My 2 kids have been training in Tang Soo Do since October and have since earned their blue belt. The belt system is this - white, gold, purple, orange, blue, green, brown, red, red/black. My problem is that this place has only been open a year and now there are so many new kids and no space that it now appears that the classes are geared towards them. Warm-ups then endless punching/blocking/kicking drills with some frog leaps or races thrown in to get the kids having fun. Sparring has been limited to 2-3 times a week for 2 minutes. There is a 30 min Friday night class that is more specialized and they told us the kids could practice forms at that class. There are once a month "patch Saturday" classes for 1 hour where they will learn different techniques such as grappling, sweeping, sparring, kicking etc. but that's the end of learning those things unless it's taught Friday night. They also told us that if a tournament is coming up they would probably hold a saturday class for that. Is this good training??? It's like the kids' training has come to a screeching halt! We're new at this, we don't know if these changes are good or not but we don't like the changes at all. They also stated that forms aren't geared for kids but for adults. Is that true?? Please, could someone explain all this to me????? :bang:
All I can say from my limited experience is that the 1 time a month when your kids get to learn new different techniques that are not showcase in their forms is a joke. As for the punching/blocking/kicking drills, I don't think this is pointless as long as the exercises are diverse and are not performed half-assed for I believe in drilling the basics over and over every class session. This dojang seems to be a commercial one and that's not necessarily a bad thing if the instructions are worth the money. Kids classes are definitely different from that of adults but the comment about the hyungs (forms) only being for adults is the most absurd thing I've ever heard in Martial Arts.
When I was in Tang So Do, I took class for 1 hour a day. 15 minutes warm up (including incesant kicking, punching, blocking and sprinting), then we worked forms and 1 step sparring. Last part of the class was sparring. I did this for over a year and never was promoted. Neither were any of the people I came in with but we had tremendous forms, power, and sparring skills! If you think that the school has fallen behind, look for other schools. For comparrison, my son has been in Taekwon Do for a bit more then a year and he is testing for his blue belt! Now that makes me think MCdojo!
More Input Please Thanks for the replies. I hope to get more input as the instructor is 6th Dan and trained under GM Shin and he looks extremely talented to me so the changes they have made are extremely confusing.
I agreee with Narcsarge - don't track progression base on the promotion and in this case I don't think you're doing that but rather questioning the sudden changes. I think new techniques or different variations of them should be taught weekly, not monthly. But of course, they might be holding back because this may confuse the children. Sparring 2-3 times a week seems about right and the duration for children is reasonable enough (but should be longer IMO). If they're only working on forms for one day out of the week I think this might be a problem if your kids don't practice them outside the dojang on a daily basis. I hope the instructors drilled this enough in the kids to encourage them to practice daily.
In our Dojang, which is World Tang Soo Do affiliated, we change the classes close to tournament time, especially the World Tournament, which is in one week. But, all in all, this does not sound that promising. Try talking to your instructor, perhaps, about your concerns, or asking any senior student there if classes have always been similar. Good luck!!
So your blue belt kids are training alongside brand new students??? thats a little weird. Even kids in the same age/stage of development should be in different classes if they are more than a couple of belt different in rank. If they are all doing the same stuff then how do they get and why do they need belts?? If the forms are geared for adults the why are they even offering them to kids? sounds like a non- answer to me. My guess is that the school needs to evolve and add classes that are only for orange , blue and green belt kids. in doing that the teachers can focus on the curriculum specifically for the rank a lot more, not to mention increase expectations for your kids that would provide more challenging and fun classes that the white belts aren't ready for.
Hello, I have been doing Tang Soo Do and related arts for 12 years. 1st Tang Soo Do IS a FORM (hyung) oriented martial art. Without the hyungs there are no techniques, as technique and bunsok (applications) come directly from the forms. Of course there is Il Soo Sik Da Ryun (1 step sparring) and Jae Yu Da Ryun (free sparring) but these techniques come from proper understanding of movement and basics, that you will learn starting with form #1 (Kicho Il Bu) all the way to Kong San Kun, Rohai, or even So Rim Jang Kwin I say its time to find a new instructor. Tang Soo Do is a great martial art, and there are many great instructors out there...I would reccomend anyone in the Tang Soo Do Mi Guk Kwan Association http://www.tsdmgk.com/dojangspage.htm if there is a dojang around. Also the Hwa Rang World TSD Federation (www.greatwarriorpak.com), International Tang Soo Do Alliance (www.geocities.com/internationaltangsoodoalliance) or Tang Soo Do Moo Do Kwan (www.ahpotangsoodo.com) or Traditional Tang Soo Do (www.tangsoodo.org), or if you are close GM Chung Il Kim teaches here (www.tangsoodo.com) any of these schools are great. I cannot say to much about the Chun Sik Kims, or Jae Chul Shin's orgs....I dont know enough about them from first hand experience, but I have heard alot of good but also alot of bad... --josh
In our school, it is the same! It is a small school with 2-3 classes each evening and Saturday mornings. Because there are few classes, we are often in with multiple belt levels and ages. There are some red only and green only classes, and once a month they do a Dan class. (I'm an orange belt.) When my kids take their red or green classes, they are fine. However, they get really bored in the "All" classes since the instructor usually doesn't have enough high-level helpers to split up the classes by rank or age. So, we all end up doing what the lowest-belt-here needs to know. The better instructors work it out and give us different things to try. The not-so-great instructors just kind of have us do a few things together and the class is geared toward the white belts. Good news is that we have had a big influx of white belts lately. I'm hoping the school grows enough that they can start holding more classes and breaking us up more. Does anyone have experience to share on their studies in a small do jang? Kay
Our club has gotten so small that its usually the master and the two dans. Which is great. Like a private lesson.
I want to start by saying I have nothing but respect for my Sa Bum Nim, and I wish the same for all students (and parents of students). How do your kids feel about the instructor? One point I want to make is that learning MA for me is a big challenge, you are responsible for everything you have been shown (which requires much review). What I mean by this is I have learned 7 forms, the forms I tested on for my first test, I should be able to do those forms now and better than when I passed the test, my skills should improve. I am also expected to learn the new material so the body of knowledge is always increasing and should be improving too. In my school everyone learns forms, our youngest student is 4. We have an adult class and children’s class. My son who is 9 and has 2.5 years of training (red belt with 1 stripe) just moved into the adult class. I can tell that you are less than comfortable with the instruction so I don’t know what to say; however the endless punching and kicking drills are necessary. These activities need to be ingrained into the brain. In Korean culture kids train an hour a day or more on these drills, and you can see it in their ability. Like academic school what a student does outside of class will determine what skill level they have. Tang Soo Do is an on going study not something you learn and can claim you are finished. KICKBOY
Hi: I think I've given the wrong impression, or not expressed myself as I had hoped I was. I am actually good with the instruction by the attentive instructors (which is most of them). I'm also fine with the basics practice. (I'm learning Motion 5 but still need to redo Motion 1+ to ensure I don't forget!) It is all helpful to me. The issues that have come up -- and caused several green belt students to quit the school -- have to do with the kids that have been studying for many months or more and are not being shown anything new. A friend pulled out both her kids because they were still on Motion 5 after being there almost 2 years, and they hadn't been taught any new motions in about 6 months! Essentially, with the mixed-rank-and-age classes, some people are falling through the cracks that are wanting to be challenged more...mostly because the school doesn't track who knows what and so each instructor does their class as they see fit -- often focusing on basics again and again and again without scheduling harder stuff or singling out those ready for more. (Which is not the problem...it is that they are ignoring the kids who are ready for more.) My kids and I are enjoying ourselves. My son and daughter have their months when they feel really bored and want to be pushed a bit. I'm happy for the basics and am progressing at my own slow pace. My daughter has had many months when she was doing the same things, but it was appropriate to the attention she was giving her studies. Mostly, though, my 10 year old son works really hard and has been shown new things on the side by our Sabom Nim. Kay
