Cardiff Student Eleri has has written a great essay about Tae Kwon Do and her training.
You can read her article below. Well done!
Tae Kwon Do
My hobby is T.AG.B which stands for Tae Kwon Do Association of Great Britain. Tae Kwon Do is a form of martial arts which began in Korea more than 2000 years ago. We know this because archaeologists have discovered pictures of humans practising Tae Kwon Do on the ceiling of an ancient tomb. Tae Kwon Do was introduced to Britain during the year 1967.
In English Tae means to jump, kick or smash with the foot; Kwon means to punch, strike or destroy with the hand; and Do is art, method or way. The father of Tae Kwon Do is General Choi Hong Hi who was born in 1918 and sadly died in 2002.
There are five tenants in Tae Kwon Do:
1. Courtesy-being polite and respectful
2. Integrity-being hones
3. Perseverance-being dedicated
4. Self control-to control yourself
5. Indomitable spirit-being brave and to have courage.
In Tae Kwon Do they aim for five things: Self Defence, Self Discipline, Self Awareness, Concentration and Fitness. In Tae Kwon Do you have to wear uniform called dobok (white trousers and white t-shirt) with a coloured belt which shows how experienced you are with white being lowest and black highest. When you have done your honourable black belt you do dans which start from 1st and go all the way up to 9th Dan.
You earn belts by doing gradings (tests) part of the grading includes patterns. You learn a different pattern every time you earn a new belt. There are 24 patterns because there are 24 hours in a day. Each pattern has a meaning which you are meant to learn.
I enjoy Tae Kwon Do because it is physical and I have made many good friends.
I started training on the 31st of May 2006 with my sister Natalie and we started off in the Tigers (younger version) I have practised it for four years now. My instructor is Mr Taylor who has been training in Tae Kwon Do for more than 37 years and has been instructing for 20 years. I am a Red Belt and have two more belts until I achieve Black. I wanted to do Tae Kwon Do so I could defend myself and gain more confidence.
