The
Future of TaeKwonDo
I
seriously doubt that the inclusion in the Olympics will affect the future
of taekwondo as a main stream martial art. To see how much of a boost
being in the Olympics we only need to look to the hammer
throw, modern
pentathlon, or Greco-Roman
wrestling to see that inclusion in the Olympics is not a guarantee
of becoming a mass participation or more popular sport. Similarly those
past Olympic sports of croquet, golf, lacrosse, rugby, tug-of-war
or pelote
Basque did not, largely, sink into obscurity because they were dropped
from the games.
This is not to imply
anything about the skill, training, dedication, excellence, ... required
to compete in any sport at the world level. And frankly with 185 countries
capable of participating there's a good bet that taekwondo is in the
Olympics to stay. But in it's current state, it will never attract mass
appeal as a spectator sport (and sometimes shifts in popular appeal
or eye-appeal herald changes in participation) for the following reasons;
It involves skills
that most people don't have - your next door neighbour may have had
his thrill as running back on the local football team, but frankly the
only people he wanted to see kick over their heads were the cheerleaders.
The average guy
doesn't know what he's looking for in a high level sparring match --
get too many rules and he just gets confused.
The rules are strange
-- people in the land of 'Duke Wayne' are simply not going to go for
a full contact sport where you can't touch your opponent with your hands
-- and in the modern taekwondo punches score so seldom that what's the
point?
The Koreans will
dominate for a fair time to come:
The elite Korean
teams train on a full time basis with full government support (see Forrest
Chang's Comment) unlike western fighters who recieve little government/corporate
support.
Because being a
champion can bring big time status and money -- unlike many parts of
the world where the best athletic talent is siphoned off into the professional
sports teams.
Then the rest of
the world will start to catch up and become competitive like the Iranians
have.
But what about life
back at the local dojo? Harold 'Pelican' Smith has a good handle on
the generalities of What's
Right and Wrong with TaeKwonDo.
And for the mainstream
(moderated) view of the future, I'm afraid that once again W. Rhee really
has said it very well.
As time goes by
the local dojo will be returning to a more traditional form of martial
art. On a corporate level you can see that in the co-operative joining
of the organizations of Edward Sell (US
Chung Do Kwan Association - and highest ranking non-oriental WTF)
and John Pellegrini (Combat
Hapkido) to broaden their curriculum.
One of the most
common schools opening today offer either a master instructor with ranking
in many arts or the coming together of instructors from diverse martial
arts backgrounds under one roof.
The traditional
schools are still offering a well rounded cirriculum.
Certainly there
will continue to be schools that are primarily tournament/fighting oriented
- but the athletic talent and dedication required to perform at the
top level of any athletic endevour will keep these, as they are today,
at a minimum.
Herb
Perez (Olympic Gold Medalist) believes that the popularity of Olympic
style competition will
not increase. In this article he reasons that very few of the martial
arts students in any club are really interested in high level competition.
Others have suggested that regional training centres like those in Korea
for TaeKwonDo -- and for various elite sports in other parts of the
world may be the way to go to meet the needs of the select few competitive
elite athletes.
Generally TaeKwonDo
will continue to have a healthy share of the martial arts market. Even
people who think that just kicking is illogical love the look, the thrill,
and the artistry of the high and fancy kicks.
And even with the semi-contact rules that were in place for the old
ITF taekwondo and the many areas that still use this model the taekwondo
sparring style has a lot more appeal simply because, perhaps due to
its really short history and willingness to evolve and adapt, a more
'natural' style that will continue to be appealing.
Unfortunately the
general public will still be in a caveat emptor mode. TaeKwonDo
has been growing like a house on fire and for any art that tends to
a time when the pretenders come out of the closet - dojos that open
and close overnight, poorly qualified/self-aggrandizing 'masters', poor
standards that leave the student in the learch - but it's always been
that way.
Then there is the
impact of modern social trends on the future of the martial arts. Where
do the martial arts as a whole stack up? Look
here. How do I think the increasing trend towards sendentary living
and increases obesity will affect the popularity of the martial arts?
Look here.
And
of course the bottom line tends to hinge on two factors:
1) the bread and
butter of most commercial dojos rests on attracting and retaining children.
- Because there aren't enough adults out there that want to work quite
that hard
- Because most dojos are sole proprieter operations -- they don't have
the financial resources, the amenities, or the variety offered by the
commercial health clubsE
- Because (personal prejudice) most adults would like continue to do
what they did as children and few have an active interest in learning
completely new skill sets
2) the personality of the master (who is willing to learn the business
skills).
All the 'masters' or successful dojo owners I've met have a quality
that we may as well call 'charisma' -- an ability to inspire, cajole,
bully, threaten, lead, trick, coach, befriend, or flatter their students
into being better than they thought they could be. In return they get
a unique brand of loyalty, a willingness to pitch in for the greater
good, and ultimately a successful school that produces (however you
wish to define it) successful martial artists. And the weird thing is
I've seen this quality in people who are obviously highly skillful martial
artists -- I mean they have the moves and they look gooooood!!
But I've also seen this quality work for people who, in terms of their
personal skills, could best be described as adequate -- in their club
everyone from blue belt on up looks better than they do - but they're
still the master, in their hearts they have a profound belief in the
value of what they're doing -- and their students think they're wonderful.
