Welcome to Our Website!
Since 1997,
Dyer's Karate has been providing instruction in Taekwondo and Tang Soo do in the
Collingdale, PA area.
We hope you enjoy our website and will stop by and visit us if you are in the area. This site is designed to give you information about our facility, our style of martial arts, our staff and provide you with information on how to contact us as well.
What is Taekwondo?
Taekwondo is a modern martial art, characterized by its fast, high and spinning kicks. There are multiple interpretations of the name Taekwondo. Taekwondo is often translated as 'the way of hand and foot.'
Tae = 'Foot' or 'to kick' or 'to jump'
K'won = 'Fist' or 'to strike or block with hand'
Do = 'The way of' or 'art'
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Put this together and Taekwondo means: "The art of kicking and punching" or "The art of unarmed combat."
Disciplines of Taekwondo
Taekwondo has four disciplines:
- Patterns
- Sparring
- Self-defense
- Break Test
It is the combination of these four disciplines that make the art of Taekwondo.
Objectives of Taekwondo:
- to develop an appreciation for Taekwondo as a sport and an art
- to achieve physical fitness through positive participation
- to improve mental discipline and emotional equanimity
- to learn self-defense skills
- to develop a sense of responsibility for one self and others
Taekwondo is primarily a kicking art, often with a greater emphasis on the sport aspect of the art. Taekwondo stylists tend to fight at an extended range, and keep opponents away with their feet. It is a hard/soft, external, fairly linear style and is known for being very powerful. There is a lot of competition work in many dojongs. Training tends to emphasize sparring, but has forms, and the basics are important as well.
What is Tang Soo Do? Tang Soo Do means "the art of the knife hand" or "the way of the Chinese hand." It contains characteristics of Chinese internal methods and Japanese striking styles. Tang Soo Do is a modern martial art and it's purpose is to develop every aspect of the 'self' in order to produce a mature person who can totally integrate his intellect, emotions, body and spirit.
Tang Soo Do, is not a sport and its primary goal is not a competitive one. However, it does lend itself well to combative situations. Being a well-balanced style, Tang Soo Do offers a wide array of kicks, hand strikes, and stances representative of hard styles as well as softer stances and more fluid motions that are indicative of the softer styles. It derives it's hardness from Soo Bahk Do and its soft flowing movements from the Northern Chinese systems. Its kicking techniques , for which Tang Soo Do is unsurpassed, are based on Soo Bahk Do. Both of which can easily be recognized in the forms that are practiced within the style.
Free sparring is an extremely important part of Tang Soo Do training. There are two major types suitable for Tang Soo Do schools: Dojang sparring and competition; or sport, sparring. Although the techniques used in these types of sparring could be potentially dangerous and could result in a knockout or serious injury if not properly controlled, full contact sparring (kick boxing), traditionally is not included in the Tang Soo Do venue.
Tang Soo Do competitions do not allow contact to face or groin, or the back while allowing light moderate contact to the sides and front of the body. When one looks at injuries occurring in other contact sports it becomes clear that sport Tang Soo Do is actually a very safe activity. Qualities like sportsmanship, mutual respect for each other and personal discipline insures that practitioners compete in the healthiest environment possible. After all, the purpose of Tang Soo Do training is not for fighting, but to perfect techniques that will enhance one's total self. If the occasion arises when one must defend oneself, of equal importance is the development of the proper spirit to supplement the physical skills that are attained.
