Taekwondo is known for its emphasis on kicking techniques, which distinguishes it from martial arts such as karate or southern styles of kung fu. The rationale is that the leg is the longest and strongest weapon a martial artist has, and kicks thus have the greatest potential to execute powerful strikes without successful retaliation. Historically, the Koreans thought that the hands were too valuable to be used in combat.

Taekwondo as a martial art is popular with people of both genders and of many ages. Physically, taekwondo develops strength, speed, balance, flexibility, and stamina. An example of the union of mental and physical discipline is the breaking of wooden boards, which requires both physical mastery of the technique and the concentration to focus one's power.

A taekwondo student typically wears a uniform (dobok 도복), often white but sometimes black (or other colors), with a belt (tti 띠) tied around the waist. There are at least three major styles of dobok, with the most obvious differences being in the style of jacket: (1) the cross-over front jacket that resembles traditional Asian clothing, (2) the V-neck jacket (no cross-over) typically worn by WTF practitioners, and (3) the vertical-closing front jacket (no cross-over) typically worn by ITF practitioners. The belt color and any insignia thereon (if any) indicate the student's rank. In general, the darker the color, the higher the rank. The school or place where instruction is given is called the dojang 도장. [1]

A taekwondo student can typically expect to take part in most or all of the following:

• Learning the techniques and curriculum of taekwondo
• Both anaerobic and aerobic workout, including stretching
• Self-defense techniques (hosinsul 호신술)
• Patterns(also called forms, pumsae 품새, teul 틀, hyeong 형)
• Sparring(called gyeorugi 겨루기, or matseogi 맞서기 in the ITF), which may include 7-, 3-, 2- and 1-step sparring, free-style sparring, arranged sparring, point sparring, and other types
• Throwing and/or falling techniques (deonjigi 던지기 and tteoreojigi 떨어지기) [1]

The best place to start the story of the modern development of taekwondo is just after korea’s liberation from Japanese colonization at the end of World War II in 1945. In the period between 1945 and 1947, the five main schools of what would later combine to become taekwondo were opened. These five schools were the Chongdogwan, or School of the Blue Wave, founded by Lee Won Kuk, the Mudokkwan, or School of Martial Virtue, founded by Hwang Ki, the Yonmugwan, or School of Martial Training, founded by Chon San Sop, the Kwonboptojang, or School of the Fist Method, founded by Yun Pyong In, and the Songmugwan, or School of the Pine Tree, founded by No Pyong Chik.

At that time, these schools used various names to describe what they were teaching. For example, the Chongdogwan called its style Tangsudo which means the way of Chinese (Tang dynasty) hand techniques. The Mudokkwan also called its style Tangsudo while the Yonmugwan called its style Kongsudo which means way of the empty hand.

The Kwonboptojang called its style Kwonbop which means fist method. In spite of the differences in names, what the schools were teaching was, in fact, very similar. As can be seen from these names, not much emphasis was given at that time to foot techniques. This, however, was to change very quickly. It was around the mid-1950s that the leaders of the various schools started to feel the need for a common name for what they were teaching. Several names were proposed, among them was the name taekwondo. For the time being, however, a name could not be agreed upon and the schools continued to teach under various names.

Initially, all of these schools but the Songmugwan opened in Seoul. Immediately after opening they started to attract large numbers of students and their popularity spread quickly. The Korean War, which broke out in 1950 and lasted until 1953, was to interrupt the progress of martial arts in Korea for a few years, but by the mid-1950s the schools had re-established and several new schools had opened.

It was in the early 1960s that taekwondo began to systematically organize itself both in matters of administration and technique. In 1961, the Korean Taesudo Association was formed in an attempt to organize the administration of the various schools. Finally, in 1965, the Korean Taekwondo Association was formed and the name taekwondo became official.

In 1966, the International Taekwondo Federation was established for the purpose of promoting taekwondo outside of Korea. This was an important step in the international development of taekwondo. However, the most important changes that taekwondo underwent in the 1960s were in the way it was practiced and in the techniques themselves.

In the 1950s, taekwondo sparring still resembled the system used by Japanese karate: the entire body was considered a target and no contact was allowed. This reflected the belief that taekwondo was first and foremost a method of self-defense where the entire body was a weapon and that contact between opponents would result in serious injury. In the early 1960s, however, some taekwondo leaders started to experiment with a radical new system that would result in the development of a new martial sport different from anything ever seen before. This new martial sport would bear some important similarities to the traditional Korean game of taekkyon.

The first major innovation was the use of a chest protector, which allowed fighters to execute full-power techniques to the body. Next was the prohibition of throwing punches to the face. Only kicks to the face were allowed. The idea behind this was that it is relatively easy and natural to punch to the face while to kick an opponent’s face is difficult and requires considerable training and skill. Along with these changes, taekwondo leaders experimented with another radical change. Previously, all action was stopped every time the opponents would clash so that a score could be determined. In the new system, continuous fighting was allowed and a running score was kept. The result of the changes was the development of new kicking techniques and strategies that were unlike anything seen in other martial arts.

This system was first officially introduced in 1963 when taekwondo was accepted into the Korean National Sport Festival as a demonstration sport. The next year, taekwondo was officially adopted as a permanent sport in the sports festival using this system.

With its inclusion in the Korean National Sports Festival, sport taekwondo experienced an explosion of growth in Korea. Middle school, high school, and university teams were rapidly formed and the number of competitors and competitions expanded every year. This growth, in turn, brought great changes to taekwondo.

In 1965 the 1st National Open Taekwondo Championships were held with eight weight divisions from fin to heavy weight. The use of so many weight divisions was also a new innovation in martial sports. In 19966, the 1st National Middle School, High School, University, and Individual Taekwondo Championships were held, opening the way for the formation of middle, high school, and university teams across the country. Following this trend, in 1970, the 1st National Elementary School and Women’s Taekwondo Championships were held further promoting the development of sport taekwondo for youths and women.

During this time, with the large number of teams and individuals practicing and the increasing number of competitions, taekwondo’s modern techniques continued to develop at an incredible rate. Initially, members of the original five schools did not have much contact with each other, but trained mostly with members of their own schools. However, after teams were formed and competitions began to be frequently held, students of the different schools started to compete against each other and, in the case of university teams, often found themselves teammates with people from the other schools.

The result of this great exchange among the different schools of taekwondo was a period of intense experimentation with new techniques in order to become more competitive under the new rules which emphasized full-contact kicking.

The 1960s and 1970s were when most of the technical innovations in sparring were developed such as the spinning and jumping kicks and the incredible footwork that allows competitors to execute complex and dazzling kicking combinations while moving forward or backward. By the 1980s, the modern nature of taekwondo as a sport including techniques and rules was firmly established. However, there continues to be subtle changes in strategy and technique which are a mark of dynamic and progressive nature of sport taekwondo [2]

REFERENCES

1. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. (2010). Taekwondo.

2. Capener, Steven D.; H. Edward Kim (ed.) (2000). Taekwondo: The Spirit of Korea (portions of). Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Korea. http://www.martialartsresource.com/anonftp/pub/the_dojang/digests/spirit.html.

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