Taekwondo Sheffield

Taekwondo is typically much more physically demanding than for instance Tai Chi, so unless you're pretty nimble and fit you may prefer to find something a little bit gentler to boost your fitness levels in Sheffield. Children are certainly an ideal participants for Taekwondo classes in Sheffield, with a lot of fast movements going on and a great deal of high kicking.

The discipline was formulated in Korea in 1945, though it wasn't named Taekwondo until the 1950's. Some innovative new schools called "kwans" were established in Seoul by a group of Korean martial arts lovers, mixing a number of various martial arts techniques. Taekwondo, which it later became known as, mostly entails kicking movements, in particular jumping/turning kicks, head-height kicks and rapid kicking styles. Nowadays Sheffield Taekwondo classes comply with this tradition.

Ever since the Sydney Olympic Games in the year 2000, Taekwondo has been an Olympic sport. This has added to its popularity all over the world with some 60 million people regularly participating in classes. And it is by signing up to a Taekwondo class or club that you can start your quest of mastering this exciting martial art.

It would seem that the most appealing aspect of Taekwondo is self-defence. You should not be surprised by this, when you take into account the high incidence of violence seen in today's town and city centres. It's a key factor of Taekwondo that you can be confidently able to defend yourself yet learn to respect others and exercise self-restraint.

Hopefully you won't ever need to use your newly discovered Taekwondo skills for defending yourself outside of your local club environment, but it's nice to know they're there if you need them.

Your First Taekwondo Lesson

If you have never had a go at Taekwondo before, you might be somewhat concerned as to what to expect on your very first lesson. This can vary from club to club but will normally comprise all or some of these. A fifteen to twenty minute warm up to loosen muscles and increase heart rate, a bit of practical training involving learning some stances, kicks, blocking techniques and hand attacks, discovering a few forms, a quick introduction to sparring which will include attack timing, timing and movement, and lastly a warm down to relax and stretch weary muscles.

The United Kingdom's official regulating body of the sport is British Taekwondo and if you wish to sign up with a Taekwondo club in Sheffield, you will also be required to become a member of this organization. You'll be able to find out about first aid, events, coaching courses, members and clubs, health and safety, establishing a new club, coaches and competition referees, news, equality and safeguarding, and more on British Taekwondo's official website, and find out the latest Taekwondo news stories on their Twitter or Facebook page.

Taekwondo Belts

In terms of promotion, ranking and belts there's not actually any real standardization in Taekwondo, since there are many different styles of Taekwondo each of which has their own arrangement in place. There are however likenesses and they generally consist of 2 groups of belts "seniors" and "juniors" represented by black and coloured belts respectively, . The senior grades normally have nine ranks and the junior, eight to twelve grades.

Taekwondo Competitions

There are a multitude of contests in Taekwondo involving all the various styles. They mostly involve sparring, patterns (forms) and breaking with little or no hard contact. ITF contests don't permit excessive contact but may allow hand attacks to be aimed at the head. WT (World Taekwondo) and Olympic competitions allow only sparring. Multi-style tournaments also take place.

Taekwondo Safety Gear

In all competitions, matches and events taking place under the patronage of British Taekwondo, safety equipment such as blue or red body armour, a mouth guard, shin guards, forearm protectors, hand protectors, a groin guard and a blue/red head protector is compulsory. The fast kicking tactics which are part of Taekwondo may cause injury and this helps to make the activity much safer for its competitors.

Conclusion

Precisely what you acquire from Taekwondo will be directly related to what you put into it (as applies with life on the whole). Most of you will just want to meet different people, make new friends and improve your fitness levels, some may wish to progress to competitions or tournaments or possibly even the Olympic Games. But remember, we can't all end up being a Jade Jones or a Lutalo Muhammad. 👊