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Goal Setting

I also look backwards over the previous months and try to decide if I've stayed on track. Are my goals the same now, one year later, as they were this time last year?

While I may be thinking about life goals, these same ideas hold sway for our Tae Kwon Do training, because to gain success in taekwondo, we must have clearly defined goals.

It is not enough to simply say, "I want to be a black belt." You must must know why you want to be a black belt, Master or Grandmaster. Answer the why and you have started the goal setting process.

How do you reach your goal?

Be consistent.

Only consistency will bring you closer, step by step, to reaching your goals.

Stay focused.

Remind yourself often about where your current path is taking you. Where you will ultimately be once you reach the goal.

Don't give in to frustration.

If it were easy, everyone would do it. That's why goal setting is so valuable. It allows you to dream bigger and reach higher than you might ever have imagined.

Parents, help your children keep their eye on the finish. Developing the self discipline required to stay the course is a valuable lesson that will lead to greater success in the future.

And finally, always remember to acknowledge the sacrifice of others who helped you on your way to reaching your goal and look for opportunities to help your Juniors as they reach for their goals.

Words We Use

In our daily tae kwon do training, many Korean terms are used. It's important that we as students make an effort to learn these terms and understand their importance in our training.

Dan chun refers to the energy center of our body. It is found midway between the navel and groin and about 1" inside the body. We should always engage our dan chun (tan jun) while performing taekwondo movements. The dan chun is where your power comes from whether it be in a form, punching, kicking or breaking.

TKDspace.com

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What's Happening at
The Taekwondo Network?

Lots of visitors to The Taekwondo Network take the time to share their style.

You can take the poll now by visiting the tae kwon do styles page and make yourself heard.

Here are the current standings:

WTF 28.6%
ITF 22.7%
ATA 12.6%
ITA 6.7%
Tang soo do 2.5%
Moo duk kwan 5.0%
Oh do kwan 7.6%
Chung do kwan 8.4%
Other 5.9%

Some of the "other" submitted are Saikang, Chin Mu Kwan and American Kyuki-Do.

Your Feedback

June wrote: At the beginning of TKD class - is line up Rank/Tenure or Rank/Age? I've been told both with valid explanations for both. However, in my daughter's 1st school it was rank/tenure at that rank.My daughter is 17 and a 3rd Dan with 9 yrs under her belt. She plans to test for 4th in 2 yrs while in college. The problem is her current school goes by rank/age. In 01/09 an 18 yr old will be testing for her 3rd dan. She's the instructor's daughter and it will be awarded. Based on their rule his daughter will then out rank my daughter based strictly on age. My daughterdoes not feel this is accurate and we are trying to find what truly is the commonly accepted/written rule/practice. We just can't find it written anywhere. We can find a lot of other stuff - but no where are we able to find this specific guideline. We do see adults before children but wonder at what ages does the child become the adult. We presume 15/16 which is theage they can get a Kukkiwon. This presents another round of questions in that had my daughter never gone on for her 2nd and 3rd Dan's and stayed a 1st - would she then out rank an adult with her tenure at black once she hit the adult age? The question is not a matter of sour grapes. My daughterhas worked very hard at TKD and competed at national levels and always medaled. She is very very TKD oriented in competing and teaching other kids. Can you tell me where I can find this information in a published form?

Thank you,

June

My response: Hi June,

I have been researching this because it's an interesting question.

From personal experience, I recognize the issue is complicated and I don't believe there is an actual 'rule' specifically. A great deal of the etiquette is based on the school and Master's interpretation of that etiquette.

I think we can agree that adults outrank children (under the age 16) at the same belt level. One of the inherent components of a black belt is life experience which is why Kukkiwon makes the distinction between a full dan holder and a junior black belt.

Within a belt level, I always give rank to my elders in age (regardless of time at rank) and rank itself. This is because of what I stated above about taekwondo study including life experience and not just training time. Usually, within my rank, an elder in age who has held rank for a shorter time than me will encourage me to go ahead of them and I often do though not always. I also expect a child or adult who is young enough to be my child to line up behind me because I am their elder. This does not always happen because children are less cognizant of this type of distinction and I must admit, it peeves me when they don't.

As an example, let's look at this scenario. According to the book, "Black Belt Tae Kwon Do" in Appendix E, a student who received a junior black belt (under the age of 16) can test for 4th dan no sooner than the age of 18. This gets back to the life experience aspect. Although your daughter might have studied longer and the difference between 17 and 18 is non-existent to me (at 45), the bottom line is your daughter would not be eligible to test for 4th dan. So if the 2 girls had started training on exactly the same day for the same duration, the Instructor's daughter would out rank your daughter.

As they get older, these kind of distinctions become fewer and farther and less significant in the big scheme of things as in this next fact. Since your daughter is already a 3rd dan before this older girl, she will be eligible to test for 4th dan first because of minimum time at rank (3 years in this case). Both girls would be age eligible but your daughter reaches time at rank first. Let's say she then achieves Master rank of 4th dan, she would automatically advance ahead of the Instructor's daughter at that time.

And as the girls get older, the age difference diminishes and your daughter would always outrank this other girl in my eyes.

Because, let's face it, when these girls are 28 and 27 or 38 and 37 it doesn't really matter. They would line up based on who holds rank longest.

The book I referenced is by Yeon Hwan Park and Jon Gerrard. The Appendix E is based on WTF/Kukkiwon guidelines at the time of print, 2000.

I'm glad to hear your daughter enjoys taekwondo so much. Tell her to keep up the good work and wish her all the best. She sounds like a great role model for other young women.

Regards,

Kalynn

Nominate Your Master

I would dearly love to ad pages to my Master's section of the site. Sending me your write up on your Master so I can begin a library on the great Master's out there teaching tae kwon do to the students who enjoy The Taekwondo Network. Let's work together to give them the recognition they deserve.

"Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming."-Matthew Arnold

To your continued success and goal setting...

Kam sa ham ni dah,

Kalynn