What most people don't realize
is there are thousands of different styles of Tae Kwon Do. These are Moo Duk Kwon
, Chung Do Kwon, Hwa Rang Do, Olympic style, etc.
The Style that we teach is called
Moo Duk Kwon Tang Soo Do. Grandmaster Choi Sin Ill decided to call our
school Tae Kwon Do and not Tang Soo Do, since most people didn't know what Tang
Soo Do was at the time. In fact some Tae Kwon Do Instructors simply called their
school " Karate " for that same reason. We teach the same Martial Art that made
Tae Kwon Do Very popular thru 1970s - 1990s. Tae Kwon Do is made up of two
ancient Korean Martial Arts, one is called Taekyun, and the other is called Soo
Bak Gi. Taekyun is made up of mostly foot techniques, and Soo Bak Gi is mostly
hand techniques. Both of these Martial Arts are over 2 thousand years old. The
term "Tae Kwon Do" broken down, means
Tae
To kick or smash with the foot,
Kwon
to punch or destroy with the hand or fist
Do,
the way or the method. Both of these forms of
Korean Martial Arts were combined in 1955 to form Tae Kwon Do. It is said that
Karate came from Soo Bak Gi.
Today's MMA Schools refer Traditional Tae Kwon Do as
Combative Tae Kwon Do. In fact, some MMA fighters will train in traditional
schools to learn how to punch and moreover, how to kick.
Today, most people's perception is all Tae Kwon Do is the Olympic
Style. The Olympic style was introduced in 1988 in Seoul Korea Olympic Games. At
first the Olympic style was great, but soon it divided Tae Kwon Do into two
categories; Olympic And Traditional Styles. The Olympic style has given Tae Kwon
Do a bad name.
Some think that that the following are styles of Tae Kwon Do.
These are actually ORGANIZATIONS.
WTF World Tae Kwon Do Federation (WTF is mostly Olympic
Style)
ITF International Tae Kwon Do Federation
ATA American Tae Kwon Do association