As a black belt in the ATA you have a certain number of mid-term tests to complete before eligibility to test for new rank. Black belts also have a minimum training period before becoming eligible to test for new rank. The minimum period is one year for each level of rank you have obtained. For instance 1st degrees have a one year training period. Fifth degrees have a five year training period, and so forth. The number of mid-terms required during those training periods is listed below:
Rank Mid-Terms
1st Degree 2
2nd - 5th Degree 3
6th - 9th Degree 4
Stan Shields
4th Degree Black Belt
ATA Family Martial Arts
www.kicks4all.com
Monday, August 18, 2008
Count Your Form Moves
What are you thinking about when you are doing your form? Some of you are trying to remember the next move and some of you are thinking about the quality of the next move.
After you first learn your form, try counting the moves. It will help you learn/remember where the Ki-Haps are, get your sequencing down, and know if you are doing the correct number of moves. If you get to the end and you have too many moves, you know that you added something and vice versa. If you learn the move number for the corners, it will help you pin point where you made a mistake before getting all the way to the end. That becomes very important in black belt forms since the lowest number of moves is 81 for the 1st degree form.
Written by: Stan Shields, Chief Instructor, Top Ten Competitor almost every year since 1998, 2008 Top Ten finisher in forms, sparring and weapons, 2007 State Champ in all five categories, 1999 Sparring World Champion and 2006 XMA Weapons World Champion. Visit www.kicks4all.com for more information on ATA Family Martial Arts.
After you first learn your form, try counting the moves. It will help you learn/remember where the Ki-Haps are, get your sequencing down, and know if you are doing the correct number of moves. If you get to the end and you have too many moves, you know that you added something and vice versa. If you learn the move number for the corners, it will help you pin point where you made a mistake before getting all the way to the end. That becomes very important in black belt forms since the lowest number of moves is 81 for the 1st degree form.
Written by: Stan Shields, Chief Instructor, Top Ten Competitor almost every year since 1998, 2008 Top Ten finisher in forms, sparring and weapons, 2007 State Champ in all five categories, 1999 Sparring World Champion and 2006 XMA Weapons World Champion. Visit www.kicks4all.com for more information on ATA Family Martial Arts.
CHAH-GI (Kicks)
Why Emphasize Chah-Gi (Kicks)?
Taekwondo is known for the power and dynamic chah-gi (kicks) learned by it's practitioners. However, many arts try to discredit the "flashy" chah-gi of Taekwondo.
To evaluate the importance of Taekwondo chah-gi, we must first look at the important benefits of kicking as opposed to striking with the hands.
There are four major points to be considered:
First, the legs are longer than the opponent's arms. This gives the Taekwondo student the advantage of reach and allows the student to stay outside of the opponent's striking range, yet inside his or her own kicking range.
Second, the legs are stronger than the opponent's arms. In most cases, even a small adult has stronger legs than most adult's arms. Utilized properly, this strength advantage can allow the student of Taekwondo to defeat a person much larger and with a substantially stronger upper body.
Third, access of vulnerable targets. If you can only chi-gi (strike) with the arms, this eliminates many vulnerable and dangerous targets such as the groin, knee, shin and instep. Not only is it important to have more weapons, (body tools-hands, feet, elbows, etc.) but it is also important to know and be able to access more target areas. It is easy for a person to defend three or four vital points on the upper body, but it would be much more difficult to protect 10 to 15 vital points located throughout the body.
Fourth, the element of surprise. Taekwondo students are trained to expect chah-gi to the head. However the average person on the street expects to be punched in the head...not kicked. A chah-gi would have hit them before they even realized the leg was moving. This is because their eyes are not trained to see these techniques. The "surprise" is increased when a jump and/or spin is added to the attack.
Excerpted from "The Way of Traditional Taekwondo", Volume A (Philosophy and Tradition). Rank titles have been updated to the current titles. To learn more about your martial art stop by the front desk to obtain your copy.
Taekwondo is known for the power and dynamic chah-gi (kicks) learned by it's practitioners. However, many arts try to discredit the "flashy" chah-gi of Taekwondo.
To evaluate the importance of Taekwondo chah-gi, we must first look at the important benefits of kicking as opposed to striking with the hands.
There are four major points to be considered:
First, the legs are longer than the opponent's arms. This gives the Taekwondo student the advantage of reach and allows the student to stay outside of the opponent's striking range, yet inside his or her own kicking range.
Second, the legs are stronger than the opponent's arms. In most cases, even a small adult has stronger legs than most adult's arms. Utilized properly, this strength advantage can allow the student of Taekwondo to defeat a person much larger and with a substantially stronger upper body.
Third, access of vulnerable targets. If you can only chi-gi (strike) with the arms, this eliminates many vulnerable and dangerous targets such as the groin, knee, shin and instep. Not only is it important to have more weapons, (body tools-hands, feet, elbows, etc.) but it is also important to know and be able to access more target areas. It is easy for a person to defend three or four vital points on the upper body, but it would be much more difficult to protect 10 to 15 vital points located throughout the body.
Fourth, the element of surprise. Taekwondo students are trained to expect chah-gi to the head. However the average person on the street expects to be punched in the head...not kicked. A chah-gi would have hit them before they even realized the leg was moving. This is because their eyes are not trained to see these techniques. The "surprise" is increased when a jump and/or spin is added to the attack.
Excerpted from "The Way of Traditional Taekwondo", Volume A (Philosophy and Tradition). Rank titles have been updated to the current titles. To learn more about your martial art stop by the front desk to obtain your copy.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Songahm Taekwondo History
Here is a little history regarding our style of Songahm Taekwondo.
Although we all agree that the technique of Taekwondo can be traced back in Korea over 1,300 years, it is historic fact that Taekwondo as an organized art is relatively modern. Even the oldest "Taekwondo" poome-sae (forms) are derived from Japanese and Okinawan poome-sae systems. The original poome-sae developed under the name "Taekwondo" were the Cheon-jee (or Chahng-hun) poome-sae developed in the mid 60's. Following this system were the Pal-gae poome-sae in the early 70's. Both sets of the preceding poome-sae systems were based on Japanese kata (forms) and did not demonstrate the incredible kicking skills of Taekwondo nor its traditional values or philosophy.
As a result of evaluating all the poome-sae systems and realizing the absence of tradition, Eternal Grand Master Haeng Ung Lee, assisted by Chief Master William Clark (with additional input by current Grand Master Soon Ho Lee, Chief Master In Ho Lee, and Chief Master Robert Allemier) developed a poome-sae system that encompassed the chah-gi (kicks), traditions, and philosophy of traditional Taekwondo. This system was known as "Songahm."
Excerpted from "The Way of Traditional Taekwondo", Volume A (Philosophy and Tradition). Rank titles have been updated to the current titles. To learn more about your martial art stop by the front desk to obtain your copy.
Although we all agree that the technique of Taekwondo can be traced back in Korea over 1,300 years, it is historic fact that Taekwondo as an organized art is relatively modern. Even the oldest "Taekwondo" poome-sae (forms) are derived from Japanese and Okinawan poome-sae systems. The original poome-sae developed under the name "Taekwondo" were the Cheon-jee (or Chahng-hun) poome-sae developed in the mid 60's. Following this system were the Pal-gae poome-sae in the early 70's. Both sets of the preceding poome-sae systems were based on Japanese kata (forms) and did not demonstrate the incredible kicking skills of Taekwondo nor its traditional values or philosophy.
As a result of evaluating all the poome-sae systems and realizing the absence of tradition, Eternal Grand Master Haeng Ung Lee, assisted by Chief Master William Clark (with additional input by current Grand Master Soon Ho Lee, Chief Master In Ho Lee, and Chief Master Robert Allemier) developed a poome-sae system that encompassed the chah-gi (kicks), traditions, and philosophy of traditional Taekwondo. This system was known as "Songahm."
Excerpted from "The Way of Traditional Taekwondo", Volume A (Philosophy and Tradition). Rank titles have been updated to the current titles. To learn more about your martial art stop by the front desk to obtain your copy.
Training Tip - Video Tape Yourself!
When I was going for my first World Champ title in 1999, I video taped all of my competitions and then went back and meticulosly reviewed them in slow motion. Yes, slow motion. It drove my wife crazy because I would watch the same scene several times before moving on. I mostly did this with sparring because at that time sparring was the only world title that could be earned. It was important to win forms competitions as well as sparring because both forms and sparring awarded points and you needed enough from both to be allowed to compete for the title.
I watched the forms competition of myself and others to see who was winning and what did I need to work on if someone beat me in that particular competition. I watched the sparring competition to see what I did and what the other person did in response, and vice versa. I learned a lot about my habits and the habits of my competitors by watching those video tapes.
If you want to really improve your martial arts, video tape yourself and sit down and be your own worst critic. Then fix the things you did not like when you watched yourself. We all look one way in our minds, but quite possibly look very different in reality. When we watch ourselves from the perspective of an instructor, we see things we would not have otherwise seen. You may be surprised!
Written by: Stan Shields, Chief Instructor, 1999 Sparring Champion and 2006 XMA Weapons Champion.
I watched the forms competition of myself and others to see who was winning and what did I need to work on if someone beat me in that particular competition. I watched the sparring competition to see what I did and what the other person did in response, and vice versa. I learned a lot about my habits and the habits of my competitors by watching those video tapes.
If you want to really improve your martial arts, video tape yourself and sit down and be your own worst critic. Then fix the things you did not like when you watched yourself. We all look one way in our minds, but quite possibly look very different in reality. When we watch ourselves from the perspective of an instructor, we see things we would not have otherwise seen. You may be surprised!
Written by: Stan Shields, Chief Instructor, 1999 Sparring Champion and 2006 XMA Weapons Champion.
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