“What is Taekwon-Do, fundamentally? What is its nature and substance, its
reason for being?” Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman philosopher and emperor, might ask such a question of General Choi Hong Hi, founder of Taekwon-Do, in the hereafter.
“What is Taekwon-Do, fundamentally? What is its nature and substance, its
reason for being?” Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman philosopher and emperor, might ask such a question of General Choi Hong Hi, founder of Taekwon-Do, in the hereafter.
Game theory and Taekwondo
People talk in terms like ‘tactics’ or ‘strategy’ every day. Most of the
time they mean different things using these terms. What all those who use these terms have in common is to express something successful.
Through this study of the Yin & Yang principles it had stirred my curiosity into the why and how we can use these principles for our own inner spiritual, mental and physical development, not only for use in the Martial Arts but for all of what life and nature can throw at us. We as humans need to ‘Adapt’.
Why do some organisations grow and others decline? Why do some sports thrive while others remain marginalized? How do we ensure Taekwon-Do thrives in the modern world? Technological change is accelerating. Many technologies are converging and intersecting, resulting in innovations that seem like magic. Electric cars are on their way to mainstream status. Artificial intelligence is everywhere, in our pockets and driving our cars. Yet amongst all this growth, the world wrestles with a significant global health pandemic and the economic and societal aftershock. It’s not business as usual. How will Taekwon-Do and its organisations change to survive and thrive in this new world?
To the uninitiated, martial arts invariably presents itself as an area of involvement for either young children seeking some form of self-protection from such things as bullying (on their part) or a means of instilling a form of discipline and physical fitness (on the part of their parents). For the older person, of whatever gender, the aspect of protection for themselves and others they may be responsible for, plus the added benefits of overall fitness and resulting personal self-confidence, this can act as a lure to investigate the world of martial arts as opposed to just attending a gym to improve their health (weight-wise) and fitness
Taekwon-Do is an effective, practical martial art, practiced by millions of people. The original art, developed by General Choi Hong Hi, has evolved with several different interpretations and organisations. My curiosity is not a competitive one nor is it pitched to validate any particular form. This is a dialog about how I have come to train with the International Taekwon-Do Federation, and how I now use and develop Taekwon-Do to reflect my interpretation 0f basic training methods, philosophy and technical application.
Professional Taekwon‐Do instructors are self‐employed owners of small businesses. They do not have the benefits of specialists employed by corporations. This includes common employment benefits, such as pension schemes. The ITF cannot create the infrastructure to do these things for professional instructors – it would be far too’ inefficient for a small international entity to develop efficient global structures. Instead, the ITF should arm instructors with the information they need to act themselves, and measure their success based on the actions of those instructors. Therefore, the ITF should educate its instructors financially – in budgeting, debt management, wealth protection, accumulation and decumulation.
A major restriction to the examination procedure is the need to drop your eyes to write and take note of the students performance. To help remedy this situation, I investigated the use of a web based application to digitise the grading and allow the Examiner to quickly make notes while also keeping their eyes turned to the students more often.
Advice for new umpires Thesis by Darren Ward, New Zealand For years I have thought about all the things that are not written in the rules that helps an umpire starting in their career (yes…