Taekwondo Royston

It needs to be said that Taekwondo can be pretty challenging physically, which could put off the older and less nimble people in Royston from becoming involved. To be completely fair, the most common participants of Taekwondo classes are children and younger people, but certainly older people who are in good physical health can easily get involved and benefit from this activity.

Based primarily around kicking manoeuvres and moves like rapid kicking methods, head-height kicks and jumping/spinning kicks, Taekwondo was devised from the techniques of various martial arts, by a group of Seoul martial arts specialists in new schools known as "Kwans" in the 1940's and 1950's. These "Kwans" were given the names Songmu Kwan, Mooduk Kwan, Changmu Kwan, Chungdo Kwan and Jido Kwan.

Taekwondo has grown to become extremely popular in Royston and all around the world, with more than 60 million participants worldwide. Registering with a local Royston Taekwondo club or class is a great way to get involved with this sporting activity which has even been a part of the Olympic Games ever since the Sydney Games in 2000. Although you might not aspire to Olympic competition, there is certainly no reason why you shouldn't become a maestro of this exhilarating martial art and have a bit of fun in the process.

A key aspect of Taekwondo is self-defence, and of course this is one of the main reasons that folks in Royston sign up to classes and take up the sport. There has been a worrying increase in violent practices in recent times and this is particularly rife in city and town centres around Hertfordshire and Britain as a whole. The good thing about Taekwondo though, is that it also promotes self-discipline and respect for others, not such familiar attributes in Royston nowadays.

Such self-defence techniques may in due course prove to be useful in your day to day life, although it is far more likely you'll solely be putting them to the test within a regulated class setting. Yet it is a nice feeling knowing that you'll always be in a position to defend yourself if you have to.

Your First Taekwondo Lesson

If you elect to register for Taekwondo training in Royston, the very first thing you will be thinking about is what will occur on the initial class and precisely what will the coach expect to see from you. Different Taekwondo masters in the Royston area will contrive differing routines for this first introductory lesson but you can expect to do a 15 minute warm-up to loosen your muscles and get the blood circulating, learn several Poomse (forms, go through some technical training (kicks, blocks, stances and hand attacks), do some sparring, and finally, a warm-down.

British Taekwondo is the official governing body of the sport within Great Britain, and membership of this organization is compulsory should you wish to sign up with any Taekwondo club in Royston or nearby. You can get lots of info regarding coaches and competition referees, clubs and members, safe practices, events, safeguarding and equality, launching a new Taekwondo club, coaching courses, news, first aid, and more, by checking out British Taekwondo's website.

Safety Gear

In all events, competitions and contests being held under the patronage of British Taekwondo, safety equipment such as a mouth protector, blue/red body armour (hogu), hand guards, shin guards, a blue or red head guard, a groin guard and forearm protectors is compulsory. The fast kicking manoeuvres which are part of Taekwondo can easily cause injury and this all helps to make this sport less hazardous for its competitors.

Taekwondo Forms (Poomse)

Beginners in Taekwondo don't have to stress excessively about forms (Poomse, patterns) in the early days, but they will get to grips with some important ones for starters and move forward to more complex "forms" as they move through the various belts (dans/grades). A form is indicated by specific aspects of Taekwondo including technique, stance and direction. Getting to grips with these sequences is a crucial part of perfecting Taekwondo.

Taekwondo Belts

In Tae kwon do there's really no form of standardization when it comes to grades and belts. It all hinges on which style you are reviewing, because there are so many different Taekwondo styles. They are however, commonly separated into 2 groupings "junior (colour) belts and "senior" (black) belts. The junior/colour rankings consist of white to red, with from eight to twelve levels, whilst the black/senior belts generally have 9 grades.

In the UK there are a sequence of ranks in Taekwondo which are generally known as "Kup". The lowest is Tenth Kup and the highest rank is First 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 intermediary 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. Beginners of Taekwondo in Royston will start out with the White Belt (10th Kup), and move up through the different coloured belts until they accomplish the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (1st Kup).

Taekwondo students in Royston become known as "black belt candidates" once they've successfully completed this process, and they will then be faced with moving through yet another nine ranks (called Dans) if they wish to achieve the ultimate accolade Taekwondo Black Belt. Therefore, the Taekwondo belt order can be put into three groupings; Junior Belts, Senior Belts and Black Belts. The Taekwondo Belts in the Junior division comprise; 10th (White), 9th (White With Yellow Stripe), 8th (Yellow), and 7th (Yellow With Green Stripe). The Taekwondo Belts in the Senior division are; 6th (Green), 5th (Green With Blue Stripe), 4th (Blue), 3rd ( Blue With Red Stripe), 2nd (Red), and 1st (Red With Black Stripe). The Taekwondo Belts in the Black group go from 1st to 9th Dan, a qualification process that will take a number of years. (Tags: Taekwondo Belts Royston, Taekwondo Ranks Royston, Order of Belts in Taekwondo, Taekwondo Belt Order).

Benefits to be Gained From Taekwondo

There are of course, a lot of benefits to be gained from doing Taekwondo, and the following are just a few that might be interesting for you: Build your confidence by motivating you to succeed and to take control of your life, Teach self-defence by showing you how to understand instances in which self-defence might be necessary, and allowing you to manipulate these scenarios in your favour, Supercharge flexibility, agility and stamina through extreme cardiovascular work-outs, Enhance your self-esteem by raising both mental and physical fitness, Reduce stress with controlled breathing, Empower your mind and body by means of accelerated mental discipline and physical co-ordination, More self-discipline by thoroughly schooling your body and mind in the principles and strategies of Taekwondo.

Taekwondo Competitions

There are a wide variety of tournaments in Taekwondo associated with all the diverse styles. They largely involve patterns (forms), breaking and sparring with very little "hard contact". International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) competitions do not permit too much contact but may allow hand attacks towards the head. WT and Olympic competitions allow only sparring. Multi-style tournaments are also held.