Originally Posted by 47MartialMan  Hey John,
This is my sentiment - exactly. I've visited many TKD schools, apart from the two I had trained. It would seem, since time has lasped, that TKD, became more sport - kid - family oriented. In other words, when I had studied it from two different instructors, with different school, back then, there were low kicks, takedowns, grabs, taking the fight to the ground, clinch, knees, elbows, headbutts, grappling, etc. These things were on a different curriculum/routine. There were even separate self defense routines/curriculums. Now, it seems that all anyone wants to do is have fun and get pretty colorful belts, patches, pins, etc.
Some of these recent TKD schools seem to be "after-school - evening daycare". In some aspects, it even seems like a "fad" or activity that everyone (per soccer moms) need to get into, even if it is for a brief moment.
To reiterate, TKD was a complete art, made up of other Korean arts, until bureaucracy reared its ugly head.
Very few TKD schools train apart from the misconception of TKD - the sport. |