Starting my son on TKD

[2om30]

as long as he has fun.. who cares what else everyone thinks..

 

[Bennosuke]

I'm willing to bet there are more football related deaths every year than TKD deaths.

Does that make it safer? That's like saying MMA is safer then football (a claim that is made), based on the fact that more NFL players have concussions per year then fighters in the UFC.

For those who don't want to have to think, there are so many more NFL athletes, who compete so much more frequently then each fighter in the UFC, that it is a ridiculous statement.

 

[elzar]

it's just something to keep him busy. if he likes it, he keeps going. if he finds something else, he moves on. not sure what there is to talk about here. at five, he's not going to learn a whole lot anyway.

 

[dat1978]

Personally I think tkd is great for someone his age specifically for the reasons you list. That's how I started and when I got older I went into other things which includes Thai boxing for the last 10 years. If anything I've always felt the tkd helped my Thai boxing more than hinder it.

 

[SAMURAI SPIRIT]

I started TKD because I wanted to kick like a TKD fghter. I must say that it helped my kicks a lot. I did not stay in TKD because it was one of the more impractical and flashy martial arts but the kicks that it gave me was what gave me an edge in other harder and more brutal styles.

I would put the kid in TKD at an early age just so that they can get high kicks and timing. After that I would put them in Muay Thai or Kyokushin Karate. They will have to get used to harder contact and different stances but kicking accuracy will be something that will stay with them.

In the end something is better than nothing

 

[Jukai]

You know, there really is nothing wrong with staying in TKD after you became an adult... Yeah, generally more often than not, you get sport TKD dojos that are all hands-down flashy-kicks up, but there are still some great dojos out there which can really help you in a fight.

It's all about the dojo.

Which is also why it's less about starting your kid on TKD, and more about whether the teacher and activities and dojo are right for your kid. No harm in checking it out, of course. The closer it is, the more chance your kid will want to keep going.

 

[Stratamagnus]

Does that make it safer? That's like saying MMA is safer then football (a claim that is made), based on the fact that more NFL players have concussions per year then fighters in the UFC.

For those who don't want to have to think, there are so many more NFL athletes, who compete so much more frequently then each fighter in the UFC, that it is a ridiculous statement.

No, my point was that it was a "slippery slope" comment. You're engaging in a martial art. You might get hurt.

 

[Peyton]

Others here have more valued input than me due to my experience levels, but I say, sure, as long as he has fun with it. It can't hurt, it will just be fun for him. If he doesn't like it, but wants to do something, maybe look into wrestling if you can.

 

[h_k_m]

It's kind of funny how TKD has this image of being a safe and healthy sport for young people when in reality, people die in competition from time to time.

For a five year old I'd think some sort of grappling (wrestling, judo or kid-specific submission grappling/BJJ) made more sense than stand up, but that's not my call to make.

From my point of view, Taekwondo, both ITF and WTF, are really adequate for children, they tend to train the areas where you are most undeveloped at a young age like coordination and balance and exloit the other areas where you are supossed to be at you pick when you are young, like speed and reflexes. I would recommed to leave the grapling for a later stage when muscular strength start to develop. Cheers.

 

[h_k_m]

it's just something to keep him busy. if he likes it, he keeps going. if he finds something else, he moves on. not sure what there is to talk about here. at five, he's not going to learn a whole lot anyway.

And that's why TKD is such a good fit, because it has got many areas where you can concentrate your self in, like sparring, traditional patterns, special techniques and power breaking. It's a lot of fun for kids to find they can try different stuff every class. By the way, I'm just talking from my own experience, I don't have any interests involved.

 

[KarateStylist]

My son is five. He's grown up seeing me train in Muay Thai, and he is very keen to start training in martial arts as soon as possible.

I'm not a fan of TKD, but there's a place 200 yards from my house that does TKD classes for kids.

Since I have no ambition for my son to be a professional fighter, I just want him to get balance, coordination and mobility so he has the tools to do whatever he chooses when he's older and I'm thinking of starting him in the classes.

Is there any harm in him doing TKD? Will he learn bad habits?

Personally, I am not a fan of TKD either. Why?

It's very sports-karate oriented, at least what I've witnessed here in my locale.

TKD practitioners tend to punch and take on more of a boxing posture with their hands. Focus seems to be heavily on individual technique, not poomse, etc. Their footwork also tends to resemble boxers versus karate stances. TKD comes across as a mixture of boxing / karate--a flavor of kickboxing, if you will.

Moreover, they tend to promote sparring very soon in the curriculum; ideally in the more traditional programs, sparring should be de-emphasized relative to basics. Still, again though, most people seek out some kind of competitive angle for the martial arts and controlled-sparring is generally very popular around here.

Still, TKD is technically a traditional martial art. Since traditional martial arts are a developmental program, not a pure competition-centered activity, a bona-fide TKD school should provide exactly what you say you are after.

KarateStylist

 

[KarateStylist]

And here we go....
Sherdog will now start a war on which martial arts is the best...
3....
2...
1...
But on a side note, I started off in TKD when I was little. Can't say I learned much. I say start him off in boxing, then move on to muay thai after a while.

I can see that.

My personal choice of traditional karate is Tang Soo Do. I feel it is a better representation of the traditonal martial arts, here karate.

Around here, the Tang Soo Do karate practitioners generally have the edge when it comes to fighting over the TKD crowd. However, this is a vauge generalization.

Personally, I have seen, though not around where I live, some TKD stylists who were absolutely outstanding karateka, including in tournament competition. Way better than anything I had witnessed in Tang Soo Do. Incidently, they were Americans.

These guys could have kicked the crap out of many a Muay Thai fighter!

So despite my preference, in this case the top-level TKD tournament competitors==> excellence has no stylistic bounds.

 

[milliniar]

for a five year old tkd is fine. gives fitness kicking ability whether or not you agree with the technique. and as he gets older give him a choice if he wants to change to something else.

 

[KarateStylist]

From my point of view, Taekwondo, both ITF and WTF, are really adequate for children, they tend to train the areas where you are most undeveloped at a young age like coordination and balance and exloit the other areas where you are supossed to be at you pick when you are young, like speed and reflexes....

Here's a sample vid of TKD 1st beginner poomse (kata). Looks to be aimed at the athletic skills you have commented on.



KarateStylist

 

[KarateStylist]

for a five year old tkd is fine. gives fitness kicking ability whether or not you agree with the technique. and as he gets older give him a choice if he wants to change to something else.

Of course. But pretending that TKD is a 'childs' karate is shallow. Or that somehow Muay Thai is the place to go for real tough guys (Pleeese!), although I believe Muay Thai is especially well-suited for MMA.

I don't care for some of the stylist aspects of TKD. I think it is too sport-oriented, and so attracts the sports-minded.

Nonetheless, TKD trained to traditional karate standards has the potential to be very strong karate. Not that wimpy crap you see on Youtube K-1, MMA competitions where the TKD competitors simply throws prettily-formed, single kicks for points against full contact fighters, the TKD guy getting squashed.

The latter is what I mean about emphasis on some sport-point scoring version of 'karate.' All traditional karate proper is meant to have knockdown capability. All traditional karate has a battery of hand strikes. That includes TKD.

You might need to switch instructors or schools, if you want to take TKD to its potential.

If you want to change style, by all means. Muay Thai, as suggested by many commentors, is a great contrast to TKD.

Having said that, my 1st martial arts instructor started in TKD and went on to cross train in many other styles of traditonal martial arts. He could care less if he had to face a Muay Thai fighter in competition.

KarateStylist

 

[h_k_m]

Personally, I am not a fan of TKD either. Why?

It's very sports-karate oriented, at least what I've witnessed here in my locale.

TKD practitioners tend to punch and take on more of a boxing posture with their hands. Focus seems to be heavily on individual technique, not poomse, etc. Their footwork also tends to resemble boxers versus karate stances. TKD comes across as a mixture of boxing / karate--a flavor of kickboxing, if you will.
Moreover, they tend to promote sparring very soon in the curriculum; ideally in the more traditional programs, sparring should be de-emphasized relative to basics. Still, again though, most people seek out some kind of competitive angle for the martial arts and controlled-sparring is generally very popular around here.

Still, TKD is technically a traditional martial art. Since traditional martial arts are a developmental program, not a pure competition-centered activity, a bona-fide TKD school should provide exactly what you say you are after.

KarateStylist

Well, your comment is not really accurate, but it is probably a result of the big number of schools of TKD that you can find nowadays, some of those schools are probably closer to a Karate type of discipline, a more japanese one if you want.
Tae Kwon do is essentially Korean and was originally one discipline that for politic reasons ended up separating into two major streams: ITF or traditional TKD and WTF or "Olympic TKD" as it is widely known.
Now, both schools are really different from karate in that the type of movement taught is based on fluidity, flexibility and continuity of every motion. TKD is widely acknowledged as the martial art with the highest kicking technique development, setting it definitelly apart from Karate that typically promotes a rigidness that I found frankly unnatural. It's always baffling to see the Karate competitions with the fighters standing still in front of each other with all that solemnity.
If you check the open MA competitions you can find that all the 1st places are generally TKD guys. It just teaches a level of speed and explosiveness that karate doesn't.
Yes, it is very point oriented but full contact is always possible and KO's are very common in TKD competitions. Also, it will give a kid the tools to cross over to Muay Thai for example and have a much higher skill level than the average practitioner.
Finally, TKD WTF almost neglect entirely the use of hands whereas, in TKD ITF, hands are a essential part of sparring. Just wanted to go through a basic understanding of Tae Kown do as I know it can sound just like another couple of asian words thrown out there for the sake of getting gym memberships.

 

[Kokoroboy]

Hes very young and it's not a real dang sport... So it's fine

 

[Gregolian]

This response made the most sense. Young developing brains shouldn't be bashed. Getting caught in a submission seems to be much less traumatic than getting clipped hard.

VV

BJJ MAYBE but:

Same goes for wrestling.

 

[GoshiShun17]

Im not here to get into a debate but a wise man once told me if you want to know how tho throw a punch take up boxing and if you want to learn how to throw a kick properly take up tae kwon do....hope I spelled that right wouldnt want the grammar police hawking me down.

 

[Dayuum]

Isn't Judo/Karate the martial arts for kids?