Taekwondo is a Korean Martial Art also known as the art of kicking and punching.
The focus is mostly on tenets of Taekwondo
COURTESY- Being polite attitude & behaviour
INTERGRITY- Being Honest with strong moral principles
INDOMITABLE SPIRIT- Being Strong, brave & impossible to defeat
PERSEVERANCE – Doing despite difficulty in achieving success
SELF CONTROL- Able to control emotions, desires in difficult situations
More of the legs are used due to the long reach using the body to generate devastating power. Taekwondo uses more of dynamic kicks, jumping, spinning and head kicks used for attacking and defending.
Taekwondo practioners use uniform called a Dobok with respective grade of belts starting from white to black belt.
The training by Taekwondo fosters physical and mental strength to cope with any untoward situations. Taekwondo was actually used in combat by the Koreans in 1940s and has now progressed to becoming an Olympic Sports by the World Taekwondo Kukkiwon.
Brief History
In 1945 after the World War the Koreans started martial arts influenced by the Japanese and also a little from the Chinese. They were called the Kwan’s. In 1952 the Korean President Syngman Rhee witnessed a martial arts demonstration by the army and wanted this to be introduced to the armed forces. In 1955 all Masters of the Kwans wanted to create a unified Martial arts system, however there were many different styles of Korean Martial Arts at that time which could not be unified under one name.
Korean Gen Choi Hong Hi started International Taekwondo Federation or ITF in 1966. Taekwondo was taught to the South Korean military and also civilians and was popular form of martial arts. Later on the World Taekwondo was founded by Korean Taekwondo Association in 1972 and from 2000 it has been an Olympic Sport. Today it is a Sport/Olympic game. There are 2 styles Olympic and Combat style.
There are ITF and WT styles of Taekwondo which are more prominent in the world now. ITF headquartered in Canada and WT in Kukkiwon South Korea.
Since 2021 there are three Asian Martial Arts Judo, Karate and Taekwondo in the Olympic games.
There are various forms of training in Taekwondo which includes Self Defense, Poomse, Sparring and breaking. Mostly using kicks, blocks, punches, strikes, counters, defensive techniques.
