I was wondering to what degree other Tang Soo Do schools do grappling/ground work (since my school seems to be a bit atypical). Please feel free to comment further on what type of grappling you use.
I went for the middle option on the poll - but BRITTON has contacts with a local BJJ class, and every once in a while we invade 'en mass'. I've made it to one session, and must try and get there for the next one...
Our school does a lot of take-downs, locks and chokes; That sort of thing. Once in a while, they'll hold seminars for ground fighting, but not too often.
We do pretty everything you listed at the TKD school I currently train at. My TKD instructor is also a 3rd Dan in Hapkido, so we have set nights where we work on that.
Man, it's been so long since I've done TSD. All I remember us doing is stand up grappling and getting up off the ground fast.
Hey #1 - is it my imagination, or have you been out of the MAP community for a while? Good to have you back! How long ago did you do TSD, and how far did you take it? (We have our own forum now)
Yeah, I've been gone a few months. I've been busy, but I'm hopin' to come back here a for at least a few months--hopefully longer I haven't done TSD in 7-8 years. I had to quit because I moved away from the school, and there isn't any TSD schools around here. I moved after I got my green belt and a stripe.
I'd love to learn how to grapple. Soo Bahk Do pretty much does stand-up defense but also has many techniques in which you bring your opponent to the ground. The Avellan brothers, who are accomplished grappling champions, have a school a little ways away, so I might just want to go see what they're all about. Even though Soo Bahk Do to me is a perfect art to study, learning some grappling wouldn't be a bad idea.
It never hurts to get extra training in something different. It can only add to your knowledge and skill as a martial artist.
True, but the thing is that I'm afraid of leaving Soo Bahk Do because I don't know what my instructors and piers would think of me. Grappling looks very competitive and very fun, but I also appreciate SBD when I look at some other 'karate' schools around the way. I just came back from about a 2-year break to return to Soo Bahk Do for a year and a half, and IN that year and a half I got promoted to E-Dan, so they might just see it as me comming to SBD for a promotion then going on to another martial art.
You don't have to leave SBD to learn grappling. Keeping your stand up fighting as your primary weapon, and train on the side in some sort of grappling system to complement what you already know.
Yes, NX01, that's what I was going to suggest as well. It's certainly possible to train in two things at once.
I'll go along with that. My instructor (BRITTON) has on occasion invaded his friends BJJ class with as many of our TSD class that will come along. I was at the last session a couple of weeks ago - and I'm afraid my personal attitude is that BJJ is a bit like dental surgery: not enjoyable, but useful and perhaps necessary in the long run. (<--- all grapplers, please note the smiley - I didn't say anything against your arts except that they are not for me! ) The result of the afternoon was (1) as I didn't know exactly what I was trying to do (in free rolling), I couldn't get anywhere with my opponents, but (2) some more experienced guys couldn't get anything on me... I worked on the principle "I don't know why you're trying to make me move there, so I'll guess it is a bad idea for me to do it and I'll take actions to prevent it" An interesting afternoon that made me more comfortable going to ground - but it's still not a place I'd like to end up.
