Taekwondo Pickering

Images of young children doing energetic kicks and rapid punching manoeuvres, are what spring to mind at the mere mention of Taekwondo. While the physical demands of Taekwondo perhaps make it more suited to the younger and fitter generation, it can certainly be practiced by people of any age. However, so as to fully enjoy all the ins and outs of Taekwondo, it helps to be relatively fit and agile.

The discipline was developed in Korea in 1945, though it was not given the name Taekwondo until the 1950's. A group of Korean martial arts fanatics in Seoul established some new schools called "kwans", where they practiced a combination of martial arts techniques. This eventually became known as Taekwondo and the main emphasis of the discipline was on kicking manoeuvres, especially head kicks, rapid kicking styles and spinning/jumping kicks.

Taekwondo is popular with the people of Pickering and with over 60 million others worldwide. Since the Sydney Games (2000) Taekwondo has been an Olympic sport and if you want to give it a go, joining a local Pickering Taekwondo club or class is a good way to get involved. There is no reason why you cannot become a master of this exciting martial art, even if you do not aspire to Olympic competition.

For the men, women and children of Pickering who wish to learn a martial art, a top priority is the aspect of self-defence. Because this is an important principle of Taekwondo, it's not difficult to see the appeal of this particular sport. With the added reward of developing self-restraint and having a degree of respect for other people, signing up for a local Pickering Taekwondo class seems to be an easy decision.

While it will instill you with confidence being aware that you have such self-defence skills in your locker, the likelihood is that you will never have to use them outside of an organised Taekwondo class.

Your First Class

If you've never tried Taekwondo before, you might be a little apprehensive as to what you can expect on your very first lesson. This varies from school to school but will generally comprise some or all of these. A fifteen to twenty minute warm up to increase heart rate and loosen up muscles, some practical training involving learning some blocks, kicks, stances and hand attacks, studying a few forms (or Poomse), an introduction to sparring which will include timing, the timing of attacks and movement, and finally a warm down to stretch and relax tired muscles.

The body regulating Taekwondo in the British Isles is British Taekwondo and anyone wanting to join a Taekwondo class in Pickering has to also become a member of British Taekwondo. By visiting the British Taekwondo website you'll be able to read details about establishing a new Taekwondo club, safe practices, clubs and members, safeguarding and equality, coaching courses, events, news, coaches and tournament referees, first aid, and a lot more Taekwondo related facts.

Taekwondo Forms (Patterns)

Taekwondo forms (also referred to as patterns or Poomse) are characterised by specific activities such as direction, technique and stance. From the beginning you will get to grips with some of the standard forms, and in order to advance through the grades (belts) you will need to learn some more complex ones.

Taekwondo - The Benefits

You'll probably be fascinated to discover exactly what sort of benefits might be gained by attending Pickering Taekwondo instruction and participating fully in its activities. You could expect to: Greater discipline by extensively training your mind and body in the techniques and doctrines of Taekwondo, Learn self-defence tactics by helping you recognise circumstances in which self-defence might be required, and allowing you to control these situations to your advantage, Toughen up your body and mind through enhanced mental discipline and physical co-ordination, Build up your confidence by pushing you to take control of your life and succeed, Reduce anxiety using advanced breath control, Enhance self-esteem and concentration by sharpening both mental and physical fitness, Augment agility, flexibility and stamina by way of intense cardiovascular work-outs.

Safety Gear

Competitions regulated by British Taekwondo guidelines require various items of protective equipment to be worn, these include things like: hand guards, a gum shield, shin protectors, a red/blue head guard, a groin guard, a red/blue trunk guard (hogu) and forearm guards. This is necessary on account of the vigorous kicking attacks being employed.

Taekwondo Kicks

Of all the recognized martial arts, Taekwondo has the widest number of kicking manoeuvres. Among them are: Crescent Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Whip or Hook Kick, Axe Kick, Side Kick, Back Kick, Push Kick, Front Kick. Taekwondo Blocks: To defend against and stop an inbound Taekwondo attack, blocks (known as Makgi) are used. They are held in particular positions and enlist the hand with different areas of the arm. Specific attacks necessitate particular "blocks", but blocks can also be turned into counter-attacking moves by the combination of retaliatory kicks or punches. The main "blocks" include: Upper Block, Double Forearm Block, Palm Block, Nine Block, Rising Block, Double Knife Hand Block, Knife Hand Block, Single Forearm Block and Low Block.

Taekwondo Belts

Since there are many different styles of Taekwondo there has never really been any standard arrangement for allocating belts (grades). What exists however is fairly similar and is made up of 2 belt groupings "junior" and "senior" ("colour" and "black"), each of these groups is split into grades, eight to twelve colours for juniors and nine "blacks" for seniors.

Ranks (belts) in Taekwondo in the UK are depicted by what are referred to as "Kup". The top rank is First Kup and the lowest (beginners) is Tenth Kup. If you are eager to know 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 "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 in Pickering getting started in Taekwondo will commence with the White Belt (10th Kup), and advance through the coloured belts until they reach the 1st Kup (Red With Black Stripe Belt).

Taekwondo students in Pickering become "black belt candidates" after they've worked their way through these rankings, and they'll then have to move through yet another 9 ranks (Dans) if they aim to achieve the supreme distinction Taekwondo Black Belt. Thus, the Taekwondo belt order can be put into 3 classifications; Junior Belts, Senior Belts and Black Belts. The Junior group of Taekwondo Belts comprise; White (Tenth), White With a Yellow Stripe (Ninth), Yellow (Eighth), and Yellow With a Green Stripe (Seventh). The Senior group of Taekwondo Belts are; Green (Sixth), Green With a Blue Stripe (Fifth), Blue (Fourth), Blue With a Red Stripe (Third), Red (Second), and Red With a Black Stripe (First). The Black group of Taekwondo Belts comprise First to Ninth Dan rankings, and involves many years of dedicated training.

Taekwondo Competitions

A standard Taekwondo tournament includes breaking, sparring and patterns, as far as the Olympics is concerned only sparring is included. That said there can also be some extraordinary categories in particular competitions such as team demonstrations and self-defence. World Taekwondo contests are strictly soft-contact affairs, whilst ITF contests allow some hand attacks aimed at the head. There are also several multi-discipline contests.

To Summarize

So, what do you want from Taekwondo? Well, that's a good question, and the answer to that will be different for individual people. The majority of participants will just wish to improve their fitness levels, gain more confidence and meet new people. We're certainly not all going to reach the heights of Jade Jones or Lutalo Muhammad, though perhaps you will, you never know?