Traditional Taekwondo Vs Sports Taekwondo

A review on Taekwondo for Taekwondo practitioner

BY Rizwan Mustafa Zubairi, International Master Instructor

The term TaeKwondo has been known by the Pakistan community since the early seventies, when the first martial arts school was opened in 1970 at National Sports Training and Coaching Centre, Karachi.

The youth of Karachi city started learning this defensive as well as offensive Korean martial art and achieved black belts during 1975 and 1976. Afterwards these black belts opened other TaeKwondo clubs, spreading TaeKwondo on a vast scale. Many Korean Masters visited Pakistan and awarded Black Belts to the Pakistani Youth.

The TaeKwondo is no doubt the first Martial Art in Pakistan. Through these qualified black belts, TaeKwondo has been spread in all over Pakistan. Now it is the most widely practiced martial art in all Pakistan.

TaeKwondo took a big turn in 80's when the mother body of TaeKwondo "The World TaeKwondo Federation" started its operations to make it the most popular martial art in the Olympics. In 1988 the TaeKwondo become a demonstration sport in the Olympics.

Over the years, TaeKwondo has been recognized world-wide including Pakistan, as a modern Olympic Martial Sport. The Korea TaeKwondo Association was created in Seoul, Korea in 1961 while World TaeKwondo Federation was founded in 1973 in Korea.

Let us review what is Martial Arts and Sports by definition.

Martial Arts:
Comprised of the word "martial," or warlike, and "art," martial art is literally translated as art of war. Originally used in actual combat as fighting arts in East Asia, the martial arts now encompass hundreds of different styles of weaponless and armed fighting arts around the world.

In recent years, many of the martial arts have developed into sports-physical activities or active past-times that are governed by a set of rules or customs. Yet, the martial arts are distinctly unique sports, since they allow development to occur on many different levels simultaneously, and provide users with a means of understanding and bettering themselves.

Some argue that there are martial arts and martial ways; martial art referring to the study of an art that emphasizes only physical techniques, and martial way emphasizing the study of both physical techniques and a philosophical or mental aspect. This view separates the practice. Essentially, the attitude of the student practicing the martial art determines the difference.

Sports:
Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. OR it can be a particular form of this activity e.g. an activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.

The Origion Of TaeKwondo Word.
The XXVII Olympiad in Sydney, Australia, in the year 2000, marks the inauguration of a new Olympic sport: tae kwon do. That is the ultimate recognition for a TaeKwondo martial art as an Olympic sport.

In Korean, tae is to kick, jump, or strike with the foot; kwon is fist, or to strike with the hand; do is the way or the art. Together they became tae kwon do, the art of kicking and punching, using bare feet and hands as weapons.

The practitioners of TaeKwondo were, to some extent, a little confused about the terms Sports TaeKwondo or Traditional TaeKwondo??? They wanted to know whether they are of same thing or are they different terms.

Traditional TaeKwondo:
To understand the term traditional TaeKwondo one must know that before the formation of WTF, there were about 9 schools in Korea who were responsible for teaching the art and science of TaeKwondo and are still working under the Korea TaeKwondo Association.

THE KOREAN KWANS (School of Martial Arts in Korea)

1. Chung Do Kwan.
   1. The first Kwan was opened in 1945 in Yong Chun, Seoul. This dojangs (gymnasium) was named the Chung Do Kwan, "Gym of the Blue Wave" under master Won Kuk Lee.
2. JI Do KWON
   1. The Ji Do Kwan was founded by an elite member, Chun Sang Sup, on May 3, 1946, as the Choson Yun Moo Kwan Kong Soo Do Bu. The Kwan is famous in Korea and all over the world by the development of TaeKwondo fighting system (Kyrogi).
3. MOO DUK KWAN
   1. It is founded after 1946 by Won Kuk Lee students, Hwang Kee established the Moo Duk Kwan in Seoul, teaching Tang Soo Do.
4. CHANG MOO KWAN
   1. Yoon Byung In, who taught Moo Do with Chun Sang Sup in the Choson Yun Moo Kwan, founded the Chang Moo Kwan in 1946 at the YMCA in Jong Ro, Seoul.
5. SONG MOO KWAN
   1. The Song Moo Kwan was founded by Ro Byung Jik in Kae Song in 1946. Song Moo Kwan founder Ro Byung Jik studied together with Chung Do Kwan founder Lee Won Kuk in Japan.
6. OH DO KWAN
   1. The Oh Do Kwan is founded by former ROK Army members Choi Hong Hi and Nam Tae Hi.
7. KANG DUK WON
   1. The Kang Duk Won was founded after the Korean War in 1956 by two people They were Hong Jong Pyo and Park Chul Hee.
8. HAN MOO KWAN
   1. Lee Kyo Yoon founded the Han Moo Kwan in August 1956 and it was the leader of the new schools in the mid 1950's.
9. JUNG DO KWAN
   1. Lee, Yong Woo, the founder of Jung Do Kwan had begun teaching privately in 1944 but this is often not recognized because he was a student of Won Kuk Lee at the time.

Mostly the curriculum designed in Traditional TaeKwondo based on the above five sets of techniques. I also teach TaeKwondo at my dojangs.

1 - Forms • 2 - Sparring • 3 - Self-defense • 4 - Breaking • 5 - Theory.

The Traditional TaeKwondo people make extensive use of forms (Poomse) training and competition so that they can develop balance, co-ordination, speed and can become an expert in TaeKwondo techniques. Furthermore they also practice one-step sparring as well as self-defense techniques to master the art of TaeKwondo. Wooden board breaking develops power, target accuracy and confidence while theoretical knowledge makes the mind powerful.

Traditional TaeKwondo also emphasizes the complete development of the student in Mind and Body. Development of life skills such as stress management, self esteem, focus, and self discipline help the students to achieve their personal goals both inside and outside of the dojangs. The class exercises not only teach our students how to defend themselves, but lead to improved fitness, weight loss, muscle conditioning, improved flexibility, and improved cardiovascular condition.

When students qualify for 1st Dan black belt, they enter in the advance training where they choose a major in which to concentrate - e.g. Weapons training specialist, advanced tournament competition specialist, self defense career training (executive body guarding, security guard, etc.), forms technician and development, and Instructor training/school management etc.

The term Sport TaeKwondo starts entering into competitors ears when WTF masters start emphasizing sparring. Many TaeKwondo instructors world-wide started making changes in their dojang's TaeKwondo curriculum.

The match between two competitors is also considered to be the limited incidence of bodily injury, due to protected hogos (Head, Chest, Forearms, Groin and Shin) protectors' usage and strict rules have made the world's most powerful as well as effective martial art into a Modern day martial sport, where one can witness the highly speedy kick movements.

The WTF and ITF, which have always been considered to be the most respectable TaeKwondo governing bodies, are nowadays undertaking the unifying of TaeKwondo under one umbrella.

To date ITF TaeKwondo is considered to be the traditional promoters of TaeKwondo skills while WTF TaeKwondo is on the sports side. Very recently, WTF has introduced Poomse forms competition in its curriculum, which is a big step towards its traditional roots.

The ITF groups considers itself a traditional martial art TaeKwondo promoter, while WTF considers itself a progressive martial sport with Olympic Charter.

The ITF forms are called "CHONJI" which was established by General Choi Hong Hi.

The WTF originally used "PALGUE" forms. There was one form for each of the eight-trigram patterns, called "GWE" (four of the eight gwe are shown on the Korean flag). Later, a new series of eight colored belt forms called "TAEGUK" was developed (named after eum-yang symbol on the Korean flag). While the taeguk forms are now the standard in the WTF, many dojangs also teach the palgue forms due to its traditional roots.

ITF kicks are characterized by a wide trajectory with maximum reach (the classical or traditional technique). The movements and the exercises are performed with the typical ITF "sine wave" (an up-and-down body movement aiming at the increasing of power). When executing a technique, a characteristic hissing sound made by a sudden breathing out through the teeth to tighten the abdominal and protect inner organs in case of counter-attack. The ITF practices semi-contact sparring where hand attacks to the face and kicks to the groin are allowed, however, little or no contact is used.

WTF kicks are oriented toward sparring. The foot trajectory is as short as possible to increase speed and the moment of surprise. There is no "wave" movement. The exhalation is often soundless to hide the moment of attack. The WTF emphasizes full-contact competition style sparring, which is why many people call WTF TaeKwondo a sport rather than a martial art. In the WTF, participants are not allowed to attack the face with hand techniques, to attack below the waist, or to grapple. Otherwise, they use full-contact techniques. They use a scoring system that emphasizes the real delivered power of the technique. Both organizations require competitors to wear protective equipment while training and competing.

Let's Consider Some Major Differences Between Traditional And Sports TaeKwondo

If you ask a ITF practitioner to describe WTF stylists, you may hear:

• They do not have real power in their techniques, just speedy and fancy kicks and footwork with lots of changing motions
• Everything is geared to competition, so the emphasis is on speed and scoring. Thus the techniques have little use in practical situations
• Hand attacks are seldom used especially to the head
• WTF president is a political figure who is not a TaeKwondo practitioner
• Patterns have no aesthetic value and are not emphasized
• Kicks lack power which is why they do little board breaking

If you ask a WTF practitioner to describe ITF stylists, you may hear:

• They use old-fashioned kicks that are not useful in sparring, e.g. too slow, use too much movement, leave you vulnerable, and use too much energy. Since they use light or no contact sparring, they would not survive in WTF sparring
• Use hard blocks instead of avoidance
• Low, wide stances slow techniques and telegraph movements
• Few aerial kicks and little innovation, which lead to lower skill levels

Although different in their TaeKwondo philosophies, the two associations have several similarities. Due to their common origins, both place a heavy emphasis on graceful, but powerful, kicking techniques, and both use wood breaking as a test of both concentration and technique.

Some differences between traditional TaeKwondo and sport TaeKwondo are as follows:

• Traditional TaeKwondo seeks self-development and spiritual improvement, while Sport TaeKwondo seeks superiority over an opponent—winning
• Traditional TaeKwondo reflects Eastern values while Sport TaeKwondo reflects Western values
• Traditional TaeKwondo is process-oriented; SportTaeKwondo is result-oriented
• Traditional TaeKwondo is formalized, Sport TaeKwondo is not

For true traditionalists, such as me, the real TaeKwondo is the one that developed in the major Kwans throughout South Korea after World War II. It was a combination of the Japanese as well as Chinese martial arts that had been learned by the Kwan masters in Japan and China as well as what the masters had been able to learn about the ancient Korean art of Taekkon (of which little is known).

All the kwan masters were equally responsible for the development of this new martial art; which we all know as TaeKwondo. However, due to his position and contacts within government and his ambition, Choi's version of TaeKwondo became the most popular version used in the early years. Choi later declared himself the founder of TaeKwondo. Although he certainly helped make TaeKwondo the most popular martial art worldwide, he was not its sole founder.

After the death of General Choi his ITF broke up into many groups and do not co-operate with one other. But this does not matter a lot nowadays. However, there is no reason that TaeKwondo cannot exist in the world including Pakistan as both a sport and an art.

These are purely my views on traditional TaeKwondo and sports TaeKwondo; readers may differ with this article.