I had someone recently tell me they were a 1st-degree Black Belt in TKD. Is there a registry somewhere that would verify this?

Thank you very much.

If they claim to be certified under the WTF then you can checked to see if they are registered with Kukkiwan and/or with US taekwndo. If they are from the ATA or ITF then I don't know if they have a registry or not.

Korean Dragon is right. Most formal organizations will have some sort of DB that you can check against. But there are two issues you need to take into account. One, he could have gotten his rank from Joe Blow Kwan Do. I am not saying that is bad. Joe Blow could have a great school. But, because Joe Blow does not associate with any formal organization, you really cannot confirm it.

The other issue is just because he has a rank that is registered with some organization like WTF or ATA or whatever, doesn’t mean he earned it. He's a great example, I know this guy who had a WTF 1 Dan. He goes to work for this guy’s Dojang, mostly doing IT support for "afterschool" program. He gets promoted to 3rd Dan by this guy ("grandmaster") for doing nothing more than Helpdesk support. Not only that, but the "GM" was able to get him certified by the WTF as a 3rd Dan.

The question I have is why do you care? I usually only do background checks on guys who piss me off :)

The question I have is why do you care? I usually only do background checks on guys who piss me off :)


I care because in another forum (not on this site) we were having a debate about something and he threw that gem out there with a fantastical story about how he saved a police officer from a man going for his gun by utilizing a "naked arm bar choke." *blink*

He also makes money off of being an "expert" and publishing his bullshit...that's why I care.

well in that case, send me some links. I'll help you :)

"naked arm bar choke" is my new favorite move.

"First, I have about a 15-year martial arts history. I formally trained in aikido, judo, jiu-jitsu, and tai chi, and have a first-degree black belt (which seems to have shrunk since I earned it at age 30) in tae kwon do. Especially during my judo and jiu-jitsu studies, I both applied and received chokes many times, both in drills and in free-sparring type-activities."



"Second, I do have 'real world in anger' experience in choking. I had at least two assailants (both large adult males) try to manually strangle me, and on at least one occasion I threw a naked arm bar choke on an assailant (again, a large adult male) who was beating up a cop and going for his gun."



The second paragraph is what I'm referring to. If you want the link, PM me.

O my. Got to love the internet tough guy!

I seem to recall a few years back seeing this video of a cop getting his ass kicked and some guy jumping with a choke to help him out. The guy was on the national news and all that crap. I just tried to google it and could not find much.

I am not in any way implying this is the guy, but, some of these internet tough guys like to pick up on a story and make sound like they did something similar.

I had someone recently tell me they were a 1st-degree Black Belt in TKD. Is there a registry somewhere that would verify this?

Thank you very much.
If he is claiming to hold Kukkiwon rank, you can look here:
http://www.kukkiwon.or.kr/eng/index.action

Go to the tab that says one stop service and select 'check for poom/dan.' If he is claiming to be a "WTF" blackbelt, then this is where you would go, as the WTF does not issue their own ranks, but recognizes only Kukkiwon rank.

If he is ATA, you may have to contact them in writing. I looked on the ATA site http://ataonline.com/taekwondo/, but could find no rank verification function. Not saying that it isn't there, but I could not find it.

If he claims ITF, then you have your work cut out, because there are three different groups using the name ITF. Well, four if you count the one in NK.

Good luck!

Daniel

Is it a choke? Is it an armlock? Is it a stranarmchokelock?

Don't leave us hanging like this, we have to fucking know!

Then there are a host of unaffiliated TKD schools that are run by 3rd or 4th degree BBs who grant rank, but aren't members of any of the big associations. Or people like me who hold a black belt from an organization that no longer exists (The ITC). TKD ranking is a giant morass of stupidy. I honestly would just assume that YES, he as a TKD blackbelt, and NO he does not know how to fight.

I am going to agree with Kintanon. TKD BBs have really gone down in quality, if he is a younger guy then chances are he learned the olympic style TKD, which is pretty useless in a real fight. Im not saying all TKD black belts are bad, its just a trend I seem to have noticed. I have seen old TKD masters from korea, trained before the new commercializatin trend who are really impressive.
Just a side note I once went to a TKD seminar, they told my to drop my hands so I can kick faster, and not block because it could hurt the other persons foot.

Just a side note I once went to a TKD seminar, they told my to drop my hands so I can kick faster, and not block because it could hurt the other persons foot.

This was a sport TKD seminar right? My Korean GM always insisted we should block as hard as we could because it was possible to break the opponents arm or leg with a well applied block. So did I have a good teacher after all?

Yeah it was a sport seminar, I have met some amazing TKD blackbelts, they just weren't the ones running that seminar. I have been to good TKD seminars and demos too.

You can ask for his Kukkiwon certificate. There's a certificate many times. Also like everyone said, you can contact the Kukkiwon. Also, you may want to ask him who his G.M. and master are and where he got his BBelt certified. That could give away a fake even faster lol

They should have had to send application for certification through either of the main organizations (WTF/ITF) for Taekwondo. If not then perhaps they are with a union or association that is not under any specific organization.


This was a sport TKD seminar right? My Korean GM always insisted we should block as hard as we could because it was possible to break the opponents arm or leg with a well applied block. So did I have a good teacher after all?Same here. My instructors always stressed that when you block do so with full power. And when you attack, break through your opponent. I remember once my main instructor (he is the head master of the school) explained how he does not give a **** if it's the other person's arm, leg torso, or head and that he wants us to break them in half.