The biomechanical disparity that exists among institutions claiming to teach General Choi’s Taekwon-Do leads to the omission of elements in the execution of patterns or Tul. The different courses taught on the subject have contributed to emphasizing this difference. The mind of the performer is fundamentally focused on implementing small details established by the entity sponsoring the event, which only feeds the pretension of differentiation.

Remember that movements should be executed realistically, beyond always maintaining the correct posture and proper stance, but fundamentally rigidity should be absent. Realism in execution and the absence of stiffness seem to have disappeared as objectives to achieve, turning the performer into a robot obsessed with the use of physical tension, which is impractical in the case of a confrontation.

Tensing or relaxing the muscles at the appropriate time, as well as accelerating or decelerating movement, should be present in each execution. In most patterns competitions, this condition is absent. The obsession with fulfilling the details pointed out in the courses has led them to execute impractical movements.

Judges have apparently been trained to reward rigidity, lack of naturalness, and the height of kicks executed in an exhibitionist manner, to the point that on more than one occasion, the competitor makes it clear that they do not understand the practical use of one or another technique.

Maintaining the verticality of the spinal column (except in the exceptions marked by its creator) is one thing, but excessive tension in the muscles of the neck and shoulders in a completely fictitious and impractical posture is another. The number of national and international sports events produced by each and every entity is enormous, thus losing the relevance of the territorial scope included in the contest (international, continental, national, or neighborhood).

The seminars taught by the founder of the discipline were many and offered in most of the countries that were members at the time. These were filmed and leave no doubt about the correct way in which patterns should be executed. But of course, the governing entity was only one in contrast to the potpourri that overwhelms us today and produces the different deficiencies pointed out.

Many do not take into account, either for convenience or ignorance that each of the patterns or Tul begins and ends in the same exact place, a detail that marks the accuracy of the performer and the demanding work required to achieve this objective.

The aforementioned need a review by the entities that saturate the market and it must necessarily be taken into account to solve the issues pointed out. It is essential to consider training and modifying the information given to those who serve as judges and then providing those parameters to the competitors. It would be useless to train the performers properly, with the enormous personal effort that this demands, without the proper preparation of those who must judge the performance of that effort in a competition. Needless to say, on more than one occasion, people with correct performance are seen competing but not awarded by judges whose information is conditioned according to the directives of the entity in which they belong. Inadequate information often promotes injustice.

As a detail that seems not to be taken into account, starting and finishing in the same exact place is included in the score given to the diagram, among other concepts to be taken into account by the judging panel. If the competitor does not comply with this part, points will be deducted in that item that is included; of course, this will apply if the judges have been adequately trained.

SGM Ricardo Desimone

To be aware read again the previous notes

After repeating until exhaustion that there are more than 47 entities that use the same acronym to survive and develop their activities, I conclude that all of them utilize it as a surviving method to make use of the goose that lays the golden eggs. This is the worst damage that they can do to the legacy of the discipline’s Founder.

“Divide and conquer” is the old saying. Today the reign of Olympic Taekwondo faces no challenge due to the internal division of the art created by Gral. Choi Hong Hi on April 1955.

In the countless times that I’ve acted as his translator in interviews and seminars, General Choi didn’t

lose the opportunity to emphasize that in contrast to other martial arts, his was unique. The same thing was applied all around the world. Verticality was not only a hierarchical order but also a knowledge condition. Such an assertion was understandable because his lecture matches his biomechanical procedure.

As a top example everybody had the Founder’s performances in person.

Entities who call themselves his representatives were the ones who damaged that unity and forced its atomization to say “here I am.”

Those who didn’t support him in hard times, being outside of official entities recognized by him, today are leaders of entities who call themselves his representatives.

His biomechanical speech was unique and today it is distorted by people who in those times weren’t mentioned for their knowledge in that area. These are the people who produced the disparity that is overwhelming us.

What to do with this discouraging panorama? Well, unify a sole performance, protocol and sportive speech.

We have to rescue the General Choi’s original proposal: Taekwon-Do is a martial art with a sportive area and not vice versa as it is today.

We seriously disagreed with the WTF’s behavior and we’ve ended up doing the same thing.

It is easier to carry out a unification arrangement of General Choi’s Taekwon-Do than to try to merge with those who have exhaustively demonstrated their wish not to do so.

With this internal division, it is possible that Olympic Taekwondo is pleasantly carrying out their activities without any pressure because with which of the 48 entities that claim to be a Gral. Choi’s representatives would they speak?

I think that there is enough capacity, experience and hierarchies with the required conditions to try unifying under a unique criterion.

The difficulty is to accept that unification it obstructed not for technical reasons but for economic and political motives.

Everyone wrings their hands and proclaims how wonderful a single Taekwon-Do with an Olympic wing would be, until it is confirmed they have to carry it out. Once they recognize what each one would lose economically, politically and in their power positions, they put the unifying dreams back in a drawer.

With this undeniable reality that shelters us, there are elements that are necessary to remember to avoid confusion, misunderstandings and false expectations in the hands of mischievous opportunists:

1. a) There is no written legacy that determines with name and surname an heir of the martial art called Taekwon-Do.
2. b) In the memoirs of the Founder of the discipline it is established in writing that humanity is the inheritor of his creation and not any particular person, country or regime.
3. c) The only real heir is the practitioner, in whose hands lies the construction of the entity that contains the discipline as it was devised by its creator without capricious modifications.

Fully understanding what has been said allows us to clearly see the reality that surrounds us.

For 29 years (1973 to 2002) the founder of the discipline fought tooth and nail to keep his creation in one piece and prove that its name and only its name had been usurped. After his passing, a gradual but tenacious atomization began that did not need the old political adversary to destroy his work; this occurred at the hands of economic and personal ambitions. Those who claim to be its defenders are precisely its destroyers. In short, it is the triumph of denial

SGM Ricardo Desimone

to be awarded read again the previous notes.

Historical revisionism becomes imperative to understand the reality that surrounds us. The only source of real training for more than half of Taekwon-Do’s existence and founded by General Choi Hong Hi was the Instructor.

This direct relationship avoided to feed doubts and sustain a vertical martial system without double speeches. From the literary point of view, the appearance of the book published by the Founder of the discipline contributed to corroborate the information received from the Instructor. Many students were left with only what they received from the instructor and did not consult the literature.

The appearance of national and international championships allowed an exchange of experiences with different teaching methodologies at a global level that modified over time the previous system used. However, it should be clarified that even so all pedagogical systems had a strong dependence on the martial art and its foundation in self-defense.

The main difference consisted in the interpretation given to the techniques that were included in patterns (tul). At that time and due the non-proliferation of high grades only 15 or 16 were taught. Although the development of these was subject to the unique guide that feeds the 24 patterns, the most advanced were not executed due to the lack of degrees that demanded their development.  The international sports confrontation brought with it a discrepancy in the biomechanics of the movements executed in patterns’ competition, putting the system on alert about which was the right way to perform them.

The word of the direct Instructor began to find questions that could hardly be answered due to a criterion that presented certain differences at the international level. General Choi, who at that time had to solve the systematic usurpation of his art, had to explain the biomechanical discrepancy existing in international events. He entrusted on several occasions to Korean Masters in the task of combining reasons in the countries members to achieve unification of technical interpretation. While this helped in certain respects, on many occasions it also contributed to increasing the diversity of criteria. In these circumstances we reached to the end of the 80’s

This reality brought with it the increasingly need to unify an interpretation about the biomechanical criteria to be globally used without double definitions. It is evident that the only person for such a task was the founder of the discipline himself, who began to develop Taekwon-Do seminars in no uncertain terms. His 15-volume Encyclopedia, which photographically detailed the execution of the movements, helped to support the task.

According to dictionary, a seminar is a class or session where the source of knowledge or highest authority of the subject deal with the disciples meets, to carry out a research work or unify criteria on a certain topic. In the case at hand, General Choi instructed on the correct execution of each technique that make up the Art founded by him, many of which are included in the 24 patterns that compose it. The detailed development of each of the movements allowed during the 90’s to clear doubts worldwide about the correct execution and practical usefulness of these, making more equitable competition between the countries that made up the international entity presided by him.

At no time did General Choi spoke about the sporting facet and less about how to carry out the combative aspect. The tactical and strategic spectrum that feeds this facet is so broad that teaching classes on the subject was considered by the Founder himself as a lack of experience. He thought that it doesn’t contribute to the students or teachers evolution. He proposed that each teaching place dictates it own system, whose concepts should be individual indications and not general terms as usually is wrongly doing because each person is different.

Until the unification of technical criteria in hands of General Choi  that were called seminars due to the direct pedagogical relationship with the highest authority in the subject, what was given by the other Korean instructors delegated by him, were cataloged as special training courses. This concept is also valid today in the face of the proliferation of a teaching staff from different nationalities and grades.

To be called seminar, the source of information must be the top of the subject to avoid any doubt about its interpretation. In an institution seriously constituted, a single voice elected and agreed upon by the Council of Masters may dictate seminars.  In this context, giving seminars without holding the highest degree of information or without exercising as the technical authority is simply a daring of hierarchies that have not understood the place they occupy. Degree and knowledge should go hand in hand, but at present this is not the case. These high grades give only one training class where they talk about kicking and punching in a sport confrontation.

All meetings dealing with the combative aspects, not advised by the founder himself, have the character of special classes only.  But of course, it is very difficult to collect the cost that can be asked for a seminar when what is giving is only a training class.

SGM Ricardo Desimone  

To be aware read again the previous notes

Long ago, where only class attendance was important to avoid the missing practice; The Instructor figure was a highly respected place. They were so few that on many occasions they should be substituted by the most advanced student present there to cover them in emergencies or other personal troubles.

The atmosphere was strictly martial and the sporting side non-existent. Time changed that distant reality turning that martial environment with undeniable personal introspection, into one almost exclusively for sportive goals. Those who are not included in this target perhaps because they’re not interested, well … they … must adapt to work as filler.

The shortage of instructors in the first years of the activity has been followed by the profusion of people who are dedicated to teach the art according to the current circumstances and demands. However, this change in objectives has not prevented the orthodox evaluation of the adepts from continuing.

These are regulated by practice times to meet and theory and practical student’s evolution, whose favorable result will be exhibited with a new color on their belts if it is a Gup or with a change of number and design of the dobok if black belts we were talking about. In both cases and unlike that distant time, the certification of the promotion is not long in coming. The process that it is not so much different with those used in the past, has more complex institutional and organizational details than then.

The testing boards uphold a diagram that has been internationalized and allows students and Instructors to enjoy a pre-established order and recognition of the effort done. Obviously, this whole global system is supported by the fees that the students will pay to justify the time invested in the evaluation of the current army of students.  They must inexorably be scrutinized in order to grant the deserved new step in their evolution.

The Assistant Instructor (1st to 3rd Dan) and once fulfilled the requirements imposed by the system will access in his last step (3^rd Dan), to the grade of 4th Dan.  This place and unlike previous promotions, will allow them to become in Instructors if they are dedicated to teach. With the completion of a course and an administrative procedure, they will access the coveted place of International Instructors. This status will allow them to chair their own testing boards and promote students outside and within their country of residence up to half their rank (a 4th Dan will be able to promote up to 2nd Dan and so on). From then on their evolution as an Instructor can turn them over the years into Masters or Grand Masters of Art.

Sometimes the place occupied by the latter is often misinterpreted. These places are directly related to the perseverance dedicated to the pedagogical task and to promote Instructors and schools’ foundations.

There are those who abandon their regular pedagogical career and their direct contact with the students to dedicate in adding other’s instructors or their assistants, becoming without being, a kind of «distributor or godfather» of art.

This procedure, which is not new, has allowed the spurious commercialization of art and the firm distrust in its institutionalization. The instant consequence was the atomization of the international governing body, which occurred in the immediate aftermath of the death of its Founder and President, Gen. Choi Hong Hi.

The once respected figure of the instructor has been blurred by the constant passage from one entity to another, from one Master to another. This rattle and the lack of institutional formality carry on the coming and going of the students as a bundle of non consulted hostages that are used as a currency of exchange when negotiating utilities.

Imitation and repetition is the form that a disciple must take in front of the teachings. That is why a Master is committed to showing what he is teaching. If this incontrovertible fact does not occur because the master no longer has a regular pedagogical relationship with the students except on random occasions, an inevitable question arises: who is then the one who really teaches the student?

The Instructor lives on monthly dues he collects from his students and the administrative work involved in evaluating them and the respective certifications that must be issued. And the one who has abandoned the regular condition of teaching, how does he do it?

In a conversation out of the record, a current «grand master» who no longer has a regular teaching relation with the students, answered that question with: well… you know….fishing Instructors.

SGM Ricardo Desimone

To be aware read the previous notes 

One of the details that were usually pointed out decades ago to differentiate the Taekwon-Do founded and developed by Gen. Choi Hong Hi and the now called Olympic Taekwondo, was the stubbornness of the latter emphasizing that the activity was a sport.

Among other things, this strategy was used to access the Olympics, but once this goal was achieved, they began to cast it as a martial art too.

At that time, all activity of the body called WTF was to organize competitions. In order to feed that destiny, the classes were oriented exclusively to the sporting aspect, ignoring or not paying attention to those who did not have aptitude for that field.

On the other side of the coin called Taekwon-Do was the art devised by Gen. Choi whose classes were oriented to teach the martial discipline as it was conceived by him as its founder. In this martial development was included the sporting aspect but in such conditions that it could be carried out without interfering with the development originally planned. The emphasis placed on the pedagogical system that was disseminated throughout the world equally by the hand of its creator throughout seminars and in its Masters and Instructors authorized in the daily classes, allowed to create a great difference between Taekwon-Do and Taekwondo.

«Let’s play in the woods now the wolf is gone”, reads a phrase from a well-known children’s story.

Faced with the physical disappearance of the General, the pedagogical system designed by him began to blur. That sporting area that was included in the activity’s schema to be utilized by those who had already developed tools to act it pushed to the side the martial aspect to predominate in the new pedagogical system. It was not long before the psychic change and the new way of thinking was more of a sport than martial, to the point that everything that was not related to the competition is looked from the sidelines. The knowledge of the art for self-defense is topics to be dealt with sporadically, more out of obligation than conviction. This new way of proceeding entails a new way of thinking that over look the Do and the physical knowledge necessary for self-defense and with an attitude of total lack of concern. Participating in every tournament is part of the ritual, no matter if it is municipal or national. The medal or trophy has become the target to be achieved.  No one notices that if they name him national champion it is only from the institution that sponsors the event. It cannot be completely national because there are countless institutions that also propose this. As far as the continental, Pan American and world champions, the same thing happens even if it is not said. With the diversity of entities there are the diversity of rules for the competition and when this happens the champion of one organization may not be it in the other, since the regulations that govern the competition may have changed. This shows that the head of the practitioner has a perspective called triumphalism whose only destiny is a prize coined in illusions. In other words, triumphalism has come to life and the martial art is agonizing. Triumphalism brings with it an unequivocal way of thinking and the pursuing of goals. When you win a championship you start dreaming of higher estates. If what has been achieved is national, the next one must be continental and if this is achieved, the one that follows is worldwide. The idea of I THE INVINCIBLE, THE BEST, would begin to be devised for those who were able get to his point.

It is curious, one do not process self-defense like that, since saving one skin is the only triumph sought. For those who think “I THE INVINCIBLE, I THE BEST”, it is necessary to remind them that beyond the great sports champions that undoubtedly exist and have been, especially when there was only one Taekwon-Do, that the best has always been Kronos. There are many that have tried to strip him of its privileged place but have not succeeded. It is undefeated in all categories and in all institutions. It is more; his reign encompasses all races and all fighting systems. If you think it’s not, you just have to challenge him.

SGM Ricardo Desimone

To be aware read again the previous notes

After having contributed for many years to the diffusion of the Art called Taekwon-Do through demonstrations at the beginning of this discipline and as an Instructor later, it is very difficult to digest the current situation that surrounds us in the global development of the activity. In the late 60’s and early 70’s it was a constant to persuade other martial disciplines that tried fiercely to prevent the development of Taekwon-Do and to be considered one more among the martial arts that by then were already established.

Fortunately that current of thinking changed thanks to the effort of the Instructors who as Western pioneers accompanied the Koreans envoy by Gen. Choi Hong Hi, Founder of Taekwon-Do and President of the only federative entity that by those times internationally governed their destinies. In those times the art was in its formative years all over the world and the number of countries supporting its growth was not so large. However and due of the political attacks that occurred in South Korea (then birthplace and seat of the international federation that governed it), this institution and its president and founder had to go into exile in Canada. The other part of Korea (North Korea) was not among the countries that made up this federative movement because it was, as it is at present, a closed political regime with an almost non-existent relationship with the rest of the world.

On 1981 and also for political reasons General Choi visited that country. In that year and after an agreement, he sends Instructors to begin the development of the discipline there and then be able to incorporate it into the international context of countries member. At that time, the federation already had Western Instructors in the 4th, 5th and 6th Dan who assumed the responsibility of organizing national institutions to cover the desertions of the Korean instructors. These Koreans originally sent by the General became part of a new world entity dependent on the South Korea’s government.

Gen. Choi sent Instructors or new Masters whenever any country presented the need to straighten out misunderstandings among the nationals of the countries member. This happened until some of these envoys attempted to undermine the Founder’s leadership. This fact determined that Gen. Choi decided to put an end to political and biomechanical discrepancies by traveling in person throughout the globe. With seminars for International Instructor given by him, he dealt with unifying the manipulated biomechanical criterion and ordered the political imbalance produced in different countries of the world.

In countless radio, written and television interviews and among the many anecdotes that were disseminated journalistically, always and as a litany he repeated: «Taekwon-Do is not a sport, it is a martial art. This art does not depend on any country or any regime, it belongs to the humanity. It has been created for humanity and without restrictions. No one can or should try to take ownership of it. They have already tried and only managed to make us bigger and stronger. Wanting to appropriate it responds only to two motivations: 1) political management (using art to influence internationally on the people where otherwise they could not do it) and 2) by particular economical ambitions. Both actions have already been attempted and I have personally opposed it, defusing the try and managing to maintain the freedom of Taekwon-Do over all attempts.»

His memoirs, his encyclopedia and filmed interviews, give an account of what has been aforementioned said.

I fear to be repetitive but I have been his translator in countless interviews and seminars for many years and I have translated his condensed encyclopedia into Spanish, therefore I can attest that all said here is true. I believe that if any particular country tries to take over Taekwon-Do it does so for the reasons rejected and made explicit above by the Founder. If were a person who was doing it, I wouldn’t doubt that it is for economic reasons exclusively. Any other explanation they want to give to this usurpation would be a gross lie to be able to carry it out.

A fierce opposition to the subtraction of art is the only possibility of maintaining this discipline as it was conceived. In some other country there was an attempt to prohibit practitioners from using the design of the dobok that General Choi approved for the practice, however, what was achieved by those who tried that shameful action was that they were marginalized by all practitioners. It is necessary to remember that the only owner of Taekwon-Do is the practitioner.

SGM Ricardo Desimone

To be aware read again the previous notes

According to the dictionary, loyalty is also synonymous of fidelity, which is considered a virtue born from respect for the trust that one person places in another. Therefore, fidelity is related to an unconditional trust towards a person, while loyalty is the unrestricted support to a cause. In other words, you are loyal to a cause, while you are faithful to someone.

In the case of our activity, it would be to be loyal to Taekwon-Do and faithful to who teaches us this art.

The two concepts are so closely related that it is difficult to think about them separately.

However, current circumstances compel us to seriously reconsider such concepts.

Starting with this discipline, which it is not a cause, loyalty is only possible to the art itself and not to the entity that claims to teach it. There is so much corporative and biomechanical diversity under the same institutional name, that it is impossible to be loyal to the name of the entity.

This fact brings the tacit permissiveness of an institutional change without a feeling of transgression.

Although it is not established with this connotation, the actions in this direction of a large quantity of people, confirm this fact.

The interesting thing about this transgressor action is that this institutional change has a direct identification with the black belts and not with Gups or color belts. Apparently the latter keeps intact their belief in the definition of loyalty and fidelity. Then, is the black belt the passport to transgression?

Although fidelity is closely related to an unconditional trust to a person, in this case the Instructor (to whom we have granted the place of knowledge), he also hopes to be recognized, among other things, with the unconditional follow-up of his teachings.

When this doesn’t happen, the feeling of displeasure is so big and irreversible that it becomes inexcusable.

The concepts of loyalty and fidelity run together but the present procedures have separated them.

Being loyal to an institution requires that it be unique. Unfortunately this is absent these days, especially for those of us who have had the privilege of belonging to that concept of unity from the beginning of the international development of the art.

The current circumstances and events between entities that carelessly use the same name bring the detachment and lack of institutional belonging.

This behavior suggests that loyalty is only towards a cardboard that recognizes the person at one level or another, regardless of if the next will be obtained in the same place or in a different one in hands of another person. This attitude intrinsically bears the feeling that knowledge can be easily purchased, as if this barbarism were true, in a course or a seminar.

Something is remarkable: many people who changed several teachers and entities, the only thing they have modified is their degree, but their shortcomings are the same as that was at the beginning of their institutional changes.

The curious thing is the new god called «training to fight», doesn’t matter if it matches with what was learned in countless courses or not, because it is totally fashionable to add other combative activities as a homemade MMA style.

Therefore, loyalty is either obsolete or a thing from the past.

Unfortunately fidelity has followed the same path and it apparently is an old and unusual feeling.

Could be possible to disseminate responsibilities everywhere for the inadequate and transgressor handling of these essential and foundational concepts; however introspection or looking inside of our own self, is the only possible way to proceed, of course if you have the capability to feel guilty, otherwise don’t lose your time, it would be a vain exercise.

Have competition and triumphalism taken the martial art over?

Although both concepts (loyalty and fidelity) are tacitly included in the Tenets of the art, it is important to keep them in mind when these are enumerated, since their inadequate handling has produced a large part of the problems that affect to all and every one of the entities that sponsor Taekwon-Do

SGM Ricardo Desimone

To be awarded read again the previous notes

On this day, a new entity that also claims to be the federation created by the Founder of the Art, General Choi Hong Hi, has not been born until now. Obviously none is.

Most are just small groups with little inventiveness for the naming and are dedicated to copying the three letters that until now have worked magically, also economically. Some of them have not added any acronym or word to the federative description like the others; it does not mean in any way that they do not belong to the atomizing group. The explanation is very simple for those who want to identify it.

There is no document that contains the legacy in writing, any group that wishes to call itself as the General called his administrative system can do so.

In previous years there was a judicial dispute in Vienna-Austria that involved two parties that claimed the patronage of the name that General Choi used for his administration. Of course, at that time the atomization had not begun to make wave, and the people waiting to take advantage of the situation had not yet discovered the possibility of the free use of the acronym.

In the times that followed the death of the Founder of the discipline, the tug of war was (for most), due to the management of a federative entity. However, the real dispute was over the possession of the property where that entity had its base (Vienna-Austria). In order to own the property, it was necessary to be called with the federative name registered by Choi Hong Hi. Years of sterile dispute only produced an unnecessary economic expenditure that had its end point in an out-of-court settlement between the parties in conflict.

One continued to function from the house of Vienna in Austria and the other from another part of Europe, without either swallowing the other, in other words, both kept their members. Neither of the parties in conflict judicially won possession of the name, therefore both continued to use it.

Among the other groups there are also those who do not fully understand that legally a federative system cannot be inherited. A federation is a management system that periodically requires the vote of its members to renew administrative positions.

No legal document has been released to the contrary.

From then on, and as if the starting shot had been fired, there was the incessant birth of new entities all called the same but with details that differentiate them from each other (added letters and names), similar but not the same uniforms, different sports rules and a plethora of details that allow them to be easily identified.

Unfortunately, the real federation disappeared with its Founder on June 2002.

There are details that must necessarily be revealed so that no one is deceived and that everyone can belong where they please. I have described many of these details in previous notes; however I consider it necessary to mention them again.

Gen. Choi Hong Hi, founder of the Martial Art called Taekwon-Do, cited as a litany in all seminar dictated by him or interview he was summoned, that his creation did not belong to any particular country and so he left it in written in his literature (Books, Encyclopedia and in his memoirs).  He used to say that this was his legacy to humanity free of all religion and race.

The biomechanics of the movements that feed his work is one and not two. In his hands, the evolution of his work was constant until his death, from then on any modification belongs to the daring delusion of some «masters» who have dedicated themselves in recent years to being more papist than the Pope.

All the entities that use the acronym created by him and that is only the abbreviation of an administrative system and not a style, have made capricious modifications without support or practical application.

As a translator of his condensed encyclopedia into Spanish (version 1995), assisting him in more than 10 seminars for International Instructor and translating countless reports (written, radio and television), I attest that what I’ve  received from him as my direct Instructor and Master, responds strictly to what has been described.  Therefore, if in some remote opportunity serious efforts were made to unite the factions divided since 1973, among the details to be taken into consideration the following inclusions should be present: the biomechanics of the movements to be used, the clothing that will be worn from since then, the sports rules that will govern the competitions, the recognition of what has been done up to that moment by both parties and of course the desire of the person who founded it that his Art maintain its freedom without dependence on any country or regime.

Obviously, a new administration will have to be established with a central headquarters in an agreed –upon location.

Now, in the hypothetical case of this ephemeral merger and as long as the differences noted can be resolved, the problem would lie in the growing atomization existing in Taekwon-Do founded, developed and systematized by General Choi Hong Hi.

None of the currently atomized parties would have the mandate or consent of the others to represent them in the negotiation with Olympic Taekwondo without a prior merger between them.

Because if any of the parties that today atomized the Taekwon-Do of General Choi Hong Hi wanted to play that role, it would be a minority group that would be leaving out the majority of the practitioners that make up those other groups and who were never granted that role.  Everyone has to be vigilant and not allow this kind of segregationist and fundamentally dishonest transaction.

SGM Ricardo Desimone

To be aware read again the previous notes

Too much has been said about the different biomechanical used in the many entities that claim to teach Taekwon-Do founded, developed and systematized by Gen. Choi Hong Hi.

Is it a way used by all organizations to establish a particular characteristic to differentiate between each other or simply it is an ignorance of what the founder intended?  I’m prone to think that are both. By first, unknowing the parameters proposed to incorporate the right knowledge, leads to execute the movements with erroneous biomechanics. But take care, because later they exploit these diversities as a particular trademark.

I always repeat a Gral Choi’s saying that paints the circumstance very clearly: «Taekwon-Do is very easy if you know how to do it, otherwise it is very difficult”. This leads me to remember that on one occasion and watching the performing in a patterns’ competition, I remark that this or that movement had been explained several times, however they were being wrongly executed yet. One of the Masters present there (today GM), told me: «don’t worry, that’s better for me, I need it to be so to continue justifying my place». Beyond the unscrupulous of the remark, it contrasts with what was the Founder’s intention, who took great care to teach and explain in detail the composition of the basic in order to reach easily the advanced. He repeated and showed tirelessly with his own body the same technique, because he really wanted those present there to learn. One by one and in details is the right pedagogical method. The human being needs to digest what he is receiving informatively to be able to incorporate it and that requires repetition and detail. If somebody is “teaching” several movements at a time, he wants that you don’t learn any of them in the right way.

If the person does not understand the basics of biomechanics, everything he tries to build afterwards will not only be very difficult but will have poor practical application. Many people are surprised when in a seminar for black belts I explain in detail why it is necessary to understand the basic biomechanics in the execution of four direction punch and four directions blocks (Saju Jirugui/Saju Maki).

In the basics is the advanced I answer.  But of course if you have been instructed that the advanced is very complicated, the explanation will seem unnecessary and you will say that this is for beginners or at least you’ll have that feeling until the illustration is finished.

The explanation is also very simple and easy to incorporate. Remember that the theory is one for all movements (elementary and advanced). But if you are a Black belt of a superior level, you will instinctively reject this because it will compels you to review what you have incorporated. In addition, this will take you to understand that Taekwon-Do uses nature for its purposes and not vice versa. Your body is producing a sine wave all the time you are in motion (walking or running), even if you do not intend to do so and are not practicing Taekwon-Do.

Now, if due bad information you think you should force it implementation, you are telling nature what she already knows it should do when you are in motion.  I guess that you heard General Choi on many occasions (in person if you were in any of his seminars or in movies and in his bibliography if you are from this era) saying: «both arms and both legs should be properly bent while the movement is in motion». When you watch the filming of a crowd that moves (on a busy street or running in a marathon), you will see that although they are not in a Taekwon-Do’s training, they are clearly producing a sine wave when moving. The human body has several joints in the inferior extremities and the natural use of these produces that type of wave when in motion.

That is why every time you fully extend the supporting leg when moving, the sine wave disappears and the saw tooth wave emerge. The latter not only prevents generating maximum power but among other things, risks at the extreme the knees joint. Conclusion, if this basic explanation is not understood and fundamentally executed with your body, your Taekwon-Do is very difficult.  If it is properly incorporated, not only is your Taekwon-Do very simple but it is more powerful and easier to execute, it is more, all the advanced movements will be at your reach as you progress through the next promotions.

SGM Ricardo Desimone

to be aware read the previous notes

When confrontation is unavoidable, the effectiveness of self defense largely depends on not thinking about our actions. This means that we must act on the basis of reflex action. Reflexes will be activated based on a given stimulus. The stimulus is sometimes the movement that an opponent produces. But it can also be the attitude of the opponent that signals possible aggression. Of course, for our reflexes to be able to respond to the stimulus described, a considerable number of mechanisms must have been incorporated that allow us to act defensively or anticipate the offensive action.
In both cases we will have to have tirelessly repeat each and every one of the mechanisms that will allow us to act in this regard. We will find the greatest collection of such techniques or movements in the patterns or Tul. Different exercises of pre-established sparring will let us train and improve those mechanisms with an opponent or opponents, in such a way that we can adjust the use of time and distance from them. As I said, the exercises will be pre-established because repetition is the only possible method for such movements or techniques to be incorporated and over time count among our reflexes. The process is not fast but it is unavoidable.
Now, if our instinctive movements depend on tireless repetition for their effectiveness, we must be careful about the quality of the movement or biomechanics that we are going to repeat. In the case of Taekwon-Do, founded and systematized by General Choi Hong Hi, each technique has a single destination and is biomechanically supported by the laws of physics and the kinetic energy to produce maximum power. With repetition, time, and perseverance, we will be able to incorporate as a reflex action an interesting variety of mechanisms that we can use for self defense. All of the above requires us to be careful with each technique and its biomechanics that we incorporate based on repetition and perseverance. Therefore, the information that we obtain for such an important achievement must be accurate and proven.

The logical way for the information to meet such requirements is that it comes from whoever has the theoretical / practical knowledge to do so. If the information is only theoretical it is useless because it has no verification, which invalidates the information received on many occasions by those who have never set in motion such advice, but have only read about it. If it is only practical, it have a different and better value, but we do not have the security of compliance with the biomechanical parameters that will ensure the generation of maximum power and efficiency. It is necessary to develop the maximum power that our body can generate because it is impossible to know the size of a future adversary or adversaries. Finally we need to have information that contains both aspects. For this, the system has a place called Instructor. Every time an order or command is issued that does not comply with what is systematized and indicated by the Founder of the discipline, its legacy is being misrepresented. Every time a mechanism established by him is modified, Its fate is being changed and rendered ineffective in our reflex actions for self defense. The plurality of versions of the same technique, as currently occurs, produces doubts, errors, and false beliefs about a mechanism that was designed for a unique utility. Books, encyclopedia, and films of the Founder of Taekwon-Do show that the current biomechanical diversity is nonsense. If such variety only affected choreography, it would not be correct but it would remain an anecdote in the identification of an institutional sales policy. The problem is that these differences in execution are not only choreographic but also affect the effectiveness of the mechanism, which was designed for self defense and not for corporate showmanship. In summary, our body is not autonomous, its mobility depends on the laws of physics, which in turn respond to the information received; therefore, making modifications or giving false information is misleading with serious consequences.

Senior Grand Master Ricardo Desimone

To be aware read again the previous notes