I just gotta say that I love TKD (WTF variety) but it hurts my heart to see the direction it is heading. I remember when TKD was as well respected as any other martial art in the world. Now it’s thought of as little more than a child’s diversion. It’s been an official full medal Olympic event since 2000 and that seems to have contributed to the problem. Instead of conveying TKD as a martial art it has relegated it to that of merely a sport.

I am appalled and saddened by what I see as a dumbing down of TKD throughout our community. If I only trained my students to break boards, an outsider (especially from another martial art) would correctly presume that my students’ training is grossly inadequate. Why then do some of us in TKD practice only tournament style TKD (which poorly mimics fighting) and are surprised when other martial artists don’t give us the respect that we feel we deserve (as evidenced by some of the previous posts)? I mean seriously, have you seen some of the new and “cutting edge” techniques being used in tournaments these days? It doesn’t matter how crude, how impractical or sloppy the technique is as long as it scores it’s good and acceptable. This is why other martial artists see our techniques as flashy, flimsy, sissy, and worst of all ineffective.

I know that most of us go to good schools that teach TKD as a comprehensive martial art but unfortunately, the only TKD that gets any attention is of the Olympic variety and it is the standard by which we are all measured. I was always taught that the sport aspect was a training tool, a supplement used to help with timing, speed, strategy, etc. and allowed students to test themselves against each other safely - and this is something I learned from a master who is a two-time WTF world TKD champion. Now it takes front stage even at the highest levels of our art with the federation, various unions and associations promoting TKD as a martial sport.

In any case I still love TKD and will continue to teach it as it was taught to me – as a martial art first. I only hope that others will continue the remarkable tradition of TKD and expect that it will outlast its current public persona.

Just my $0.02
D Byrd

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