Who's Taekwondo on this Board – Rank, Years?

...err no it was 3 years to black belt..id done a bit of karate and kickboxing before i started
yeah it was super fast...tripple graded to yellow belt green tip for my first grading - double graded to green belt blue tip - double graded again to blue belt red tip - red - red black tip - black
6 months between gradings..
i can imagine what some of you may be thinking..."token belts, easy gradings..bla bla"...well i can tell you it was all legit..i worked my *** off , and spent most of my training time with higher belts so i could leech their brains of anything they could give me...and it all stuck in there
no one at out club has done it that quickly before or since....but i really leeched the highter belts as i said and absolutely loved gradings...just went fulll bore for the whole things...now i really miss them...only get to watch and mark others :(.... na thats cool too like instructing its just a whole new aspect to my addiction

the normal time to black belt at my club is 4 1/2 - 5 years..but normal is what other people do..:jedi1:

No sarah ...you wont get to see our 2nd degree gradings(closed grading)
but you seem to be sneeky with that camera so..?..hehe

our stlye is only TKD based (our 2 head instructors trained under Willie Lim)
but when he left NZ they worked on developing a more realistic and varied martial art/self defence form.
we now incorporate aspects from a multitude including
Tai Chi,Balintawak,judo,JJ,Muay Tai
but our grading system ,forms(Hyungs), Basics etc are TKD founded

bla bla
Yeah thanks for the welcome...glad to be here
 
Miles said:
Don't be upset by the use of the poom ranking. Pooms are expected to perform physically the same material as an adult. The poom means the student has the requisite physical aspects, he/she just has not had enough life experience to be a dan holder.

Now, how can there be 14,000 4th pooms? Pretty easy when you train in TKD nearly daily from age 5 and take the examination after age 15 but before age 18.

Miles
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I have no problem with Poom ranks. My students who pass the Dan grading before they are 15 also wear Poom belts. So far, only one in the history of my school managed to fulfill the requirements for 2nd Poom. I never had anyone wearing 3rd Poom and I don't suppose there will be anyone.

I have a serious problem with 4th Pooms since no matter how many hours and years of practice, kids are still kids. I met several Korean kids wearing 2nd and 3rd Pooms and was dissapointed to say the least. Their level of technical proficiency was lower than the European 1st Pooms I know. 4th degree black belt for me is either a very seasoned senior competitor or an instructor with several years experience. Therefore I feel that awarding an equivalent of 4th Dan to a kid aged 15 is cheapening the value of the grade.

Gizmo
 
Gizmo said:
I have no problem with Poom ranks. My students who pass the Dan grading before they are 15 also wear Poom belts. So far, only one in the history of my school managed to fulfill the requirements for 2nd Poom. I never had anyone wearing 3rd Poom and I don't suppose there will be anyone.

I have a serious problem with 4th Pooms since no matter how many hours and years of practice, kids are still kids. I met several Korean kids wearing 2nd and 3rd Pooms and was dissapointed to say the least. Their level of technical proficiency was lower than the European 1st Pooms I know. 4th degree black belt for me is either a very seasoned senior competitor or an instructor with several years experience. Therefore I feel that awarding an equivalent of 4th Dan to a kid aged 15 is cheapening the value of the grade.

Gizmo
Click to expand...
Kids are still kids. :) That's why they wear the poom belt not a black belt. The poor technical proficiency of those kids you mentioned is due to a bad instructor, not to a bad kid.

You mentioned 4th degree is a "very seasoned senior competitor or an instructor with several years experience." Do you give credit towards rank for competition? Do you have teaching requirements for rank advancement? Since I asked the question, I will also provide answers: yes before poom/black belt to the former, and yes to black belts in the latter.

Thanks for your response!

Miles
 
Of course kids are still kids. But it doesn't mean they have to wear 4th degree black belt (or black-red, whatever). Just to make it clear, I have no problem with the whole idea of Poom belts. It's just a number of those junior grades I don't like. To me, 1st Poom for a good young martial artist is OK, 2nd Poom for an exceptional one as well. I still have to meet a kid deserving 3rd or 4th Poom in my opinion. As for the Korean kids I mentioned, they were fantastic kids, but only mediocre Taekwondoists. And you're right, it's not their fold, it's the instructor's. But somebody promoted them to their grades, and since they were Koreans, living in Korea, I'm pretty sure that the testing was according to the Kukkiwon guidelines, which somehow don't impress me anymore. This is what I call lowering the standards.

Yes, the tournament participation and teaching is taken into consideration at our gradings. In both cases it's not a prerequisite however.

Best regards

Gizmo
 
Gizmo said:
Of course kids are still kids. But it doesn't mean they have to wear 4th degree black belt (or black-red, whatever). Just to make it clear, I have no problem with the whole idea of Poom belts. It's just a number of those junior grades I don't like. To me, 1st Poom for a good young martial artist is OK, 2nd Poom for an exceptional one as well. I still have to meet a kid deserving 3rd or 4th Poom in my opinion. As for the Korean kids I mentioned, they were fantastic kids, but only mediocre Taekwondoists. And you're right, it's not their fold, it's the instructor's. But somebody promoted them to their grades, and since they were Koreans, living in Korea, I'm pretty sure that the testing was according to the Kukkiwon guidelines, which somehow don't impress me anymore. This is what I call lowering the standards.

Yes, the tournament participation and teaching is taken into consideration at our gradings. In both cases it's not a prerequisite however.

Gizmo
Click to expand...
Thanks for your response Gizmo.

You do seem to have a problem with a poom higher than 2nd. That's fine as it is your perogative as the instructor. My overall point is that if a child has met the physical requirements, they are entitled to the poom equivalent. They can't be a black belt due to age (which brings with it the necessary life experiences).

The Kukkiwon guidelines are minimums. You can demand more from your students (as do I). Again, I see it as the instructor's fault, not the student's if the instructor recommended the student for a rank to which he/she was not entitled.

Miles
 
That's exactly my point. Therefore I saw no use in introducing 4th Poom as I personally felt that this will be a "commercial" grade.

We don't follow the Kukkiwon guidelines nor do we take part in the tests conducted by Kukkiwon examiner here anymore. Hovewer, since Kukki-TKD used to be our main avenue of practice for several years and we still occasionally do compete in Olympic style events, I'm still interested in what's going on in the WTF/Kukkiwon world as I have many friends there.

Regards

Gizmo
 
ok well personally my training began mid 1997, graded through and got my black December 2000 so Homy got his 6 months quicker.. bastard. :P have been training on and off since then completing my BSc, so training has had to take a unfortunate sideline : / as it does...uggh.

but, i would like to complete my 2nd dan sometime in 2005, its about time, so its going to be all about training...finally.


Anyways its been great so far and im looking forward to alot more training in the future, I am also currently thinking about various other arts i would like to pursue, but we will see.
 
*sic said:
...but, i would like to complete my 2nd dan sometime in 2005, its about time, so its going to be all about training...finally. .
Click to expand...
Yay....someone to train with...
not saying Ad-ram isnt cool to train with(he is)..just he cant go 4 2nd till the end of next year :(
(not to mention hes been spending way too much time in the garden)
Hello Aether :p
 
I hope we get the chat room soon...this thread is really about who's Taekwondo so that new people joining would know who's who. Maybe you'all could start a gardening thread in the locker room? Thanks TW
 
TigerWoman said:
I hope we get the chat room soon...this thread is really about who's Taekwondo so that new people joining would know who's who. Maybe you'all could start a gardening thread in the locker room? Thanks TW
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I agree
 
5th Dan Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do

3rd Dan Kuk Ki Won

started in 1974' under Chuck Norris, Sang K. Sa, Yong Kim, Young Ik Han, Hee Il Cho and Kyu Ha Cho.
 
I have been LUCKY! :) Plus I live in a great area for the Greats...Los Angeles, CA., USA! Norris, Cho, Han, all of these are rooted in the LA area. I was just fortunate enough to attend their schools!
 
dosandojang said:
I have been LUCKY! :) Plus I live in a great area for the Greats...Los Angeles, CA., USA! Norris, Cho, Han, all of these are rooted in the LA area. I was just fortunate enough to attend their schools!
Click to expand...
Do you ever go south to see Grand Master Jimmy Kim or Master Combe. I was tought under Jin Kim in Huntington Beach back in the 80's early, before that was tought Okinawa karate under my Father W.R. Stoker Sr.
 
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