TKD is a style that, like karate, only to a far greater degree, can place emphasis on either sport or self defense, but rarely do you hear about any sort of middle ground.

This is sad, since I do hail from a school that has a base in mostly self-defense (sport sparring is almost an afterthought of the ciriculum, done on weekends, while self-defense and technique occupy the rest of the week), and for the longest time, it was looked down upon by a nearby karate school who’s katas and other techniques may have been even more ineffective (not the art’s fault, blame the teacher).

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