*dance *promote

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Monday, November 28th, 2011 10:44am PST - promote requested by Lann.

Adding video to channels (Dance) - requested by Lann.

lol at those "boards"

News just in: Serial Korean dance bully found beaten and bloody in a ditch, no suspects yet questioned.

Don't know what's been happening with tae kwon do in the past decade. It's developed this strange focus on ineffective spinning-jumping kicks. More like gymnastics than martial arts.

Of course, nothing wrong with that. It looks cool, takes practice and commitment and provides exercise. Which is really the only thing martial arts are for anyway. So, I guess I answered my own question.

Never mind, carry on.

The balsa wood plank community mourns today.

Shouldn't these kids be home playing Starcraft II?

>> ^TheFreak:

Don't know what's been happening with tae kwon do in the past decade. It's developed this strange focus on ineffective spinning-jumping kicks. More like gymnastics than martial arts.

Government interference is what happened.

First they pressured the separate kwons to unify in an attempt to form one universal Korean martial art. This is what created TKD (in name, at least). Then they sought ways to make it a symbol of the country, to give the Korean people something to be proud of. Ultimately this culminated in an effort to introduce it to the Olympics. In order to accomplish this, they had to turn it into a sport. The military style of TKD still exists but, aside from the actual military, it's hard to find anywhere that teaches it inside Korea.

I have a friend who is from South Korea. He was adopted and brought to the US when he was still a baby. He's a TKD black belt. He's taken trips back to Korea and he's sparred with people who have learned TKD there and they are all horrible because they've been taught to dance rather than fight.

The only fighting they know is point fighting so they do not learn to defend and they do not learn how to generate power. They are incredibly fast but, in a real fight, he had no doubts that they would pose little to no threat unless he was greatly outnumbered.

South Korea has been on fire lately. I think they are about to eclipse Japan.

click *bang*

/Indiana Jones

mintbbb cannot be banned because star accounts are immune to banination - ignoring ban request by antonye.

>> ^siftbot:

mintbbb cannot be banned because star accounts are immune to banination - ignoring ban request by antonye.


Oh siftbot, you're so silly.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

>> ^TheFreak:
Don't know what's been happening with tae kwon do in the past decade. It's developed this strange focus on ineffective spinning-jumping kicks. More like gymnastics than martial arts.
Government interference is what happened.
First they pressured the separate kwons to unify in an attempt to form one universal Korean martial art. This is what created TKD (in name, at least). Then they sought ways to make it a symbol of the country, to give the Korean people something to be proud of. Ultimately this culminated in an effort to introduce it to the Olympics. In order to accomplish this, they had to turn it into a sport. The military style of TKD still exists but, aside from the actual military, it's hard to find anywhere that teaches it inside Korea.
I have a friend who is from South Korea. He was adopted and brought to the US when he was still a baby. He's a TKD black belt. He's taken trips back to Korea and he's sparred with people who have learned TKD there and they are all horrible because they've been taught to dance rather than fight.
The only fighting they know is point fighting so they do not learn to defend and they do not learn how to generate power. They are incredibly fast but, in a real fight, he had no doubts that they would pose little to no threat unless he was greatly outnumbered.


Interesting, I was unaware of most of that.

I was talking to one of my older Aikido students last night who's been teaching TKD for a long time. I'd judge his style as very martial and effective based on the punches and kicks he was using while we compared notes. We were discussing how the tai sabaki from Aikido has influenced his TKD and I asked him about the change in TKD. He brushed it off and pointed out how he teaches both point fighting and martial effectiveness and distinguishes between the two to his students. His only thoughts on the current state of some TKD was that it was a passing fad.