So, you’re interested in getting your kid into Taekwondo. If I had to guess, one of the things that’s influencing this decision is that you want your kid to have discipline, confidence and some self-defense skills. Maybe you’re hoping to change their behavior a little bit.
I lived in South Korea for 13 years and had my child enrolled in Taekwondo when I lived there. Now I own a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) gym and want to share why I would never put my kid into Taekwondo ever again. I think that Taekwondo, like any sport, could instill some amount of discipline and confidence but ultimately, it doesn’t help you in a real-life self-defense scenario. There are better options.
When I asked my daughter, who now trains BJJ regularly at my gym, to compare Taekwondo and BJJ, her answers really surprised me. She said that when she was training Taekwondo in South Korea, she was basically just learning how to dance. That they were practicing forms and techniques but none of it felt useful. That they just gave away belts and, by extension, the belts didn’t have any particular merit. That it didn’t relate to one’s ability to perform against another person competitively. In contrast, what she likes about BJJ is the relevance to a real-life self-defense scenario and that the belts are based on merit; you must earn each promotion. She now feels confident in her ability to protect herself, something she said she never had when training Taekwondo.
For these reasons, I simply would never again put my kid into a Taekwondo program.
There’s a running joke about Taekwondo in South Korea that all Korean males are Taekwondo black belts. When this is brought up over drinks with natives, you may first think that it’s in relation to military service, allowing much of the country to have a baseline ability to defend themselves. But if you share this with them, they all laugh. On probing further, you’ll find that none of them believe that their Taekwondo ability translates to self-defense – it’s largely seen as a performance sport for showcase in competitions like the Olympics.
Taekwondo may have once been useful, but it’s modern day counterpart is far different from it’s origin. It has changed into a sport for appearances, one that wouldn’t help to survive a dangerous encounter.
Alternatively, at my gym I teach BJJ and Kickboxing. The curriculum is designed specifically to deal with someone bigger, stronger, and faster than you who is trying to do you harm.
I highly recommend for you and your children to come in to try out BJJ, and we offer a free trial class for you to do so!