About Us
Orange County Tae Kwon Do is a member of the World Tae Kwon Do Association, a national organization under Grandmaster Duk Sung Son (9th Dan). Mr. Son is one of the original Korean Masters responsible for bringing the art of Tae Kwon Do to America.
We practice the traditional, non-contact form of the art from the Korean Chung Do Kwan School. The net result is that it is suitable for beginners as well as advanced students and for men and women in the same classes.
Practices are conducted using a constant format as perscribed by Mr. Son. Each practice consists of Warmups, Basics, Forms, Free-style Sparring and Three-step Sparring. Additional drills may be added as needed to support student's needs.
Competition is provided by the parent organization through semi-annual tournaments. Participants compete at their belt level for trophies in both Forms and Free-style Sparring. Since many clubs are hosted at colleges, the tournaments take on the character of intercollegiate competition. There are competitors from colleges across the northeast to include RPI, SUNY Oswego, Syracuse, NYU, Harvard and MIT as well as clubs from the south and midwest.
What does it take to succeed?
Students often join Tae Kwon Do for learning about self-defense or to just get in shape. Some come with aspirations to become Black-Belts, some come to just see what the marshal arts are all about. Among those who commit, perseverance and persistence are the most common attributes, more so than physical skills or talent. At times, you feel that you are not improving or you are too tired to practice, yet, you keep coming back and trying your best. There are many small victories along the way, but much of the development of your mind and body occurs so gradually that it goes unnoticed. It is always fun to watch videos from the days that you were a lower belt to appreciate how much you have progressed.
Undoubtedly, it takes many years of practice to become proficient in Tae Kwon Do. The awareness and strength that accompany this proficiency, more than your physical fitness or the ability to defend yourself, provide a model for learning that is applicable to all facets of life.
What is practice like?
Everyone is encouraged to arrive early to warm up and stretch before each practice. We always start promptly at the designated times and workout for 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Practices start with a short run followed by quick stretching exercises. We then perform basics, forms, three-step sparring, free-style sparring and finish with Warm-Downs. Occasionally, we add on board-breaking, side-kick drills and other activities. Workouts are intense and strenuous, but the expectations are very much dependent on the student's individual ability.
Friendship and Comradery
Over the years, great friendships have developed as a result of involvement in our club. The bonding that occurs when you practice long and hard together can last a lifetime. Students are encouraged to help one another and we all work together.
Basics
Basics are attack and block techniques that are rudimentary to Tae Kwon Do. Each technique is practiced by students taking a sequence of steps forward and performing punches, blocks, or kicks with each step. It is difficult to master Basics, for you can always go faster, and demonstrate more power and focus as you maintain balance in delivery. In fact, Speed, power, focus, balance and control are indeed the five tenets of Tae Kwon Do. Control is more fully discussed in the context of sparring.
Forms
Forms are choreographed movements integrating the techniques practiced in Basics. Each belt-level has one or two Forms associated with it. Forms become more complicated as the students go up in ranks. Amazingly, if you remain true to the intent of the forms, your hands quicken, your balance gets better, and you react to your opponents attacks more swiftly during sparring. All techniques should be done with power and speed. Those who put in everything they have during forms begin to realize their true motive, those who don't, may as well do thirty minutes of calisthenics.
We practice all forms leading to and including the forms designated for our
belt-level. This builds stamina, but more importantly it is intended
to promote a simple idea--you must always strive to do the forms better,
regardless of the years that you have trained in Tae Kwon Do. An important
side-effect here is that that lower belts get a chance to observe upper
belts ways. Students are always encouraged to learn by watching upper belts.
Free-Style Sparring
Sparring in our style of Tae Kwon Do as taught to us by Grandmaster Son has No Offensive Contact. Students must show focus and self control in executing powerful techniques. All offensive techniques must target critical regions, such as, the temple, ribs, or solar plexus, but not make contact. All attacks must only target above the waste and the front of the body. Blocking is taught as a critical part of the art of sparring. We don't smash our partner's wrist or ankle, blocks are designed to deflect punches or kicks and protect you, not hurt your friends in class.
Students wear no protective gear since there is no offensive contact. It is never acceptable to fight with contact unless required for self-defense in an actual encounter.
Furthermore, men and women spar with one another in class. There are no weight or age categories for sparring during class, and White belts(beginners) do not participate in Free-Style sparring until promoted to Yellow belt.
Three-Step Sparring
Three-step is where the fundamentals of sparring are learned. Students practice these in pairs. One student stepping forward and throwing a punch with each step while the other student steps back and blocks each punch. Punches must be thrown with control, targeting above the lips of their partner without contact. The other student learns to step back and block on the wrist. As the name indicates, the attack stops after three punches at which time the student on defense executes one or more offensive techniques.
