In Korea, I know for a fact that most Taekwondo practitioners are elementary school children. Why is that? Why did that happen? Hapkido in Korea still has a large adult audience and is a traditional art just like TKD. In Korea, why have a lot of older teenagers, young adults, and adults turned away from their national martial art? It' mostly kids. If anyone could give me a reason, it'd be greatly appreciated.


Secondly, what about the U.S.? Does Taekwondo have a large adult and young adult audience in the U.S.? Is TKD in the U.S. more popular among kids?


What about other nations?

Thanks

Don't quote me on this but the Taekwondo taught has Hapkido blended with it. Not the whole teachings but a lot of it. My Instructor's own Instructor is from South Korea and as a youth he was taught both together and this is how he teaches it. So this mean you have all of the aspects of Taekwondo but you also have throws, takedowns, grappling and self defense.

I've heard my Instructor talk about things told to him from his Instructor. As Taekwondo is a national thing it is taught in school. Many after school don't go further with it but those that do either compete or as with my Instructor's Instructor joined their military and eventually taught it to the Korean and US Marines. Again this was a combination of Taekwondo and Hapkido.

In the US and Canada I would say that Taekwondo has a huge following for both children and adults ... but probably more children. Taekwondo in North America is one of the largest growing martial arts. As for other nations I could not say.

I would say it is because hapiko is a more complete self defense system. ANd the natiional martial art of Korea is also a national sport. This makes empahsis on training and sparring. They are trying to build athletes. Which is probably harder for aduts to become unless they have already been trainging since an early age. But in Korea there are still tradtional forms of TKD which are tuaght just like karate.

Derrick, did I mention I am taking Hapkido now woot woot. So far I like everything except the kicks, I think I'll keep my TKD kicks.

TeK9, I read this on another thread, good for you. How are the kicks different? As mine is a blended system I suspect our kicks our TKD ... but then I have nothing really to compare it to. I don't want to derail this thread but others may be interested as well. I'd like to hear so. Or direct me to another thread. I can't remember which one it is called so if you remind me then I will go there and see it. Thanks

In my dojang we have a lot of youg poeple , more that adults but being an adult myself I like doing TKD. Our stlye is mixed TKD,Hapkido,judoand Ki training. We also do Yoga at the end of class. We do not learn traditional TKD we fight from the boxer stance versus the horse. I can't say which is better or worse, I just think our style makes sense.

hehe derrick I've only had one, four hour class. I cant really go to an extent here. But I did pick up the difference in one kick. My instructor did a spinning heal kick to my stomach. The only way I can discribe it is as a "wheel kick"
he spun on his left foot and pivited clock wise to spin and hit me with his right heel. Now he kept his kicking leg extended so I saw that sucker coming from a mile away.

He told me that was a classic hapkido kick and that it's one of the basic that hapkido is known for. This kick was used as part of a striking technique.

He had me throw a rear punch, he then blocked wih a knife hand while side stepping into a back stance and then spinning and hitting me with a wheel kick. Followed by an arm throw.

In modern TKD we would never throw a low spinning heel kick, we only throw those high durring sparring. We prefer a more direct apprach like a back kick.

In modern/sport tkd a back kick is a kick done while turning/spiing, while in tradtional tkd this would be called a spinning side kick. We generally throw these to the stomach unless in competition some people throw them to the face, looks fancier.

Anyway I prefer to do a back kick over a (hapkido)spinning wheel kick.

Oh by the way in Traditional TKD a spinning back kick is really a spinning side kick. Meaning the kickers knee goes out making look like a regular side kick, once you complete the turn you ten extend your leg to kick. Unfortunetly this however, leaves the family jewls exposed. OUCH!

So moder tkd has changed it so you can do this kick a bit faster with more power but with slightly less control. Instead of chamber our knee out, we dont chamber at all, we simply spinning and kick out. A perfect example of a moder tkd back kick would be like looking at a horse. They kick straight back and so do we. Yeeha, ride'em cowboy.

Maybe you want a little info from Thailand?

Most kids in Thailand who can afford goes TKD until they reach green. Then it gets challenging and they quit.

Poorer children usually start MT until the age of 16 and then goes TKD. They usually become pro and gets trained for competition like SEA games or Olympics. The commitee forgot one thing though. . . TKD sport is about fancy and points. Being tougher and stronger won't give you points.

Now, about adults? Well, most old Thai people are to negative about foreign arts. They say Judo is uncivilized and TKD to be dancing. That is until I had to show them that a leg-lock/arm-bar could win over ANY MT figher. As for TKD, I'm not trained in it so I couldn't prove them wrong.

-Taison out

Bin,

With regards to ages, what I've found in my club is that we get a lot of kids joining early as an afterschool activity to keep them active and stuff... often though, the parents join at the same time or a couple months later because it looks fun, has a lot of exercise and it gives them a positive activity to do with their children. Eventually, it seems that the kids get bored, distracted, or have to focus more on school so they quit but the parents continue to come and train. So in fact, we may have a larger adult group than kids ( about 60:40)... or at least, the adults have more staying power.

onb

Sushi

Your explanation fits ours as well. Kids get interested in too many other activities and then move on … my daughter was one. Very few kids will stick around unless there is something really exciting but only a small minority of children/juniors feels that excitement.

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TeK9

Your explanation sounds like our "back roundhouse". It starts like a back kick; the head turns followed by a kick extended straight back, turning of hips and then the heel comes through the target. I'm not sure if this sounds more like our kick or their kick. This kick is one of my favorites and sometimes I over use it as I'll strike with more traditional kicks such as the roundhouse or front kick and then follow this up with one or more of these. I also like the back kick and like to do the ones at close range where you turn and switch feet fast and kick one off.

Knife hand techniques are quite commonly used in our self defense practices and I even taught the colored belts on Friday for the last part of the class an 8 strike hand pattern that we do. This comes more from our Hapkido influence. As are the throws though now with JJJ and BJJ in our repertoire it is hard to see where one begins and one ends.