Taekwondo Long Sutton

It must be asserted that Taekwondo can be quite physically challenging, which could unnerve the older and less nimble people in Long Sutton from getting involved. To be honest, the most frequent people participating in Taekwondo classes are children and the younger generation, but unquestionably older people who're in excellent physical condition can easily participate and benefit considerably from this activity.

Taekwondo is one of the more recently introduced of the martial arts, with its early beginnings in Korea, South-East Asia in 1945. A number of Korean martial arts specialists in Seoul established some new schools known as "kwans", combining many different martial arts practices. Taekwondo, which it eventually became known as, primarily involves kicking manoeuvres, particularly jumping/turning kicks, head-height kicks and fast kicking techniques.

Taekwondo has become very popular in Long Sutton and all across the globe, with more than 60 million practitioners worldwide. If you want to get involved in this activity, which is now an Olympic sport, heading along to a Taekwondo club or class in Long Sutton is a great place to start. While reaching Olympic standard may be beyond you, there isn't any reason why you cannot become a Taekwondo master.

For a lot of people in Long Sutton, it's the self-defence aspect of Taekwondo that holds the most appeal. And in these days of increased violence, particularly in town and city centres, it's little surprise that this aspect sits high on people's priority lists. It is a primary factor of Taekwondo that you can become confident in your capability to defend yourself and at the same time learn to respect other people and practice self-restraint.

Whilst it will give you peace of mind knowing that you have these self-defence skills in your locker, the likelihood is that you will never be required to use them outside of an organised Taekwondo class.

What to Expect From Your First Class

If you have never done Taekwondo before you may be a little concerned as to what to expect on your first lesson. Most Taekwondo schools in Long Sutton follow a similar pattern, but there may be variations to the following. A warm up of fifteen to twenty minutes to increase your heart rate and reduce stiffness in the muscles, a bit of technical training such as learning some hand attacks, blocking techniques, stances and kicks, learning some Poomse (or forms), a look at sparring including good timing, movement and targeting attacks, and lastly a warm down with muscle stretching and relaxing to prevent spasms and cramping.

British Taekwondo is the official regulating body of the sport within Great Britain, and membership of this organisation is mandatory if you want to join any Taekwondo club in Long Sutton or nearby. You'll be able to learn about coaching courses, health and safety, first aid, equality and safeguarding, launching a new club, events, coaches and referees, clubs and members, news, and more on British Taekwondo's official website, or get the latest news on their Twitter or Facebook page.

Long Sutton Taekwondo for Beginners

Even the finest exponents of Taekwondo in Long Sutton had to start as newbies, therefore it is no disgrace to be a beginner at this sport, or any other activity for that matter. The goal of a Taekwondo beginner class is to teach a few basics, boost self-confidence and build a solid foundation moving forward. Most importantly of all is that it should be enjoyable, students having fun will learn faster and be more committed.

Taekwondo Belts (Ranking)

In regards to ranking, promotion and belts there is not actually any real standardisation in Taekwondo, since there are various different styles of Taekwondo each of which has their own system in place. There are however analogies and they typically comprise 2 groups of belts "juniors" and "seniors" symbolized by coloured and black belts respectively. The senior grades generally have 9 ranks and the junior, eight to twelve grades.

In the UK Taekwondo has a set of ranks (belts) which are generally known as "Kup", these ranks go from 10th (lowest) to 1st (highest). If you're curious about the Taekwondo belt order, it's as follows, and is indicated by a range of colours i.e. 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. Beginner students of Taekwondo in Long Sutton will begin with the 10th Kup (White Belt), and proceed through the different colours until they reach the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (1st Kup).

Taekwondo students in Long Sutton are called "black belt candidates" after they've worked their way through these rankings, and they will then need to proceed through a further 9 ranks (called Dans) if they plan to achieve the supreme distinction Taekwondo Black Belt. Therefore, to put it simply, there are three primary sections in the Taekwondo belt order, that is Junior Belts, Senior Belts and Black Belts. The Junior Taekwondo Belts comprise; White (10th), White With Yellow Stripe (9th), Yellow (8th), and Yellow With Green Stripe (7th). The Senior Taekwondo Belts comprise; 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 successfully progress through.

Safety Equipment

Tournaments regulated by British Taekwondo policies demand that specific items of protective equipment be used, these include: a groin protector, hand guards, a blue/red body protector (hogu), forearm guards, shin pads, a gum shield and a red or blue head protector. This is important because of the powerful kicking movements being practiced.

To Summarize

So, what do you want from doing Taekwondo? Well, that is a great question, and the answer will vary for different people. Most participants will just look to improve their fitness, meet new people and gain more self-confidence. We're certainly not all going to reach the heights of Jade Jones or Lutalo Muhammad, although perhaps you will, who knows?