International Taekwondo Day!

Hello!

It's been a while since the last blog post. This is mainly due to the planning of relaunching the club's website to go along with new Taekwondo classes opening up from September 2021.

While you are here, today is International Taekwondo Day.

On this day, 4th September, back in 1994 the International Olympic Committee officially adopted Taekwondo as an Olympic discipline.

If you're new and are wondering what Taekwondo is, we hope the following information will help.

The ultimate goal of Taekwondo is to develop the character and personality of the practitioner through physical, mental and spiritual discipline.

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art form and sport that uses the hands and feet for attack and defense.

The modern for of Taekwondo was not agreed until 1955, but the port has its roots in various Korean forms of martial arts stretching back more than 2,00 years. The name Taekwondo translates as the way of the foot and the fist. "Tae" means to break or attack with the foot, "Kwon" means to break with the fist and "Do" translates as the art or way.

The Taekwondo philosophy is based on 5 tenets which are Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self Control and Indomitable Spirit.

Taekwondo is a modern martial art that incorporates all aspects of combat.

It emphasises its highly developed kicking skills which are unique to this martial art but also has a vast range of hand techniques locks, take-downs and grappling.

Taekwondo can be broken up into 3 main disciplines which are:

Poomsae (Forms/Patterns),

Gyrougi (Sparring) and

Kyopa (Breaking).

Each aspect of training aids in developing a practitioners character teaching them to be self-confident, resilient and respectful of others. It is also a great physical work out aiding in improved muscle strength and flexibility which greatly aids into becoming a healthy lifestyle choice.

Taekwondo first entered the Olympic stage as a demonstration sport in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and became a medal fixture sport in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Every Olympics has seen changes to the method of bouts are conducted which has seen the incorporation of electronic chest and head protectors as well as video replay systems to make the game as fair as possible and eliminating human error.

Olympic Taekwondo matches are fast paced with dramatic speed and powerful yet graceful aerial techniques. The chance of a knockout is always possible making competitors deploy a high degree of strategy and planning during bouts. The World Taekwondo Federation has over 200 nations registered with it making Taekwondo one of the world's most practiced Martial art disciplines with currently over 80 million practitioners globally.

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