Tae Kwon Do in America...Please translate...
I am a Korean American who lives in USA. I started Tae Kwon Do when I first came to America. Well, let me explain little more. I started with Wushu (KungFu) in Korea before I moved to America. I was 15 years old and the reason I started Wushu instead of other martial art was because I wanted something "different." And I heard about Tae Kwon Do being a kids stuff and not strong enough in real fight. When I first started Tae Kwon Do in USA, I was 16 years old and I alread had experience in Wushu. And I had confidence that I would be able to beat those weak pseudo Martial Artists in USA.
I was Wrong. The school I went was taught by a Korean master who is one of the original student of Master ByungJik Roh, who some people will recognize as the founder of SongMuKwan Tae Kwon Do.
Whenever I spar there, I was beaten mesearably by the students there. My Wushu experience was no match for Old Style Tae Kwon Do. I studied there for 3 years and I thought I was one of the best fighter. At that school, we did somewhat Karate style, old style Tae Kwon Do. One hit, one kill. We even learned old Karate style forms like, Pyung An forms. If you dont know what that is, it is Shotokan Karate forms. Master Byung Jik Roh was a student of Master Kishin Funakoshi who is the founder of the Shotokan Karate in Japan. Anyway, After I graduated high school, I went to a university which is about 2 hours drive away from my home. It is one of the biggest university in USA. There were a lot of martial art clubs there but I decided to join Hapkido club there. That hapkido club was basically a mixture of judo and taekwondo. More likely, there were more skilled Judo students there than Tae Kwon Do or Hapkido Students. Judo is a dedicated, strong martial art. At that time, Ultimate Fighting Championship was just starting. A lot of Judo students and Jujitsu students were challenging me to just prove that Judo or Jujitsu is stronger than Tae Kwon Do. I was 1st degree black belt. I amd 511" and about 150 lbs. The people I fought against was about 6 and 180 ~190 lbs, 1st degree black belt or 2nd degree black belt. Most of time, I beat them without too much problems. But I didnt feel like I was improving at all. In 1995, my second year in the University, there was a demonstration from all of the university martial art clubs. From there, I saw a young master who was 5th degree black belt and who was a national champion in featherweight in south Korea. I was trained in old style Tae Kwon Do and I was always told that is the "true" and the "strongest" of Tae Kwon Do. And I was educated to despise the Sports Tae Kwon Do or Olympic Style Tae Kwon Do. But the young Masters demonstration was so beautiful that I decided that I had to learn from him. I still remember the first sparring I had with him. I had good experience with Old Style, like Karate, Tae Kwon Do and experience with Judo. But he literally played with me and beat the crap out of me. I could not even touch him while he was mercifully tapping my chin with all different kinds of kicks. Well, I learned a lot from him. Not just techniques but modern philosophy of Tae Kwon Do. I was humbled. I am getting sleepy because it is getting late in here but if I get enough response I will write more about my experience. Someone please translate this... Thank you...
I was Wrong. The school I went was taught by a Korean master who is one of the original student of Master ByungJik Roh, who some people will recognize as the founder of SongMuKwan Tae Kwon Do.
Whenever I spar there, I was beaten mesearably by the students there. My Wushu experience was no match for Old Style Tae Kwon Do. I studied there for 3 years and I thought I was one of the best fighter. At that school, we did somewhat Karate style, old style Tae Kwon Do. One hit, one kill. We even learned old Karate style forms like, Pyung An forms. If you dont know what that is, it is Shotokan Karate forms. Master Byung Jik Roh was a student of Master Kishin Funakoshi who is the founder of the Shotokan Karate in Japan. Anyway, After I graduated high school, I went to a university which is about 2 hours drive away from my home. It is one of the biggest university in USA. There were a lot of martial art clubs there but I decided to join Hapkido club there. That hapkido club was basically a mixture of judo and taekwondo. More likely, there were more skilled Judo students there than Tae Kwon Do or Hapkido Students. Judo is a dedicated, strong martial art. At that time, Ultimate Fighting Championship was just starting. A lot of Judo students and Jujitsu students were challenging me to just prove that Judo or Jujitsu is stronger than Tae Kwon Do. I was 1st degree black belt. I amd 511" and about 150 lbs. The people I fought against was about 6 and 180 ~190 lbs, 1st degree black belt or 2nd degree black belt. Most of time, I beat them without too much problems. But I didnt feel like I was improving at all. In 1995, my second year in the University, there was a demonstration from all of the university martial art clubs. From there, I saw a young master who was 5th degree black belt and who was a national champion in featherweight in south Korea. I was trained in old style Tae Kwon Do and I was always told that is the "true" and the "strongest" of Tae Kwon Do. And I was educated to despise the Sports Tae Kwon Do or Olympic Style Tae Kwon Do. But the young Masters demonstration was so beautiful that I decided that I had to learn from him. I still remember the first sparring I had with him. I had good experience with Old Style, like Karate, Tae Kwon Do and experience with Judo. But he literally played with me and beat the crap out of me. I could not even touch him while he was mercifully tapping my chin with all different kinds of kicks. Well, I learned a lot from him. Not just techniques but modern philosophy of Tae Kwon Do. I was humbled. I am getting sleepy because it is getting late in here but if I get enough response I will write more about my experience. Someone please translate this... Thank you...
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