Samantha Perez

Presentation

Progress Log

Capstone Essay

Samantha Perez

Mrs. Ferrari

English

April 14, 2020

Taekwondo

When I kicked my opponent’s head, their neck snapped back and they fell, blood on the mat. My master raised my arm and awarded me victory. Taekwondo gave me confidence and strength. In elementary school and in daycare, I was bullied a lot. Even my own family members picked on me. I remember when I was in daycare, there was a theme day when we had to sit next to somebody in a different grade for lunch. Back then, people would make fun of the way I spoke by mimicking me, or just ignoring me. In general, people always excluded me. I also remember that I was at my cousin's 12th birthday party, I was only 8 at the time, and her and her friends picked on me and made me say stuff that i wasn't allowed to say, like bad words. Then my cousin and her friends went and told my mom that I said a bad word. My mom came and found me crying, until she realized that they were picking on me. That was when my mom signed me up for taekwondo. Four years later, I graduated and received my first degree black belt. The discipline and work needed to get a black belt reflect the history and philosophy of taekwondo, ups and downs I had, the history, philosophy, techniques, and sparring.

In my Capstone project I will create a vlogging channel on showing beginners the techniques used in Taekwondo. For example, i want to create videos showing people how to do forms (poomse), sparring techniques (combinations, tips, training, combinations on bags and pads), basic blocks, basic stances, and diet tips (how to switch to a clean diet for a certain amount of time, such as eating more fruits, vegetables, protein). I want to do this because I’ve never filmed any vlogs before and I’ve done Taekwondo work a long time, and I wanted to combine the two things that I can learn from filming and combining the things that I already know from Taekwondo.History and Philosophy of Taekwondo

Before modern day taekwondo, there was a lot of history and philosophy. Korea was divided by 3 kingdoms, Silla, Koguryo, and Paekche around 50 BC (“A History of Taekwondo”). Taekwondo was dated back in 50 B.C; during the time when Korea was divided by 3 kingdoms- Silla, Koguryo, and Paekche. Teakwondo first appeared in the Koguryo. Tae Kyon, which was also called Subak, was considered the earliest form of taekwondo. Paintings from this time period have been found on the ceiling of the Muyong-Chong, a royal tomb of the Koguryo dynasty. Those paintings show unarmed people using techniques that are very similar to the ones used by taekwondo today (Morris). During the year of 57 BC, which marks the beginning of the Silla dynasty. Together with the Paekche and the Koguryo, Silla was the third of the 3 States of Era, which was in charge of the southeastern region of the Korean peninsula for 1000 years. Interest in literature and the arts spawned the writing of national histories, the development of a writing system that used the Chinese letters to express the Korean language (“The Three Kingdom Period”). Taekwondo was created thousands of years ago to teach soldiers to defend themselves in war. They created discipline and inspired soldiers to never give up the fight. The first dynasty who taught taekwondo to the soldiers was the Yi dynasty, then passed on to the Koguryo dynasty (Slav).

People wonder, what was early taekwondo like? Did people practice the art? Over many years, many taekwondo masters have changed the name over various times. Taekwondo has existed in Korea for over 2,000 years today - more than 50 hand movements are used in taekwondo (Morris). Taekwondo was first practiced in the Koguryo kingdom; the soldiers practiced Taekwondo. The soldiers called it fitness, which was later developed as a martial art (“History”). In 1945, the first school that taught Taekwondo (kuan) opened in Yong Chun, Seoul, Korea.In 1949, Taekwondo was first introduced to Americans when Hong Hi Choi stationed American and Korean soldiers with the 2nd Infantry Regiment. Greatest turning point of Taekwondo was when the president (Syngman Rhee) was watching some people performing the art and was impressed when someone broke 13 roof tiles with a single punch and wanted his army to learn the martial art. Most kwan masters accepted the name “Tae Soo Do”, Two years later, General Hong Hi Choi changed it to “Taekwondo”. He suggested Taekwondo because of its resemblance to Taek Kyon, which provides tradition in the previous name (‘Morris”). Many masters have argued for several years about the name of the martial art, they finally stuck with the name taekwondo.

In early taekwondo, they used to have the 11 commandments: loyalty to the country, faithfulness to your spouse, respect your brothers and sisters, respect your teachers, indomitable spirit, finish what you begin, respect your parents, show loyalty to your friends, respect your elders, and to never take life unjustly. Loyalty to your country means that you give and respect your country. For example, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, or saying the National Anthem. Faithfulness to your spouse , give faith and love your spouse no matter what. An example of this would be to care for then when they’re sick, and to love them no matter what. Respect your brothers and sisters , which means to love and respect your brothers and sisters. An example of this commandment would be to share your things with your siblings. Respect your teachers, which means to love and respect your teachers. An example would be when a student thanks their teacher for the lesson that they learned. Indomitable spirit is what makes a person unique and gives them hope, inner strength, and courage to face each day with a positive attitude. An example of this action would be to always look at the bright side when things are going not as expected. Finish what you begin, start with confidence, then finish with gratefulness. This could be when you start kindergarten, and finish high school. Respect your parents, which means to love and respect your parents. There are many examples of this commandment, for example, help them to clean, help them to do the laundry, or just simply thank them for the things that they do for you. Loyalty to your friends, which means to love and support your friends no matter what. This could mean cheering them on on their sports game, or just comfort them when they feel down. Respect your elders, which simply means to love, care, and to show respect to your elders. This could be helping them out walking across the street, or giving up your seat in the bus.Never take life unjustly, which means to take life fairly and enjoy life. This could mean to live life to the fullest. Loyalty to your school, which means to love and support your school. This can mean to show your school spirit, and to be grateful to the school you're attending. Then came the modern days of taekwondo, people narrowed down the commandments to, more simplified, easy tenets (“A History of Taekwondo”).

In today’s modern taekwondo, there are some smaller and basic tenets to add to a blackbelt’s life which are courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self control, and indomitable spirit. Courtesy means showing politeness in one's attitude and behavior towards others. An example was when I ask my parents for some things, or in general, just having good manners. Integrity means the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. An example from my own experience was when i was keeping a really dark secret that my friend told me, but i had to tell a trusted adult. Perseverance means that doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. An experience that happened to me was when I tried sparring for the first time. Even though I was really scared, I overcame my fear of being kicked. Self control means the ability to control oneself, in particular one's emotions and desires or the expression of them in one's behavior, especially in difficult situations. An example of using self control would be when not blurting out things when a teacher is talking, or not to talk to people when they’re paying attention. Indomitable spirit means the part of someone that makes them unique, that part of a person which provides hope, strength, and courage to get up and face each day with a smile. Today in the modern day, black belts I know, including myself, have followed these simple tenets (“A History of Taekwondo”).

Modern Taekwondo

Many people wondered if taekwondo was ever going to be an Olympic sport, then the world gave them a shot, then the martial art expanded across the globe. Taekwondo was first declared as an Olympic sport; the first competition during the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia in 2000. Taekwondo is well-known for its “acrobatic” punches and kicks. When Taekwondo was announced as a sport, there were no more than 35,000 black belts in the world; today there are more than 3 million black belts; more than 50 million non-black belts (colored belts). Since Taekwondo is spread across the globe and is an entertaining sport to watch, it can easily slip out of South Korea’s hands because of how unique the art is (New Kicks). All over the world, many people appreciate the art that Korea has presented to the world.

My master, who is a 5th degree black belt (Slav) explained to me that the Korean flag had poomsaes on four corners. Which I had no idea, and it surprised me. At the upper left-hand side of the flag, there are three solid lines, which represents Keon, or heaven, in English. The poomsae that means heaven, is the white belt form, Taegeuk il jang. At the lower right-hand side of the flag, there are three broken lines, which represents Gon, in English it means earth. The poomsae that means earth, is the brown belt form, Taegeuk pal jang. At the upper right-hand side of the flag, there are two broken lines, and one solid line, which represents Gam, in english it means water. The poomsae that means water, is the blue belt form, Taegeuk yuk jang. At the lower left-hand side of the flag, there are two solid lines and one broken line, which represents Ri, in english it means fire. The poomsae that means fire, is the orange belt form, Taegeuk sam jang. My master explained to me the korean flag was surrounded by the other four poomsaes (“Korean Flag”).

The rest of the colored belt poomsae is pretty much the same terms as the original 4 of the Korean flag. After the white belt form, there is the yellow belt form, which stands for lake. After the yellow belt form, there is the orange belt form, which stands for fire. After the orange belt form, there is the green belt form, which stands for thunder and lightning. After the green belt form, there is the purple belt form, which stands for wind. After the purple belt form, there is the blue belt form, which stands for water. After the blue belt form, there is the red belt form, which stands for mountain. After the red belt form, lastly there is the brown belt form, which stands for earth. There are a total of 8 colored belts in order to receive the black belt, the final belt is the poom belt, which is half black and half red. Normally people wear the belt black side up. For poom belts, they have to memorize all the 7 colored belt poomsaes.

Sparring is a very difficult part of taekwondo. Many athletes get seriously injured during their sparring matches. From my experience from the first time I tried sparring, I was really scared. I was mostly scared of getting kicked, even though I always missed the chest guard when I was a beginner. Some tips that i found along my sparing journey is to always have fun during your matches. If athletes sparr like they want to win, you will never win, it’s better to have a positive mindset to have fun and enjoy the match. Another thing that i realized along my journey was to always stay on your toes bouncing while you're in guarding stance. It's very important to stay on your toes because you can move around the ring more quickly and to kick your opponent more quicker. Lastly, another tip I found was to train daily. Training daily is very important because you are still warmed up from the previous training. If you wait for at least a week, then you get tensed up even after the warm up and stretching. It's also important to stretch and warm up daily to decrease the tensed muscles, it's better to stretch every morning. With these tips, I've found sparring easier, but at the same time, fun and entertaining.

There are pretty difficult things to remember in sparring too, the scoring. At first it may seem complicated, then people understand why they count for the way that they are counted. 1 pt for punches, 2 pts for kicks on the chest guard, those kicks are round house, jump roundhouse, sidekick, push kick, double roundhouse with jump, etc. , 3 pts for spinning kicks on chest guard, those kicks are 360 jump roundhouse, back kick, jump back kick, etc., 3 pts for head kicks, those kicks are ax kick, hook kick, and 4 pts for spinning head kicks, those kicks are spinning hook kick, 360 jump spinning hook kick, etc. (‘New Kicks”).

Athletes get really nervous before competition, but very few athletes are less nervous because of the amount of training they did. Including their diets, tricks, and exercise. Conditioning is really important in order to be in shape before the competition. Some simple cardio exercises can help prepare the athlete. For example, the athlete can, jump rope, go for a light jog, do some body exercises, and box jumps. Most athletes do this for at least twice a week for about 15 to 30 minutes. Athletes also work on their kicks and the way they do their sparring. They usually sparr 2-3 times a week. They work on building leg endurance with kicks, few hundreds kicks each section/drill. They also work on specific techniques. Such as kicking combinations, they practice what they’re good at and improve the kick that they have trouble on. They also practice reaction drills, such as sparring motions. For example the do reaction time drills. Athletes also get a strict routine. Many athletes do diets & recovery after an injury. Athletes also have to have a clean diet, such as eating fruits and vegetables and limited amounts of carbs and sugar. They also have to drink a lot of water. When athletes arrive at their competition, they drink at least several sips of water, warm up with a partner. It's also important to have a little bit of sweat before you sparr because your body can still be warmed up, and to be less cold and shaky. Lastly, it's important for athletes to Get plenty of rest before their big day (Wong).

What I learned about my project was that there is so much history and philosophy about Taekwondo. I had no idea that there were 3 dynasties that were technically the founders of Taekwondo. What surprised me was that Taekwondo actually helped me thrive with my life. I agree with the fact that during my research, on every website, there were different opinions about things. Such as the 3 dynasties, each website had its own spelling of the dynasties. Even for the poomsae, they each mean other things such as earth, with the brown belt form, also means home.

How I’ll use my information in the creation of my videos is that I’m going to cooperate with some history in the videos I make. For example for poomsae, I’m going to show the Korean flag that there is poomsae on the edges of the flag. For sparring I’m going to add multiple points of information. For example, exercises on the bags and with a partner. For the diet, I’m going to do some recipe videos. Taekwondo has influenced me in life and in this project.

Works Cited

“A History of Taekwondo”. Changing Lives Martial Arts.

https://atakick.com/a-history-of-taekwondo/. April 13, 2020.

“Korean Flag” Taekwondo-Guide, 2012. https://www.taekwondo-guide.com/Korean-Flag.html.

April 4, 2020.

Morris R., Glen. “Taekwondo History.” World Martial Arts Academy WTF Taekwondo, 1993.

http://www.worldtaekwondo.com/history.htm. January 29, 2020.

"New Kicks from Korea: the Not-so-gentle Art of Taekwondo, once a Korean preserve, is

becoming a world sport." The Economist, 12 Nov. 1994, p. 121. Gale OneFile: Business,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A15865474/GPS?u=valleycs&sid=GPS&xid=da875701.

Accessed 8 Feb. 2020.

Wong, Alex. “Prepping for a Tournament: Beginner Tips. YouTube, August 1, 2019,

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ySzJZ6AYNKo. February 25, 2020.

Slav, Marius. Personal Interview. 21 April 2020.

“The Three Kingdom Period 57 BC - 668 AD”. KoreanHistory.

koreanhistory.info/TheThreeKingdoms.htm. April 22, 2020