Tae Kwon Do

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Wapping Tae Kwon-Do John Orwell Sports Centre, Tench St, Wapping E1W 2QD
07795 597882
Adults and children, all ages, all fitness levels, beginners welcome.

London TaeKwonDo Tel - 07944 801662

Hwarang Academy Tel - 020 8386 0547 Mob - 07941 081009

North London Tae Kwon Do Mob - 07850 567018
O-Regan Epicentre, 41 West Street, off Leytonstone High Road, E11 4LJ

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What is Tae Kwon Do?

Kicking is the key to Tae Kwon Do. The legs are the longest and strongest limb, which is why kicking dominates this aggressive martial art. Punches, open-handed strikes, blocks, sweeps and thrown also feature in the arsenal of the Tae Kwon Do practitioner.

Tae Kwon Do became an official Olympic medal sport in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics. The only other Olympic martial art is Judo. Britain's governing body is The British Taekwondo Council, and British Taekwondo is supported by UK Sport.

Britain's top talent and 2012 Olympic hopeful is 19 year old Aaron Cook from Manchester, who demonstrated supreme fighting spirit to fight on with a broken nose to claim victory at the European Taekwondo Championships in St Petersbury in May 2010. Aaron Cook now has his sights firmly set on Olympic gold at London 2012.

Tae Kwon Do originated in Korea, and it is the national sport of South Korea. Estimates of the number of practitioners worldwide range from 40 million to 70 million. From the 1950's to this day, Tae Kwon Do is used by the South Korean army as part of their training regime.

How did this martial art get its name? Tae means to strike or break with foot. Kwon means to strike or break with fist. And Do means method.

Rankings are divided into Junior and Senior. A Junior begins at 10th geup (white belt) and rises through the junior ranks to 1st geup (red belt with black stripes). The next challenge is to achieve a Senior rank, a black belt, which begins at 1st dan, up to 9th dan (also known as 1st degree black belt, rising to 9th degree black belt). Several years of training separate each degree of dan.

Tae Kwon Do gets you fit in many aspects - cardiovascular, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and crucially proprioception. Variously described as muscle sense, balance, co-ordination, mind-body connection, proprioception is the ability to sense where your body and its different parts are in time and space, and the further ability to position your body for greatest balance and co-ordination and centre of gravity.

Proprioception is a vital aspect of fitness as you enter old age, as it means the difference between being unsteady on your feet and vulnerable to falls and broken limbs and loss of independence, in contrast to a life of agility and independence right into old age.

London's ExCel will be the venue for the Taekwondo at the 2012 Olympics. The ExCel centre is in East London's Royal Victoria Dock, near London City Airport.