I don't want to knock my own martial art, sparck but there are things that I wish it can do better. If you are foot slow with fast hands and strong, I certainly want to be careful if I meet you in a dark alley. OK - why ?

I used to do Karate before - and Karate place a lot of emphasis on hand techniques ( as does Kung Fu ). Their philosophy is based on a number of reasons :

1) hand techniques are deadlier - because the hand is shaped differently from the foot, the range of damage the hand can deliver is greater than the foot.

2) the hand is closer to most of the targets - hence faster. A punch to the head is delivered faster than the foot to the head owing to the distance. As for targets, the foot is only close to the opponent's foot - a hit there can be delivered fast but a foot injury doesn't really stop the opponent.

3) the feet belongs more often to the ground - providing balance and stability - a good platform to launch hand techniques from. If you are a kicker, once you lose your balance, game over - your attacker can kick the crap out of you whilst you can't. Furthermore you are less mobile - your attacker can dance circles around you on his feet. One thing you will always notice with Karate - it is precisely because of this understanding, they always want to bring their man down on the ground - that's why there is a lot of sweeps, throws in traditional Karate. You seldom see the same with Taekwondo.

Taekwondo players rely too much on their feet - I on the other hand, always mix it up with hand techniques. Some of TKD people say "Foul" but heck, my emphasis is self-defense, not sport. Grabbing sleeves, arms, takedowns are also frowned upon - but I don't really care - I see myself trying to bring TKD back to the centre.

Sparck, yes - Taekwondo is glamorous and spectacular. It requires speed, flexibility and control but just because you think you don't have them, doesn't mean you don't have your own strengths. And what you think are your "weaknesses" may not necessarily be real ones. If you have more questions, feel free to shoot me a line.

that video is amazing! makes me want to find a local instructor really. You and those in the video have an amazing level of skill and speed. I'm foot slow with fast hands and strong, so grappling, wrestling and boxing are more my speed. I wish I had the control and flexibility to do those things!

Thanks sparck ! I think Tim was too stunned to press his advantage. Had the kick connected higher ( that is at the temple rather than the jaw ), he could have been knocked out. A high number of knockouts at Olympic levels are achieved by this kick. See http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y3-STuMbVE&feature=related

that is really impressive, but can't he continue to come forward and attack the exposed body? I guess that might be me thinking in wrestling and brawling terms :D

Thanks everyone....I do Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo and the patterns ( or hyungs in Korean, kata in Japanese ) are International Taekwondo Federation's

excellant

I didn't know it involved such tactics, that's impressive.

nice form...i like how you explain every aspect of your technique and judgment...

great stuff uncle al

Awesome!!!!!!