response to Choi's leaving, the Korean gov't authorized the forming of the WTF and the building of the Kukkiwon to keep Tae Kwon Do headquartered in Korea.
Olympic Tae Kwon Do is based on WTF rules because of the work and influence of Dr. Un Yong Kim, original WTF President. He is in prison now for embezzlement, but his work for World TKD was immense. Because of Gen. Choi's bad relationship with S. Korea, and the fact that he openly worked with N. Korea (S. Korea's enemy), he was considered unwelcome in S. Korea until his death.

 

[Han-Mi]

Gen Choi was in charge of S Korea's TKD program right up until he was forced to leave S Korea. He moved to Canada, and founded the ITF there, its eventual base was in Vienna however, and the ITF had no real N Korean ties up (it was practiced in N Korea, but N Korea had no influence on the governing body, the development of techniques etc) until Choi's death, when he may or may not have turned over the ITF presidency over to a N Korean politician. (The legality of the appointment is a source of hot dispute) This is one of the issues that lead to the emergence of two of the three ITF's that exist now. The other formed earlier partially in anticipation of Gen Choi making that move, and partially due to Choi's son beleiving he should've been ITF president etc etc.

Sorry, that's my ignorance slipping out. I think I got that idea from an explanations similar to MichiganTKD's, but exxaggerated. So that's my fault for not resaearching it myself.

As for whether I have competed with or trained in ITF. No I have'nt trained with any ITF schools. I have not competed in completely ITF ruled competitions. I have competed against them in free-style competitions, but I didn't see a huge difference in their techs. Looks like another means to an end to me.

 

[Marginal]

Major difference stylistically with ITF is the sine wave movement used during patterns. Other differences wouldn't really show up in an open sparring situation. (Kenpo doesn't look dissimilar either in that environment either for example.)

 

[Sarah]

What is "sine wave movement" ??

 

[TigerWoman]

Hi Sarah, I was also interested in it also since I knew we (WTF style) did not do it. We do the hip snap type of kick and punch with the hips twisting. I found a good article explaining this from tkdtutor.com with the link here:

http://tkdtutor.com/06Theory/Power/HipSnap.htm

It describes sine wave and hip snap and the difference pretty well.
TW

 

[Marginal]

What is "sine wave movement" ??

It's a down, up, down motion at its most basic level. You sink slightly, then rise up while moving and settle back down into stance when you execute your technique. (Doesn't really work with kicking techniques opr in sparring though so it only really manifests itself in pattern practice, floor exercises with hand techniques etc.)

When Gen Choi first introduced it, too much was made of generating power from dropping down into the target, and a lot of people thought it was supposed to replace the method of generating power from the hips. That's not the case however. Hip motion was never supposed to be divorced from the movement. On top of that, the dropping motion's not supposed to be the "power enhancer" as some beleive. Bending the leg slightly before you move simply allows you to bring more muscles into play when you move your leg from that point, which (theoretically) makes the movement more stable. (The motion should be fairly slight in any case, no more elevation change than 1-2 inches..)

Some say it does enhance power, some say it doesn't accomplish anything, but the same can be said of a debate between proponents of shallow stances vs deep stances etc. I've never really heard anythign compelling from either camp as both offer the same argument. "Ours is more effective/better/more powerful" so bleah.