Taekwondo Shipley

Since Taekwondo has pretty high physical requirements, it's perhaps more suitable for the younger people of Shipley. That's not to say that older people can't take part in this kind of activity, but just that there may be other martial arts that are more suited to the less agile of us. Tai Chi is the perfect illustration.

The discipline was developed in Korea in 1945, though it was not given the name Taekwondo until the 1950's. In Seoul, a group of Korean martial arts fanatics established some new schools which they named "kwans", practicing a combination of martial arts techniques. Kicking manoeuvres, especially fast kicking methods, head-height kicks and jumping/spinning kicks are the main emphasis of Taekwondo, as it eventually became known.

The total number of Taekwondo practitioners worldwide, now exceeds 60 million. This sport has even featured in the Olympic Games since 2000, and if you want to get involved, joining a local Shipley Taekwondo club or class is a good place to start. While reaching Olympic standard may be aiming a bit high, there is no reason why you cannot become a Taekwondo master.

For many people in Shipley, it is the self-defence element of Taekwondo that is the most appealing. This isn't hard to believe when you take into account the elevated levels of violence witnessed in city and town centres on a daily basis. It is a key principle of Taekwondo that you can be confidently able to defend yourself yet exercise self-restraint and respect others.

Although you'll take a lot of trouble learning these vital self-defence techniques, with luck you will not ever need to apply them apart from within your local Taekwondo club environment.

Your First Lesson

If you haven't done Taekwondo before you will likely be a bit concerned as to what to expect on your first lesson. The following will give you an overview, but this may vary from school to school. A warm up of 15 to 20 minutes to loosen stiff muscles and increase heart rate, a bit of technical training covering some blocks, kicks, stances and hand attacks, a look at some forms, a look at sparring including good timing, precise movement and the accurate targeting of attacks, and last but not least a warm down to prevent muscle spasms and cramping,

If you wish to sign up to a Taekwondo class in Shipley, you will also have to register with the sport's official governing body, namely British Taekwondo. By viewing the British Taekwondo website you can discover details about launching a new club, news, coaching courses, health and safety, events, referees and coaching, first aid, safeguarding and equality, members and clubs, and a lot more Taekwondo related issues.

The Benefits of Taekwondo

You'll undoubtedly be intrigued to understand precisely what type of benefits could be achieved by attending Shipley Taekwondo instruction and engaging 100% in its activities. You may expect that you will: Better discipline and willpower by exhaustively training your mind and body in the principles and tactics of Taekwondo, Enhance your self-esteem by intensifying your mental and physical fitness, Lower stress by doing deep breathing exercises, Supercharge stamina, flexibility and agility through strenuous cardiovascular effort, Empower your body and mind thru enhanced mental discipline and physical co-ordination, Help with self-defence strategies by helping you to identify instances in which self-defence may be necessary, and enabling you to manipulate these types of circumstances in your favour, Grow in your confidence by inspiring you to take control of your life and succeed.

Taekwondo Forms

Forms are a key part of Taekwondo and are crucial if you're to master this captivating sport. A few basic Taekwondo forms have to be grasped from the outset and more complex forms will have to be mastered in order to progress through the various ranks. A Taekwondo form is characterised by a number of points such as technique, stance and direction.

Competitions

A standard Taekwondo tournament features breaking, patterns and sparring, in the Olympics only sparring is involved. Having said that there can also be a few special events in specific competitions such as team demonstrations and self-defence. World Taekwondo competitions are purely soft-contact events, whilst International Taekwon-Do Federation competitions allow some hand attacks aimed at the head. There are also some multi-discipline tournaments.

Taekwondo Safety Gear

In all competitions, contests and events being held under the authority of British Taekwondo, safety gear such as a groin protector, blue or red trunk armour (hogu), a gum shield, forearm protectors, hand protectors, shin pads and a red or blue head guard is obligatory. The fast kicking moves which are part of Taekwondo can easily cause harm and this precaution helps make this sport less risky for its competitors.

Conclusion

We can pretty confidently guarantee that if you participate in Taekwondo you'll make new friends, gain more confidence and improve your levels of fitness. If that's all that you take away from it, then that is amazing, you can call it an achievement! We're not all looking to be Jade Jones's or Lutalo Muhammad's, but those of you who are, need to begin with that first step. Good luck with your journey!