Im in search of a tae kwon do place? that has more sparring training?

Question

im already a black belt and im looking for a new tae kwon do place where there is alot of training and alot of sparring.

anywhere in the orange county would be nice, because i dont want to drive anywhere far.

Answer 1

Orange County... California? New York? Florida?

If you mean California, I know that there's a school in Corona Del Mar on PCH across from The Dog Wash. I've seen the guys in there doing sparring a time or two. I'm sure if you searched around you could find their number, but I'm not a TKD guy.

Might also browse the directory linked below. Good luck.

Answer 2

Whatever Dojang you go to, if you're looking for battle applications as opposed to sport applications, you'll want a dojang that conforms to ITF (international) standards as opposed to a WTF (World - means it's sport - as in the olympic style). ITF is the style that was founded by General Choi Hong Hi - in other words it's the original style which has applications for actual battle as opposed to points systems for competitions and tournament sparring.

In the end, though, it's going to depend more on who your Sabumnim is and how he/she teaches. ITF can be watered down to the level of ATF if taught improperly.

As far as locating a school, you can do a google or yahoo search for taekwondo in your area - that'll pull up good results. Black Belt Magazine also has a directory, though it's not be very comprehensive, you could get lucky. Other than that, it's legwork and searching.

Answer 3

Hyouden - please get your facts straight.  I've taken ITF and WTF TKD.  They are not all that different.  The ITF has taught all of you the story of theirs being more "realistic" as a selling point.  Otherwise, most people would go for the one that is seen in the Olympics.

In reality, it is WTF TKD that has been taught the current Korean  military and secret police, as well as what was taught to many other military forces throughout the world.  

The sporting or Olympic style sparring is only one aspect of WTF Tae Kwon Do.  

I have no problem with ITF TKD, except that so many practitioners always say the same thing your saying.  

Both versions have combat applications, self defense, poomse and sport sparring with slightly different rules.

James