Taekwondo Wareham

It has to be said that Taekwondo can be very challenging physically, which may discourage the older and less nimble people in Wareham from taking this up. To be fair, the most common people participating in Taekwondo classes are kids and the younger generation, but certainly older individuals who're in good physical condition can easily participate and benefit considerably from this activity.

Taekwondo is one of the more recently developed of the martial arts, with its beginnings in Korea in 1945. A group of Korean martial arts fanatics in Seoul established some new schools called "kwans", where they practiced a combination of martial arts techniques. The emphasis of the discipline was on kicking manoeuvres, especially jumping/turning kicks, head-height kicks and fast kicking methods, and it was later given the name; Taekwondo, meaning "the way of the foot and fist".

Taekwondo is popular with the people of Wareham and with over sixty million others all over the world. This sport has even been included in the Olympic Games since 2000, and if you want to get involved, heading along to your local Wareham Taekwondo class or club is an excellent starting point. While nobody would expect you to get to Olympic standard, you can certainly be one of the best Taekwondo exponents in Wareham.

A key aspect of Taekwondo is self-defence, and obviously this is one of the primary reasons that individuals in Wareham join classes and take up the sport. There's been a disturbing escalation of violent conduct in recent times and this is particularly prevalent in town and city centres around Dorset and the United Kingdom as a whole. The good thing about Taekwondo though, is that it also encourages self-discipline and respect for others, not such common characteristics in Wareham these days.

Such self-defence techniques may at some point come in useful in your everyday life, although it is much more likely that you will solely be testing them within a regulated class environment. Yet it is an amazing feeling knowing that you'll always be in a position to successfully defend yourself when you need to.

Your First Wareham Taekwondo Class

If you've never tried Taekwondo before, you could be somewhat anxious as to what should be expected on your very first class. This varies from club to club but will usually comprise some or all of these. A 15-20 minute warm up to loosen up muscles and increase heart rate, a bit of technical training including learning some kicks, stances, blocking techniques and hand attacks, learning some forms (or Poomse), an overview of sparring which will include the timing of attacks, movement and timing, and finally a warm down to relax and stretch weary muscles.

Everyone who is a member of a Taekwondo class in Wareham or any place else in the United Kingdom, is also required to join British Taekwondo, which is the official governing body of the sport. You'll be able to learn about equality and safeguarding, coaches and referees, members and clubs, news, establishing a new Taekwondo club, events, first aid, coaching courses, health and safety, and more on British Taekwondo's website, or find the latest news on their Facebook or Twitter page.

Taekwondo Forms

Taekwondo forms (also called Poomse or patterns) are identified by particular elements like technique, stance and direction. From the beginning you will learn some of the basic forms, and so as to progress through the grades (belts) you will need to master some more complex ones.

Taekwondo Belts (Ranking)

In Tae kwon do there's really no form of standardization in regards to belts and grades. It is all dependent on which style you are reviewing, because there are such a diversity of Taekwondo styles and rules. They are however, usually divided into a couple of groups "junior" or "colour" belts and "senior" or "black" belts. The junior/colour ranks consist of white to red, with from eight to twelve grades, while the black/senior belts commonly have 9 rankings.

Ranks (belts) in Taekwondo in the UK are depicted by what are known as "Kup". The top rank is 1st Kup and the lowest rank (beginners) is 10th Kup. The Taekwondo belt order, similar to most of the martial arts is indicated by a range of different colours, these colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with intermediate belts with stripes, specifically white with a yellow stripe, yellow with a green stripe, green with a blue stripe, blue with a red stripe and red with a black stripe. Beginners of Taekwondo in Wareham will commence with the White Belt (10th Kup), and move up through the different coloured belts until they reach the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (1st Kup).

When this training regime has been completed, Wareham Taekwondo trainees advance to "black belt candidates", and they must then earn an additional nine Dans if they're to achieve the Taekwondo "Black Belt", which of course is the consummate distinction. Therefore, putting it simply, there are three principal groups in the Taekwondo belt order, namely Junior Belts, Senior Belts and Black Belts. The Taekwondo Belts in the Junior group comprise; 10th (White), 9th (White With Yellow Stripe), 8th (Yellow), and 7th (Yellow With Green Stripe). The Taekwondo Belts in the Senior division are; 6th (Green), 5th (Green With Blue Stripe), 4th (Blue), 3rd ( Blue With Red Stripe), 2nd (Red), and 1st (Red With Black Stripe). The Taekwondo Belts in the Black group go from 1st to 9th Dan, a qualification process which will take a considerable number of years.