Taekwondo Whitehill

It's got to be asserted that Taekwondo can be quite demanding physically, which could discourage the less nimble and more elderly folks in Whitehill from becoming involved. To be fair, the most frequent people participating in Taekwondo classes are children and the younger generation, but unquestionably older people who are in good physical condition can easily be involved and benefit from this sport.

With its root beginnings in 1940's Korea, Taekwondo is certainly one of the more recently introduced of the martial arts and entails mainly kicking moves such as head-height kicks, jumping/turning kicks and rapid kicking styles. It started when schools known as "kwans" were established by a group of Korean martial arts specialists in Seoul, South Korea.

Taekwondo has become really popular in Whitehill and all across the globe, with more than 60 million participants worldwide. Enrolling in a local Whitehill Taekwondo club or class is a great way to become involved with this sport which has even featured in the Olympic Games ever since the Sydney Games of 2000. While you might not aspire to Olympic competition, there is no reason why you shouldn't become an expert at this intriguing martial art and have a bit of fun in the process.

For many folks in Whitehill, it is the self-defence element of Taekwondo that holds the most appeal. And in these days of increasing violence, especially in town and city centres, it really is no surprise that this features high up on people's priority lists. It is a primary element of Taekwondo that you are able to gain more confidence in your capacity to defend yourself while at the same time learning to respect others and learn self-restraint.

There is a very good chance that your eagerly learned Taekwondo skills will never need to be used in the outside world, but it will certainly give you peace of mind knowing that they are there should you need them.

Your First Lesson

If you make your mind up to register for a Taekwondo class in Whitehill, the very first thing you'll be wondering is what will happen on the very first class and exactly what will the instructor be expecting of you. Different Taekwondo masters in Whitehill will put together diverse routines for this initial introductory lesson but you should be expecting to do a 20 minute warm-up to get the blood pumping and loosen your muscles, learn some basic forms (Poomse), cover some practical training (hand attacks, stances, blocks and kicks), do a bit of sparring, and lastly, warm-down.

The body regulating Taekwondo in Britain is British Taekwondo and any person wishing to join a Taekwondo club in Whitehill must also become a member of British Taekwondo. By heading to the British Taekwondo website you can discover details of safeguarding and equality, health and safety, starting a new club, events, clubs and members, first aid, coaching courses, news, coaches and referees, and many more Taekwondo related facts.

Taekwondo Belts (Rank)

With there being various styles of Taekwondo there has never been any recognised system for allocating belts (promotion). What exists however is quite similar and is made up of 2 belt groups "junior" and "senior" ("colour" and "black"), each of these groups is divided into ranks, eight to twelve colours for juniors and 9 "blacks" for the seniors.

In the UK Taekwondo has a set of ranks (belts) which are known as "Kup", these ranks go from 10th (lowest) to 1st (highest). The Taekwondo belt order, much like the vast majority of the martial arts is portrayed by a number of different colours, these colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with intermediary belts with stripes, namely 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. Beginner students of Taekwondo in Whitehill will start out with the Tenth Kup (White Belt), and progress through the coloured belts until they reach the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (First Kup)

Taekwondo trainees in Whitehill become "black belt candidates" once they've worked their way through these rankings, and they'll then need to move through yet another nine ranks (Dans) if they aspire to achieve the greatest distinction of "Black Belt" in Taekwondo. So, the bottom line is, there are three main divisions in the Taekwondo belt order, that is Junior, Senior and Black Belts. The Junior Taekwondo Belts are; White (10th), White With Yellow Stripe (9th), Yellow (8th), and Yellow With Green Stripe (7th). The Senior Taekwondo Belts are; Green (6th), Green With Blue Stripe (5th), Blue (4th), Blue With Red Stripe (3rd), Red (2nd) and Red With Black Stripe (1st). The Black Taekwondo Belts go from 1st to 9th Dan which can take a number of years to progress through.

Competitions

Taekwondo competitions and tournaments are held across the globe in all of the diverse styles. There's generally not much hard contact but patterns, sparring and breaking. Olympic and World Taekwondo (WT) competitions consist only of sparring, in International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) competitions specified hand attacks are allowed to the head. Various other associations stage multi-discipline tournaments.

Taekwondo Safety Equipment

British Taekwondo matches require specific safety equipment to be worn to protect competitors from personal injury due to the vigorous kicks that are used. These safety solutions include: a groin protector, a gum shield, hand protectors, forearm protectors, a blue/red trunk guard (hogu), shin pads and a blue/red head protector.

Taekwondo Beginners Classes

Even the very best exponents of Taekwondo in Whitehill began their journey as novices, so there's no shame in being a total beginner at Taekwondo, or in fact any other activity. The aim of a Taekwondo beginner class is to provide just a few basics, improve confidence and develop a solid foundation moving forward. Most important of all is that it needs to be fun, trainees having a good time are going to learn faster and be better committed.

The Many Benefits of Taekwondo

The benefits that can be achieved by taking part in Taekwondo training in Whitehill are numerous, among the most significant are: Increase your self-esteem by heightening your physical and mental powers, Reduce stress using advanced breath control, Strengthen your body and mind through accelerated physical coordination and mental discipline, More discipline and willpower by extensively schooling your mind and body in the concepts and strategies of Taekwondo, Build your confidence by encouraging you to seize control of your life and succeed, Supercharge stamina, flexibility and agility by means of intensive cardiovascular exertion, Teach self-defence techniques by helping you to understand instances where self-defence might be required, and allowing you to turn these types of circumstances to your advantage.

In Conclusion

So, what are you looking to get from Taekwondo? Well, that's an excellent question, and the answer will be different for individual people. Most participants will simply look to meet new people, gain more confidence and improve their fitness. We're certainly not all going to reach the heights of Jade Jones or Lutalo Muhammad, though maybe you will, who knows?