Taekwondo Shildon

It should be said that Taekwondo can be pretty demanding physically, which might discourage the less nimble and more elderly folks in Shildon from becoming involved. To be honest, the most frequent participants of Taekwondo classes are kids and younger people, but of course older people who are in great physical health can easily get involved and get benefits from this activity.

With its origins in 1940's Korea, South-East Asia, Taekwondo is obviously one of the more recently introduced of the martial arts and consists of primarily high-kicking moves such as spinning/jumping kicks, head-height kicks and fast kicking methods. It started when schools called "kwans" were established by a bunch of Korean martial arts specialists in Seoul, South Korea.

With over 60 million practitioners worldwide and quite a few in Shildon, Taekwondo has become very popular. Now an Olympic sport, Taekwondo is accessible to everyone, and joining a local Shildon Taekwondo club or class is the best way to get yourself involved. While reaching Olympic standard may be aiming a bit high, there is no reason why you cannot become a Taekwondo master.

Folks in Shildon take up Taekwondo for many reasons but it is the self-defence element that appeals to most. And when you consider the high levels of violence in city and town centres nowadays, this is hardly surprising. Being able to defend yourself is a key principle of Taekwondo, but this is tempered by exercising self-restraint and respecting others.

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

Your First Shildon Taekwondo Lesson

For those of you who have never done Taekwondo before, you will no doubt be interested to know what to expect from your first class. The following will give you an example, but this will vary depending on which Shildon school you attend. A warm up of fifteen to twenty minutes to increase your heart rate and reduce stiffness in the muscles, some technical training such as learning some blocking techniques, hand attacks, stances and kicks, an introduction to some forms (Poomse), a look at sparring including movement, timing and attack targeting, and lastly a warm down with muscle stretching and relaxing to prevent spasms and cramping.

Taekwondo of course also has got its own official regulating body, and in Britain it is British Taekwondo. Anybody wishing to join a Taekwondo club in Shildon has to become a member of this organisation. By visiting British Taekwondo's website you will be able to obtain information regarding news, beginning a new club, safe practices, safeguarding and equality, coaches and referees, first aid, events, members and clubs, coaching courses, and a lot more Taekwondo related facts.

Competitions and Tournaments

There are a whole host of tournaments in Taekwondo involving all the various styles. They primarily involve patterns (forms), sparring and breaking with hardly any "hard contact". ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) contests don't permit excessive contact but sometimes allow hand attacks to be aimed at the head. World Taekwondo and Olympic tournaments allow only sparring. Multi-style competitions are also held.

Taekwondo Belts

In the art of taekwondo there's not really any kind of standardization with regards to belts and grades. It's all depending on which style you happen to be considering, because there are such a lot of Taekwondo rules and styles. However, they are usually split into 2 groups "junior (colour) belts and "senior" (black) belts. The colour/junior ranks consist of white to red, with anything from 8 to 12 levels, while the senior/black belts typically have 9 rankings.

Ranks (belts) in Taekwondo in the UK are symbolized by what are known as "Kup". The highest 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 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 Shildon will commence with the White Belt (10th Kup), and progress through the various colours until they attain the Red With Black Stripe Belt (1st Kup).

After this has been completed, Taekwondo students in Shildon are considered as "black belt candidates" which involves them proceeding through another 9 ranks (Dans) until they eventually achieve the accolade of "Black Belt". So, Junior Belt, Senior Belt and Black Belt are the 3 primary divisions in the Taekwondo belt order. The Junior Taekwondo Belts are; 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 takes many years to progress through. (Tags: Taekwondo Belt Order, Taekwondo Promotion Shildon, Order of Belts in Taekwondo, Taekwondo Belts Shildon).

Safety Equipment

Matches governed by British Taekwondo rules demand that various pieces of protective gear be worn, these include: a groin protector, shin pads, a blue/red trunk guard (hogu), hand protectors, a red or blue head protector, a gum shield and forearm guards. This is vital owing to the potent kicking movements being employed.

Taekwondo Forms

Forms are a key element of Taekwondo and are vital if you are to excel at this exciting sporting activity. Some basic "forms" must be grasped from the outset and more complicated forms have to be perfected in order to advance through the various ranks. A Taekwondo form is distinguished by various facets such as stance, direction and technique.

The Popular Taekwondo Kicks

Taekwondo has more or less the greatest variety of kicking manoeuvres in all of the recognized martial arts. Here are some: Crescent Kick, Front Kick, Push Kick, Side Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Back Kick, Axe Kick, Hook or Whip Kick. Blocks: Taekwondo "blocks", that are used to repulse the different attacks, are called Makgi. Held in various positions, they engage the hand and parts of the arm. Each type of attack calls for a specific kind of block, counter-attacking manoeuvres can be produced by integrating a block with a retaliatory kick or punch. The principal "blocks" (makgi) include: Palm Block, Knife Hand Block, Upper Block, Nine Block, Single Forearm Block, Double Knife Hand Block, Double Forearm Block, Rising Block and Low Block.

Summary

We can practically guarantee that if you participate in Taekwondo you will gain more confidence, improve your wellbeing and make new friends. If that's all that you get out of it, then that is amazing, you can call it a success! We're not all striving to be Jade Jones's or Lutalo Muhammad's, but those of you that are, still need to begin with the very first step. Good luck on your adventure!