Taekwondo Coleshill

As Taekwondo has fairly high physical requirements, it is perhaps more suitable for the younger people of Coleshill. That is not to say that older people can't participate in this particular activity, but simply that there may be alternative martial arts which are more suitable for the less nimble of us. Tai Chi would be the perfect example.

Taekwondo is one of the more recently formulated of the martial arts, with its root beginnings in Korea in 1945. A group of Korean martial artists in Seoul founded some schools which they called "kwans", combining many different martial arts techniques. Taekwondo, which was eventually called, mostly entails kicking manoeuvres, especially head kicks, rapid kicking styles and jumping/turning kicks.

With over 60 million practitioners worldwide and quite a few in Coleshill, Taekwondo has become very popular. If you want to get involved in this activity, which is now an Olympic sport, joining a Taekwondo club or class in Coleshill is a good place to start. There is no reason why you cannot reach a high standard in this thrilling sport, even if you have no desire to compete in the Olympics.

A key aspect of Taekwondo is self-defence, and obviously this is one of the primary reasons that people in Coleshill get involved in classes and take up the sport. There has been a troubling increase in violent practices in recent times and this is especially rampant in town and city centres throughout Warwickshire and the UK as a whole. The good thing about Taekwondo though, is that it also encourages self-discipline and a deep respect for others, not such familiar attributes in Coleshill these days.

Your eagerly learned Taekwondo skills will more than likely never have to be tested outside the monitored environment of an organized Taekwondo class, however knowing that you've got them will instill you with confidence.

Your First Coleshill Taekwondo Lesson

Different Taekwondo schools in and around Coleshill will have different guidelines for what learners should be covering on their very first lesson, however to give you an idea of what you should expect most initial Taekwondo classes will incorporate a warm-up, a bit of sparring, learning basic patterns (Poomse), a brief introduction to blocks, stances, kicks and hand attacks (technical training) and a warm-down to relax weary muscles and return the body to a state of relaxation.

British Taekwondo is the official regulating body of the sport within the British Isles, and membership of this organization is compulsory if you wish to sign up with any Taekwondo club in Coleshill or nearby. You'll be able to find out about coaching courses, members and clubs, events, first aid, starting a new club, safeguarding and equality, news, safe practices, referees and coaching, and more on British Taekwondo's website, or find the latest Taekwondo news reports on their Facebook or Twitter page.

Tournaments and Competitions

Taekwondo competitions and tournaments are held around the world in all of the different styles. There's usually not much hard contact but patterns (forms), breaking and sparring. Olympic and WT contests comprise only sparring, in International Taekwon-Do Federation competitions certain hand attacks are allowed to the head. Other organisations stage multi-discipline tournaments.

Safety Equipment

Tournaments regulated by British Taekwondo rules require various items of protective gear to be used, these include: a blue or red head guard, hand protectors, a groin protector, red or blue trunk armour (hogu), a mouth guard, shin protectors and forearm protectors. This is vital owing to the vigorous kicking attacks being practiced.

Taekwondo Forms (Patterns)

Beginners in Taekwondo do not need to fret too much about forms (Poomse, patterns) initially, however they will learn some important ones to begin with and move forward to more complicated "forms" as they move up the belts (grades/dans). A form is denoted by specific areas of Taekwondo including technique, stance and direction. Getting to grips with these sequences is an important part of mastering Taekwondo.

Taekwondo Belts (Promotion)

The ranking and belt system can get pretty complicated in Taekwondo as there is no recognised system across the diverse Taekwondo styles. Parallels can be found though, and normally there are two distinct belt groups, represented as "seniors" (black dans) and "juniors" (coloured belts). The number of rankings in the junior groupings varies through the disciplines but is generally between eight and twelve belts, while the senior groupings generally has nine dans or belts.

Ranks (belts) in Taekwondo in the UK are represented by what are referred to as "Kup". The top rank is First Kup and the lowest rank (beginners) is Tenth Kup. If you are interested in the Taekwondo belt order, it's as follows, and is portrayed by a range of different colours i.e. white, yellow, green, blue and red, with intermediate 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 Coleshill will start out with the White Belt (10th Kup), and progress through the coloured belts until they earn the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (1st Kup).

Once this training regime has been completed, Coleshill Taekwondo students are referred to as "black belt candidates", and they then need to progress through an additional 9 Dans if they are to become a Taekwondo "Black Belt", which is the consummate accolade. So, Junior Belts, Senior Belts and Black Belts are the 3 main groupings 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 a number of years to progress through. (Tags: Belt Order Taekwondo, Taekwondo Belt Order, Taekwondo Belts Coleshill, Taekwondo Rankings Coleshill).

In Conclusion

So, what are you hoping to get from doing Taekwondo? Well, that is a great question, and the answer will be different for individual people. Most participants will purely look to meet new people, improve their levels of fitness and gain more confidence. We are not all going to reach the dizzy heights of Jade Jones or Lutalo Muhammad, though perhaps you will, who knows? 👊