Taekwondo Northallerton

Taekwondo is generally far more physically demanding than for instance Tai Chi, so unless you're pretty fit and nimble you may prefer to partake in something a little gentler to improve your fitness in Northallerton. Children and younger people are certainly an ideal participants for Taekwondo classes in Northallerton, with a lot of fast paced movements going on and a great deal of high kicking.

Taekwondo started in Korea in 1945. 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 turning/jumping kicks, head-height kicks and rapid kicking styles are the main emphasis of Taekwondo, as it eventually became known.

With more than 60 million people participating in Taekwondo classes all around the globe, this has definitely become an extremely popular pastime, and if you really master the martial art you might even one day be eligible for the Olympic Games, of which it's been a part since the 2000 Sydney Games.

Whilst there is a great deal to be gained by doing Taekwondo, it's the element of self-defence that most Northallerton people are interested in. This is no surprise when you take into account the rising levels of violence seen in city and town centres nowadays. Being capable of defending yourself is a key principle of Taekwondo, but this is balanced by exercising self-restraint and respecting others.

While it will instill you with confidence being aware that you have such self-defence skills tucked away inside you, the chances are you'll never need to test them outside the controlled environment of an organized Taekwondo class.

Your First Taekwondo Class

If you've never had a go at Taekwondo before, you could be somewhat anxious as to what you can expect on your first class. This may vary from school to school but will typically involve some or all of these. A fifteen to twenty minute warm up to increase heart rate and loosen up muscles, a bit of technical training including learning some blocks, stances, hand attacks and kicks, studying some forms (or Poomse), an introduction to sparring which will include the timing of attacks, movement and timing, and lastly a warm down to relax and stretch tired muscles.

Taekwondo of course also has its own regulating body, and in the British Isles it is British Taekwondo. Anyone wishing enroll with a Taekwondo club in Northallerton has to become a member of this organisation. You will be able to find a lot of info regarding news, safe practices, members and clubs, coaches and referees, safeguarding and equality, starting a new Taekwondo club, coaching courses, first aid, events, and more, by dropping by at British Taekwondo's website.

Taekwondo Competitions and Tournaments

Taekwondo contests are staged around the world in all the various styles. There's normally not a lot of hard contact but patterns (forms), breaking and sparring. Olympic and WT contests only consist of sparring, in ITF competitions certain hand attacks are permitted to the head. Other organisations stage multi-discipline tournaments.

Taekwondo Belts

In Taekwondo there's not really any form of standardization when it comes to belts and grades. It's all depending on what style you are reviewing, as there are such a lot of Taekwondo styles and rules. They are however, generally split into 2 groupings "junior (colour) belts and "senior" (black) belts. The colour/junior ranks consist of white to red, with from 8 to 12 levels, while the senior/black belts typically have nine rankings.

Rankings in Taekwondo in the UK are represented by what are called "Kup". The highest rank is First Kup and the lowest rank (beginners) is Tenth Kup. If you're eager to know 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 "in-between" 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. Beginners of Taekwondo in Northallerton will start out with the Tenth Kup (White Belt), and advance through the various colours until they achieve the First Kup (Red Belt With Black Stripe)

Once this training regime has been completed, Northallerton Taekwondo students become "black belt candidates", and they must then earn an additional nine ranks if they're to become a Taekwondo "Black Belt", which is the ultimate accolade in this sport. Therefore, the Taekwondo belt order can be put into three groupings; Junior, Senior and Black Belt. 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 progress through. (Tags: Taekwondo Belts Northallerton, Taekwondo Rankings Northallerton, Taekwondo Belt Order, Belt Order Taekwondo).

Taekwondo Forms

Beginners in Taekwondo do not have to worry excessively about forms (Poomse, patterns) initially, however they will get to grips with some standard ones for starters and progress to more challenging forms as they move through the various belts (grades/dans). A "form" is signified by certain areas of Taekwondo including stance, direction and technique. Getting to grips with these techniques is an important part of perfecting Taekwondo.

Beginners Classes

As with any sport or activity we have to start somewhere, and Taekwondo is not any different. Even the elite Northallerton Taekwondo masters were total novices at one time. So, what should you be expecting as a total beginner at Taekwondo? A beginners class should give its students ample coaching to teach them the basic principles and allow them to develop self-confidence as they move forward. An ideal beginners class needs to be enjoyable as well as educational, when individuals are enjoying themselves they're a lot more engaged and will learn quicker.

In Summary

So, what do you want from Taekwondo? Well, that's an excellent question, and the answer will vary for different people. Most participants will purely look to gain more self-confidence, meet new people and improve their levels of fitness. We are not all going to reach the heights of Jade Jones or Lutalo Muhammad, though perhaps you will, who knows? 👊