What is Taekwondo?
Taekwondo is a Korean Martial Art consisting of kicking and punching. Taekwondo has a few different governing bodies including WT And ITF. Here, at Ahmed Taekwondo Academy, we are under the WT (World Taekwondo) governing body, which is the governing body for Taekwondo in the Olympics and Paralympics since 2000.
There are two sides to World Taekwondo
- Sport (Olympic) Taekwondo
- Poomsae (Traditional) Taekwondo
Read about what we teach in Sport (Olympic) Taekwondo Here
Read about what we teach in Poomsae (Traditional) Taekwondo Here
Taekwondo for Complete Beginners when you First Start
The first things you will learn in your first 3 Months as a Taekwondo Athlete are a few basic kicks including the roundhouse kick, front/lead leg kick and the push kick. You will also learn the Taekwondo Fighting Stance, guard and a simple back hand punch. And in terms of Poomsae, students will learn the ‘10 Basic Movements‘, the 10 Taekwondo Stances and ‘one for one kicking‘. Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with any of these terms, they will be explained in class or you can click some of the words above to find out more.
Popular Questions about Taekwondo:
Minimum 3 years, depends on Student age and learning abilities.
If you are looking at the sport aspect, Taekwondo mainly focuses on Kicking with some Punching to the Body while Karate emphasizes more on Punching (both to the body and head) and also with some Kicking.
In terms of Patterns/Katas, through personal experience I would rate Karate better while the Self-Defense is mainly very similar in both.
Overall, Taekwondo would be deemed as a better Sport while Karate is much better in terms of the Katas and Conditioning. However, it does come down to how a Student is taught and the methods/techniques used for training etc.
Taekwondo is for all ages, young or old, male or female. And for the sole reason of teaching purposes, at Ahmed Taekwondo Academy, we take any child 4 years and above. Everyone is different, everyone begins to understand things at different ages. Kids are kids at the end of the day so you have to expect the lack of concentration and behavior issues at times. But over time, they will begin to understand different things. For example; why do we train, the benefits, why do we kick, warm up, stretches etc. Kids just want to have fun so with all these things in mind, our Lesson Plans are according to the ages and abilities of Students. You’ll find everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. It’s about identifying them and progressing all the time. It doesn’t matter if a Student knows all the kicks in the World, there’s so much more to learn to really progress in Taekwondo.
No.
For respect, Bowing is part of Taekwondo and other martial Arts too. However, as Muslims we only Bow down to Allah so we are exempted from Bowing. A handshake and a nod of acknowledgement will be enough.
At Ahmed Taekwondo Academy, within the first year, we aim to teach Students all the different basic Kicks, a few types of Footwork and the basic aspects of Fighting. Once we (the Instructors) are happy with the Students progression and are confident that they are ready for a Tournament, we will then take them to the appropriate Tournaments. Overall, it should take within 6 – 18 months for Students to get into their first Tournament depending on the their Progress.
