Taekwondo Featherstone

Taekwondo is quite physically demanding, which means it may be considered more suitable for the younger rather than the older generation in Featherstone. Its teachings of self-discipline and respect for others make it particularly good for children. It could prove too taxing for some older adults, but shouldn't be a problem for those who are already fit and active. People in Featherstone who take up Taekwondo when they are young find it easy to continue when they get older. Tai Chi or something similarly softer might be more suitab le for the less agile of you.

With its root beginnings in 1940's Korea, Taekwondo is obviously one of the more recently created of the martial arts and entails mostly high-kicking movements such as rapid kicking strategies, head kicks and jumping/spinning kicks. It began when schools known as "kwans" were founded by a bunch of Korean martial arts specialists in Seoul, South Korea.

Now an Olympic sport, Taekwondo has over sixty million followers worldwide, and whilst you might not have any aspirations to be an Olympic Games athlete, you're still able to register for a Taekwondo club or class to master what will no doubt prove to be a rewarding and intriguing pastime.

For the men, women and children of Featherstone who wish to learn a martial art, a top priority is the element of self-defence. Since this is a key concept of Taekwondo, it's not difficult to appreciate the attraction of this particular sport. With the extra bonus of learning self-restraint and having a deep respect for those around you, enrolling in a local Featherstone Taekwondo class would seem to be an easy decision.

Hopefully you will not ever be required to use your newly perfected Taekwondo techniques for defending yourself outside of your local club environment, but it is nice to know it is there if you need it.

Your First Featherstone Taekwondo Class

Different Taekwondo clubs in and around Featherstone will have different thoughts on what enrollees should be covering on their initial lesson, however to give you an understanding of what you can expect most initial Taekwondo lessons will include a warm-up, some sparring, learning simple Poomse (forms), an overview of stances, kicks, hand attacks and blocking techniques (technical training) and a warm-down to relax weary muscles and return the body to a state of equilibrium.

British Taekwondo is the governing body of the sport within the United Kingdom, and membership of this organisation is compulsory if you would like to sign up with any Taekwondo class in Featherstone or nearby. By visiting the official British Taekwondo website you will be able to discover information about health and safety, members and clubs, events, starting a new Taekwondo club, coaching courses, equality and safeguarding, referees and coaching, first aid, news, and lots more Taekwondo related facts.

Beginners Classes

It matters not what you're capable of or who you are in the world of Taekwondo, at some time you were a total novice, fearing failure and knowing nothing. We've all started out at that point and can only learn and improve with practice. Beginner Taekwondo classes in Featherstone are the best place to start that learning process and to acquire the fundamentals so that you can build self-confidence and move forward in your exciting Taekwondo experience. Most beginner classes are created to be friendly and fun, offering a gradual introduction to the basic Taekwondo principles and developing a solid foundation moving forward.

Tournaments

There are a multitude of tournaments in Taekwondo involving all the diverse styles. They largely consist of sparring, breaking and patterns (forms) with very little "hard contact". International Taekwon-Do Federation tournaments don't permit substantial contact but may permit hand attacks aimed at the head. WT and Olympic tournaments only allow sparring. Multi-style contests also take place.

Taekwondo Belts (Promotion)

The belt and ranking system can get very confusing in Taekwondo since there is no standard arrangement throughout the various Taekwondo disciplines. Similarities can be found however, and usually there are 2 distinct belt groupings, signified as "juniors" (colours) and "seniors" (black dans). The number of grades in the junior groupings varies through the disciplines but is generally somewhere between 8 and 12 belts, whilst the senior's section typically has 9 belts or dans.

Ranks in Taekwondo in the UK are depicted by what are known as "Kup". The top rank is First Kup and the lowest rank is Tenth Kup. The Taekwondo belt order, just like the vast majority of the martial arts is portrayed by a number of colours, these colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with intermediate 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 in Featherstone starting out in Taekwondo will begin with the 10th Kup (White Belt), and proceed through the colours until they earn the 1st Kup (Red With Black Stripe Belt).

Taekwondo students in Featherstone are called "black belt candidates" after they have succeeded with this challenge, and they'll then be faced with proceeding through an additional nine ranks (or Dans) if they wish to achieve the ultimate distinction of "Black Belt" in Taekwondo. Therefore, to put it simply, there are three primary divisions in the Taekwondo belt order, namely Junior, Senior and Black Belts. The Junior Taekwondo Belts are; 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 many years to successfully progress through. (Tags: Taekwondo Belt Order, Belt Order Taekwondo, Taekwondo Promotion Featherstone, Taekwondo Belts Featherstone).

Conclusion

What you get out of Taekwondo will be proportional to what you put into it (as applies with life in general). The majority of you will purely want to make new friends, meet different people and improve your fitness, some might aspire to move on to tournaments and competitions or perhaps even the Olympics. But bear in mind, we cannot all end up being a Jade Jones or a Lutalo Muhammad. 👊