by Ian Black

Created on: February 27, 2009   Last Updated: March 02, 2009

The rules of Taekwon-Do are changing constantly. Previously, students were able to attend two seminars a year, during the first part of the year, in order to remain in the grading system. Now, however, because of politics, you still need to attend two seminars, but the second needs to be after at least six months. So, if you went to a Taekwon-Do seminar in February, you would then need to participate in an August, or September seminar.

What are Seminars?

Seminars are places where students from different Taekwon-Do schools come together, to learn from the superior black belt masters of the Korean self-defence art. Here, you will be shown things that your own Instructor may not have taught you. You will be taught how to be keep your movements fluent, how to properly use the "sine wave" movement; which is basically teaching a student how to elevate power, speed, and momentum into your movements, when you are carrying out your patterns. For those that do not know the meaning of a pattern, this means: "Briefly, a pattern in Taekwon-Do is a series of offensive and defensive movements against one or more imaginary opponents."

Seminars can be, for new practioners of the Art, very intimidating, and nerve-racking. In order to get over the sense of tension and nervousness, just think of it as a normal class. The Seminar will last for the duration of about two hours, running you through anything and everything relating to either your own patterns, theory questions, semi-free sparring; two-step sparring, etc. If you are wanting to be promoted to a higher rank, you will have to attend two of these Seminars, as long as they have been six months apart from the previous. However, you are allowed to attend more than two, if the student wishes to, willingly.

How to be promoted?

To be eligible for promotion in Taekwon-Do, a student will have to be able to memorize certain theological questions. This can be from naming certain hand parts in Korean (for beginners, English is perfectly acceptible), but for superior students, you will be expected to know the Korean terminology, too. At Yellow belt, as you progress onto the next level, you will be required to break a plastic board. For this, naming and identifying the part of your foot and what kick you are performing is also required. The more theory you have memorized and learned at home will show your Instructor your enthusiasm and determination to do well in Taekwon-Do. You may also be asked to identify parts of your pattern movements

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