Taekwondo Sandy

It's got to be asserted that Taekwondo can be quite demanding physically, which can intimidate the older and less nimble people in Sandy from becoming involved. To be honest, the most common people participating in Taekwondo classes are children and younger people, but of course older people who are in great physical health can easily get involved and benefit from this activity.

The sport was first practiced in Korea in about 1945, though the name Taekwondo was not coined until the 1950's. Some innovative new schools called "kwans", blending various martial arts techniques were established in Seoul by a group of Korean martial arts fanatics. This ultimately became known as Taekwondo and the primary focus of the discipline was on kicking movements, especially spinning/jumping kicks, fast kicking strategies and head-height kicks. Nowadays Sandy Taekwondo classes follow this tradition.

Taekwondo has grown to be very popular in Sandy and all across the globe, with over sixty million participants worldwide. Signing up for a local Sandy Taekwondo class or club is an excellent way to become involved with this activity which has even been included in the Olympic Games since the Sydney Games in 2000. While you might not have any goals to be involved in Olympic competition, there's certainly no reason why you cannot become a master of this enjoyable martial art and have a bit of fun along the way.

Of all the numerous benefits of doing this sport, it is the self-defence element of Taekwondo that the people of Sandy find most appealing. And when you consider the increased levels of violence in town and city centres nowadays, this is hardly surprising. In actual fact one of the key benefits of Taekwondo is learning to defend yourself whilst exercising self-restraint and a respect for others.

While it is good to know that you can defend yourself whenever you need to, you should be hoping that you never need to do this outside of your local Taekwondo club environment.

What to Expect From Your First Lesson

If you come to a decision to register for a Taekwondo class in Sandy, the first thing you will wish to know is what is going to transpire on the very first class and what will the trainer expect to see from you. Different Taekwondo masters in the Sandy area will formulate differing routines for this initial lesson but you can count on performing a 15 minute warm-up to get the blood circulating and loosen your muscles, learn some simple Poomse (forms, cover some technical training (stances, blocking techniques, hand attacks and kicks), do a certain amount of sparring, and finally, warm-down.

British Taekwondo is the official governing body of the sport within the British Isles, and membership of this organisation is compulsory should you wish to sign up with any Taekwondo class in Sandy or nearby. You can read about referees and coaching, safeguarding and equality, health and safety, events, first aid, coaching courses, beginning a new Taekwondo club, clubs and members, news, and more on the British Taekwondo website, or find out the latest news on their Facebook or Twitter page.

Taekwondo for Beginners

It doesn't matter what you're ranking is or who you are in Taekwondo, at some time you were a total novice, fearing failure and knowing practically nothing. We have all started out at that point and are only able to learn and develop through practice. Beginner Taekwondo classes in Sandy are the right place to begin that learning process and to acquire the basic principles so that you can gain self-confidence and proceed with your exciting Taekwondo quest. Most beginner classes are created to be friendly and fun, delivering a gradual introduction to the basic Taekwondo principles and developing a firm foundation for the future.

Taekwondo Belts

With there being a number of styles of Taekwondo there has never been any standard system for assigning belts (levels). What exists however is fairly similar and comprises a couple of belt groups "junior" and "senior" ("colour" and "black"), each one of these groupings is divided into grades, eight to twelve colours in the case of juniors and nine "blacks" for the seniors.

In the UK there are a set of ranks in Taekwondo that are generally known as "Kup". The lowest rank is 10th Kup and the highest is 1st Kup. As with many of the martial arts, the Taekwondo belt order is indicated by a range of colours, so the ranks can be easily recognised. These colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with transitional belts with stripes in-between, 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. Beginner students of Taekwondo in Sandy will commence with the White Belt (10th Kup), and proceed through the different coloured belts until they earn the Red With Black Stripe Belt (1st Kup).

After this has been completed, Taekwondo students in Sandy are considered as "black belt candidates" which requires them to move through another nine ranks (Dans) right up until they eventually achieve the accolade of "Black Belt" status. Therefore, Junior, Senior and Black Belt are the three main classifications in the Taekwondo belt order in the UK. 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 many years to successfully progress through. (Tags: Taekwondo Promotion Sandy, Taekwondo Belts Sandy, Taekwondo Black Belts, Taekwondo Belt Order).

The Many Benefits of Taekwondo

You'll undoubtedly be fascinated to learn about exactly what kind of benefits might be achieved by taking part in Sandy Taekwondo instruction and partaking 100% in its activities. You can expect that you will: Improve your self-esteem by raising your mental and physical powers, Build up confidence by encouraging you to take control of your life and succeed, More discipline by exhaustively educating your mind and body in the techniques and concepts of Taekwondo, Empower your mind and body via accelerated physical coordination and mental discipline, Teach self-defence by helping you recognize occasions where self-defence may be needed, and allowing you to manipulate these circumstances in your favour, Lower stress and anxiety using advanced breath control, Augment stamina, flexibility and agility by way of extreme cardiovascular exertion.

Tournaments and Competitions

A standard Taekwondo tournament features sparring, patterns and breaking, as far as the Olympics is concerned only sparring is included. Having said that there can also be a few extraordinary categories in certain tournaments such as self-defence and team demonstrations. WT contests are purely soft-contact affairs, whilst ITF competitions allow some hand attacks to the head. There are in addition a number of multi-discipline contests.

Taekwondo Kicks

Of all the martial arts, Taekwondo has the widest assortment of kicking techniques. Amongst them are: Roundhouse Kick, Front Kick, Hook or Whip Kick, Crescent Kick, Back Kick, Axe Kick, Push Kick, Side Kick. Taekwondo Blocks: To repulse the many kicks and hand attacks there are an equally diverse selection of blocks (Makgi). Using the hands and parts of the arm, they're held in various positions. Each form of attack calls for a specific kind of block, counter-attacks can be produced by combining a block with another kick or punch. The main blocks (makgi) include: Double Forearm Block, Rising Block, Knife Hand Block, Double Knife Hand Block, Single Forearm Block, Upper Block, Palm Block, Low Block and Nine Block.

Taekwondo Forms (Poomse)

Mastering Tae kwon do necessitates getting to grips with a number of techniques and disciplines and one of the pivotal parts of Taekwondo is its forms (also called patterns or Poomse). These are sequences of stance, direction and technique which have to be memorized in order for participants to progress through the various dans (grades/belts).