Hello to my many reader! hehe. I hope the day finds us all well by lights end. Now, on to the post!
I said yesterday that I would report and go further into Poomse. First the report. My instructor decided that we would not be sparring last night due to the upcoming testing as most needed help in other areas, but good news is that I did get one short, easy match. We have a few that will not be here this weekend and as such needed to test sooner, one tested on Monday, and one last night. The young man that tested last night is a 6th Kup or yellow belt, He was testing for his green belt (attempting to double promote to 4th Kup). In the course of his testing, since he was alone, I stayed and sparred with him. Being a much lower belt and still unsure of his sparing ability I took it very easy on him, invited his kicks, asked him to retry certain moves and encouraged him to try other types of attacks, in the course of this I avoided many of his hits, threw a few good strikes and kicks (most of them slowed) and made him realize how much better he can become. Now this young man (he is 17) is no small guy, he has about 2-3 inches on me and outweighs me by at least 50 pounds. Still he is a low belt, slow and unsure of himself. It was fun, I often teach at my Dojang (TKD school) and so I enjoy helping others grow, so a faux match to help a lower rank rise to the occasion is wonderful thing to be a part of.
The other great part of testing that I also was able to participate in was the board breaking. Usually I, being one of the oldest and highest belts in my school, am designated as the board holder. Some may question why we break boards, as Mr Miyagi said, board no hit back. Breaking a board is a part of moving up and out of oneself. A way for the instructor to see where the mental and physical has combined. There are many, many types of breaks that can be performed. We use 1" thick hardwood boards and depending the kick/hit they are held by one two, or even three others. Last night he was asked to break twice, again due to him trying to double promote. The first break was a simple back kick, picture a mule kicking (on two legs hehe). He was able to break his board in one strike. However, the second hit which is actually an easier break gave him (and my hands) trouble. It was an axe kick, picture your leg as an axe coming down hard with your foot as the axe head. He was unable to break the board, however he may have broke my finger..jk. After 5 hits with two landing directly on each hand my instructor kindly stopped the carnage before I did get hurt hehe. Now a failed board break is not the end of the world at our school. Our instructor feels its more important to learn then to criticize. over all this young man did well and will move on and continue to grow.
Before the testing with him we had our regular class. Last nights class consisted of allot of Poomse work. Poomse is the art of forms, or set patterns representing various moves. There are many types and styles of forms in the world and these vary widely from style to style, even school to school. Anyone in martial arts can recognize the moves as for the most part they are similar in one way or another to each other. My school is part of the WTF (World Tae Kwon Do Federation). This is what you see most often when you see sparring online, at the Olympics, most tournaments etc..This is a fast moving non stop style, focusing on moving and striking. The Poomse our school uses are the Tae Guek lineage. If you would like to see these, and many others, see http://www.natkd.com/tkd_forms.htm as a good reference. There are a few forms that we use outside the Tae Guek line, but these are mostly low end, white belt, or beginner, forms. These are known as Ki Bon forms. On that site they are listed as Kicho forms, not all are listed there that we use. But the main forms are there with video.
My current rank places me at the top of the Tae Guek forms and getting close to the black belt forms. Poomse is one area I excel at, I have a sense of balance, an ability to learn quickly and I practice non-stop. Currently I am Utah State champion in my division as well as winning at the Utah Summer Games. In the 6 tournaments I have been to I have only finished second once. (I wish I were so good at sparring to say the same..). SO needless to say I get to help teach them most often. My current Poomse is Tae Guek Chil Jang. Its a beautiful form with allot of different stances and moves. This form is represented by the name of Mountain. Steadfast, strong, powerful, wise. This form is a good contrast of power and grace.
In the course of practicing the form I was able to assist one of our young ladies who is also learning the same form. She is a promising girl as she had broke her foot and still cannot participate in allot of things, but she is diligent and practices often. She just learned her form last week and has most of it already memorized. Now this is an accomplishment since she has a hard time remembering her forms that she learned previously (going to work on that). Over all I was very proud of her work. My family was also there participating in my class and we worked on their forms as well. It was a very good class, while classes like this don't tend to teach me much new, they help me refine my skills and allow me to become a better teacher each time.
Tonights class will consist of much the same as we have tonight and thats it to practice in class. Tomorrow our GM is having a sword seminar on Kumdo (Korean form or Kendo) and then Saturday morning is the big day! I will write more tomorrow on how tonights class goes, While Im sure it will not be as exciting, or news filled as this posting was, I will make it informational with more about the different Poomse, meanings and moves. Till then, you stay classy Fubar.
