“Fight! Fight! Do not stop kicking”, “Kick him hard! So hard to knock him down!”, “Hit him on the face, come on!”, “Oh my! That must be really painful”. Those are common things you hear when you are in a Taekwondo competition, thoughts which depict that this martial art is just a source of pain and a cock fight- like sport. Yes, Taekwondo has lot of fights and competitions but those are not the main essence and concern of the sport. Taekwondo is not just a sport, it’s so much more. It helps people to be physically fit, teaches self-discipline, and helps people to protect themselves in times of felony.
Taekwondo is a form of martial arts originated in Korea two thousand years ago. Moreover, Taekwondo is derived from the Korean words “Tae” meaning foot, “Kwon” meaning fist and “Do” meaning way of. When these three words are combined, Taekwondo “means the way of the foot and the fist”. You can see a lot of ways of the foot and the fist in so called sparring. Sparring is just like a street fight you see in a corner of a street but more formal. In a typical sparring of Taekwondo, you hit your opponent mostly by kicking at full speed with full power but before one could engage on that, he must be physically fit. Take note, Taekwondo requires a lot of stamina because players tend to constantly move around during a fight. There will be a lot of kicking and dodging of attacks from your opponent. Plus, the gears to be worn add up to the player’s weight making it difficult to move fast and by the time the match ends, he could be completely and utterly exhausted. If the players would just train hard, those could be prevented. Training is the reason why Taekwondo helps people to be physically fit because if not he couldn’t last a minute in a fight.
However, to train hard requires a lot of energy, effort, focus and time. For the training to bear fruit, one must exhibit self-discipline. There are times in our life when we don’t feel like doing anything and say things like, “bukas na lang” or “next time na lang”. Accept it or not, we Filipinos are very fond of that. If a player shows that attitude in Taekwondo training, then it’s better for him to quit and play chess or scrabble instead. Remember that if you want something, work hard for it. Have self-discipline. There are a lot of ways to show discipline in training. First, attend all the instructional sessions. This is where skills, techniques and physique are developed. Make sure to give time for these that is because days,
Taekwondo does not only confine inside gyms or fighting arenas. Players of these martial arts do not train just to showcase their skills but also protect themselves in times of felony. Nowadays, there are a lot of crimes happening in our surroundings. There are robberies, kidnappings, and worst rape. Would you just let criminals harm you and get the things they want from you? Of course not, right? If there could be ways to prevent those from happening, we’ll grab them. One way is training Taekwondo because in this sport, not only they it teaches proper ways to kick and be physically fit but also it teaches self defense. This is the essence of Taekwondo. If all would just learn Taekwondo then there’s no one in this world that could be abused.
Taekwondo is not just merely a sport. It helps us to be in good shape, develops our self-discipline and also aids us to prevent from any harm delivered by the criminals. All of these things brought to us by Taekwondo could be essential in order to survive in this world. It is not just a sport; it is a way to live life.
By: Edjel Fabian Teacher I | BNHS | Balanga, Bataan
