From Soul to Seoul 16

The latest poll, "Who is your favorite tul performer?” really got me thinking this morning. While I admire Ms. Naomi Prone, Mr. Jeroslaw Suska, and Mr. Hwang Su Il for their balance, speeds, near perfect stances, and use of ITF fundamentals like knee spring and sine wave, President Choi's tul are the embodiment of numerous decades of training and living the "do."

I remember the first time I met him in Houston, TX at an International Instructor Course. We were doing Yul-Gok Tul and for the first time I truly saw theory and execution put together. Although that was nearly six years ago, I still remember the power he generated when executing the back high side strike. He was fast, precise, and unstoppable once he began the technique. Taekwon-do at its best.

I was fortunate to see Ms. Naomi Prone perform Moon-Moo Tul at the ITF World Championships in 2004. She was every bit of impressive in person as she is on video. I think, however, she will be able to execute the tul with the same energy as President in time (as will the others).

As beautiful as the other three performers are, I believe we can learn most from watching President Choi for all the reasons above and more. I truly wish we could have videos of him performing the tul now in order to gain the most from it.

I think it is a shame that many of the masters do not video or audio tape their training methods or ideas in order for the entire ITF world to benefit from. I understand that they may feel their knowledge has been earned and in many ways they do not feel they should share it with their juniors. These reasons, however, may actually be inhibiting the intellectual growth and physical development of the art.

We all have had lessons we were taught at the beginning of our martial arts lives whose meanings changed as we progressed in skill and knowledge. Would it not be a good idea to make various masters' knowledge and experiences accessible to strengthen and expedite the learning and abilities of as many students possible? I believe websites like this one could be a huge and invaluable learning tool if it contained sections for dan essays and videos of important ITF events that were well organized, categorized, and maintained. This site was created to help us learn, and for me at least it was achieved that goal. On the other hand, certain changes to it could benefit the site exponentially.