Totally Tae Kwon Do

Because I was in South Africa over February with limited access to the Internet I could not post the link to the February 2011 edition (Issue 24) of Totally Tae Kwon Do in which I contributed the piece on "Martial Technique, Martial Art and Martial Way" (p. 23) based on an earlier post on this blog, entitled Moosool, Mooye and Moodo.

Issue 25 of Totally Tae Kwon Do, published at the beginning of March, contains my contribution "Prearranged Sparring: Definition, Purpose and Value" (p. 53) also based on an earlier post from this blog. I believe that this particular essay is quite important in our current era where practises in traditional martial arts are often misunderstood and ridiculed in the light of the increasing popularity of combat sports, i.e. mixed martial arts.The article also features photos of students from The Way Martial Arts Academy of Seoul where I teach ITF Taekwon-Do in South Korea. (Thanks guys! I appreciate your patience with all my photo shoots!)

Issues 24 and 25 are special for another reason as well; they contain other South African contributions. Sabeomnim Tristian Vardy, the vice-president of the SA-ITF, wrote a three part series on "The Physiological Responses of Children to Exercise," with specific suggestions to Taekwon-Do instructors that teaches children. I edited the series when we published it in our The Sidekick eZine. Part three will be featured in next month's issue (#26) of Totally Tae Kwon Do.

Other interesting articles from Issue 25 are Jason Ainley's "Offensive and Defensive Entry Techniques" (p. 37) and Roger Haines' "12 Axe Kicks of Tang-Soo-Do and Tae-Kwon-Do" (59).