Taekwon-Do
What is Taekwon-Do?
Taekwon-Do was founded in 1955 by General Choi Hong Hi 9th Dan. Taekwon-Do is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. It is a version of an ancient form of unarmed combat practiced for many centuries in the orient. Developed in the military, Taekwon-Do came into its present form in Korea.
What Will I Learn?
At Worcestershire Martial Arts we teach authentic Taekwon-Do, following the International Taekwon-Do Federation syllabus as intended by the founder Gen. Choi Hong Hi.
Every lesson you participate in will be different, however some of the aspects we train in are:
Patterns (Tul): Known as Kata in Karate and Forms in most Chinese arts, patterns are a set of attacking and defensive movements against imaginary opponents. This is the aspect in which the "Art" side of Taekwon-Do is shown.
Fitness: Every lesson will have some aspect of fitness work in, mainly cardio work. Martial arts is guaranteed way to lose weight and tone up faster than ever.
Sparring: This is considered the sport side of Taekwon-Do although it is an art in itself. Sparring is practiced under controlled conditions with full safety equipment. We also offer all students the opportunity to test and hone their skills in tournaments (both national and international), many of which are offered to our students throughout the year. Worcester Taekwon-Do and Kickboxing are very successful on the tournament circuit, boasting many numbers of British, European and World Champions.
Traditional Movements: Since Taekwon-Do is a Military Martial Art, the traditional moves are practiced in line work, we use this method to teach students how to create maximum power from their techniques.
Padwork: Using strike shields, focus pads and Thai pads, we practice both sparring and traditional techniques to enable to student to bring out maximum power and speed in their movements, without the risk of hurting each other.
Self-Defence: We also teach close quarters self-defence to do with grappling and groundwork. For ladies, personal safety, self-defence, defence from hair and bag grabs and rape defence is also taught.
Grading: Similar to other martial art systems Taekwon-Do operates a belt system, colour belt testing takes place every 4 months, following the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) syllabus. It takes a minimum of 5 years to achieve a black belt with Worcestershire Martial Arts if regularly training twice a week.
Competitions: Worcestershire Martial Arts attends a variety of national and international competitions throughout the year, many of our students medal - check out our news page for our most recent wins.
Age Restrictions: Worcestershire Martial Arts only accepts students aged 9+ into our mainstream Taekwon-Do classes, 4-8 yr old students can only attend our Tiny Kwon-Do classes, the minimum age that we grade students to black belt is 12 years.