Taekwondo patterns

My little sister joined taekwondo lessons in her boarding school about last year, and right now her school club is preparing for the upcoming tournament somewhere there. She was picked for the pattern sections but she wanted to spar too. Well you can’t get everything you want, but here are some things about patterns that might interest you,

- you wont get hurt
- it’s not actually real fighting, since there are so many technicalities and rules (yes adik, you must use your feet most of the time), although it does help in a fight. But some people might mistake that ITF is like WTF or other more aggressive martial arts (especially girls, sorry, this was my observation in tournaments and practice back then), and that results in unnecessary pain for those who cant defend themselves really well (but you might win by default though).. the few times I sparred with girls, I had to defend my balls extra carefully (they hit low, which is actually a foul), and it wasn’t even supposed to be contact sparring*!)
- Then again, the rules might have changed. The rules here (in Russia) are harsher, but hey, they are aggressive people (so as not to offend any Russian that might happen to read this blog, I mean this comparatively, as Malays are generally more soft-spoken)
- In my opinion, patterns define the martial arts. When a student asks his master to teach him, he asks to be taught a pattern. Each level in a martial arts (I don’t know any martial arts without patterns..hmm..maybe they exist but I don’t know) has a different pattern with different sets of more difficult skills the higher you go.
- ITF Taekwondo has 24 patterns if I’m not mistaken. The patterns become more complex, in skills and number of movements. For example 1st dans have 3 patterns. One of them, kwang gae has 39 movements and some of its movements require balancing. Another pattern requires speed and another one gives some rare ‘soft’ blows not seen in other patterns. An example of a 2nd dan pattern, Eui Am , has 49 movement
- Patterns train the body and mind, since every breath, every move and timing is set, and so you must memorize them perfectly to finish the pattern.
Ok this is getting windy and maybe boring for those not interested.
Another question my little sister asked is how to do them better. Hmm... I don’t remember everything, but they’ll consider some points like correctness (movements, technique, steps, breathing, hand placement), stance (stable, correct, posture, ends at start point, wavelike motions), power (blow, speed, precision, stability), timing (rhythm, fast and forceful but clear movements, a slow in-between), and style (confidence, concentration, clothes, etc). I think it’s 5 or 10 points to consider before the judge give a mark from 1 to 10. I might be wrong in one of the points above (and miss another crucial point), but they are all taken into consideration.

Oh yeah, since I’m on the subject, and just coz i felt like it, here are the tenets of taekwondo :-
Courtesy
Integrity
Self control
Indomitable spirit

I guess I do miss my tkd lessons, hehe