Ata Black Sparring

Posted by admin on Friday, December 26, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Is the ATA American TKD assoc. a group of McDojos?

It seems like the ATA is big into money, contracts, and a lot of fluff. There are reports that they turn out black belts w/in a couple of years…I earned my black blet the old way with sweat, blood, and bare knuckle Kyokushinkai sparring. So the ATA a Mcdojo organization, who else falls under this catagory?

TKD has gotten a bad rap because it became an official Olympic sport.

TKD is unique in that it has a world governing body that standardizes all the forms (Kata or Poomse) and what the requirements are for promotion. Some ATA schools are part of the WTF (World TKD federation), some may not be.

TKD in the US has intentially accellarated it’s color belt promotions. When I began training at the age of 14, it was months, sometimes years between belt testing. Now days, it can be only 2 or 3 months between tests. Some TKD schools charge as much as $50 for these tests, and even more for the higher belts. This can seem steep, but usually more than half the money goes to the federation, not the dojang. The rest pays for the belt, the breaking materials, certificates and yes, some profit for the dojang.

There are pros and cons to promoting color belts this fast. The pros are that it gives the practioners and nice little boost of self confidence, and gives them the opportunity to learn new forms and new self defense moves, new kicks and new techniques. This allows the student to remain stimulated and not get bored with doing the same stuff over and over. This is especially true of younger students.

The cons are that they are getting quantity over quality (in most cases), but over the years, the quality will catch up to the quantity.

Being a black belt in any martial art doesnt automatically make someone a fighter. Fights are won by individuals, not by styles or systems.

During the martials arts boom of the 60’s & 70’s, TKD schools were in there with all the Karate and other big styles. TKD decided to go off on it’s own path (towards the Olympics) and somewhat isolated itself from the other systems that formed.

Any style of martial arts is good if you have a quality instructor. Find an instructor you like, and go to that school and you won’t be dissapointed.

It may not be your classic “Tough Guy” martial art. But many “Tough Guys” have their roots in TKD. (Bas Rutten, Cung Le, Forrest Griffin, Anderson Silva)

James

ATA 2011 Black Belt Nationals- Mens 1st d sparring 40-49: Simms vs Mitchell