Taekwondo Essington

Taekwondo is typically a lot more demanding physically than for instance Tai Chi, so unless you're pretty fit and nimble you might prefer to partake in something a bit gentler to improve your fitness in Essington. Younger children are definitely the perfect participants for Taekwondo classes in Essington, with a lot of fast movements going on and a great deal of high kicking.

Taekwondo is a martial art that mostly features kicking manoeuvres and moves, in particular head-height kicks, rapid kicking strategies and jumping/spinning kicks. It began in Seoul, in southern Korea in the 1940's, when a group of martial arts enthusiasts founded schools known as "kwans", which mixed together various martial arts techniques.

The total number of Taekwondo practitioners globally, now exceeds 60 million. Now an Olympic sport, Taekwondo is accessible to anyone, and heading along to a local Essington Taekwondo club or class is the most effective way to get yourself involved. Whilst noone would seriously expect you to get to Olympic standard, you can certainly be one of the best Taekwondo exponents in Essington.

For a lot of folks in Essington, it's the self-defence element of Taekwondo that holds the most appeal. And in these times of increased violence, especially in city and town centres, it's little surprise that this sits high on people's list of priorities. It is a key factor of Taekwondo that you can become confident in your capacity to defend yourself and at the same time learn to respect other people and practice self-restraint.

Your eagerly mastered Taekwondo skills will most likely never have to be proven outside the regulated atmosphere of an organised Taekwondo class, however knowing that you've got them will give you peace of mind.

Your First Taekwondo Class

If you decide to register for a Taekwondo class in Essington, the very first thing you'll wish to know is what is going to transpire on the initial class and what precisely will the tutor be expecting of you. Different Taekwondo masters in Essington will devise diverse routines for this first lesson but you should be expecting to do a fifteen to twenty minute warm-up to get the blood coursing and loosen your muscles, learn several forms (Poomse), cover some practical training (stances, blocks, kicks and hand attacks), do a bit of sparring, and to finish, warm-down.

Everybody who's a registered member of a Taekwondo class in Essington or any place else in Britain, is also required to join British Taekwondo, which is the regulating body of the sport. By going to the official British Taekwondo website you can find information regarding news, first aid, coaches and referees, events, health and safety, beginning a new club, coaching courses, members and clubs, equality and safeguarding, and a lot more Taekwondo related issues.

Taekwondo Belts (Rank)

Because there are various disciplines of Taekwondo there's never really been any standard system for assigning belts (ranks). What exists is however quite similar and is made up of two belt groups "senior" and "junior" (black and colour), each of these groupings is split into levels, eight to twelve colours for juniors and nine for the seniors.

In the UK there are a series of ranks (belts) in Taekwondo that are called "Kup". The lowest (beginners) rank is Tenth Kup and the highest is First Kup. As is the case with most of the martial arts, the Taekwondo belt order is indicated by a number of different colours, so that the ranks can be easily identified. These colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with transitional belts with stripes in-between, 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. The White Belt (10th Kup) is what Taekwondo newbies in Essington will begin with, they'll then proceed through the coloured belts, eventually reaching the Red With Black Stripe Belt (1st Kup), after about three to four years of lessons and training.

After succeeding with this challenge, Taekwondo trainees in Essington are considered to be "black belt candidates" which requires them to proceed through an additional nine ranks (Dans) up until they eventually achieve the accolade of "Black Belt" status. So, Junior, Senior and Black Belt are the 3 main classifications in the Taekwondo belt order in the UK. The Junior Taekwondo Belts comprise; 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 takes a number of years to successfully progress through.

Taekwondo Safety Gear

Safety equipment such as blue or red body armour, forearm protectors, a blue/red head guard, a groin guard, a gum shield, shin protectors and hand guards are used in all competitions controlled by British Taekwondo. Protection from injuries is necessary thanks to the forceful kicks that are an integral part of this sport.