Taekwondo investigation.

[Hollykate]

Investigating a taekwondo school calls itself ITF but has a very vague lineage that stops with the grandmaster.

They practice lots of katas barely any light sparring and hardly any breaking (if breaking was usefull).

i started investigating the instructor who is 5th Degree Taekwon-do instructor that qualified in 2001 with 17 years experience

so with my math thats trained taekwondo for 7 years then started teaching it and discorages any cross training.

Another instructor is a 4th degree black belt who has been training for 18 years started teaching in 2007 at 3rd degree

The head instructor 6th degree has the strangest story achived first degree in 1993 went to south east asia for two years to track down the grandmaster after finding the grandmaster who incidently trained him one lesson in england he trained with him daily for two years untill he achived 2nd degree then returned to england and has been teaching for 15 years.

The grandmaster a 7th degree black belt is where the trail ends he is still teaching in south east asia no history apart from "grandmaster" not listed on wikipedia as an ITF grandmaster and can find no information outside of that apat from held 5th degree in 1993.

[It is Fake]

Wikipedia is not a valid source. If he is a 5th degree and only went up two in 18 years........Hmmm. The only thing that sounded weird is the Grandmaster one lesson until you verified he exists.

[Hollykate]

Thanks it is fake

It sounded really odd to me i mean i can train with a 7th degree black belt down the road i dont need to go to south east asia to track down a 5th degree.

and they send students of different clubs around the country to go and train with him for a few weeks.

maybe my tkd knowlage is lacking but i thought the top guy in the uk lived in scotland.

and i can trace the gym down the road all the way up to this guy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki_Ha_Rhee.

[kitkatninja]

...The head instructor 6th degree has the strangest story achived first degree in 1993 went to south east asia for two years to track down the grandmaster after finding the grandmaster who incidently trained him one lesson in england he trained with him daily for two years untill he achived 2nd degree then returned to england and has been teaching for 15 years...

...It sounded really odd to me i mean i can train with a 7th degree black belt down the road i dont need to go to south east asia to track down a 5th degree...

Not sure about the story (so can't comment on it specifically), but to be honest it's not unheard of for someone to go to the "birth place" of their art to train with an instructor at that place to experience not only the art but also the culture, the training methods, etc... Regardless of whether or not there is a higher ranking person a couple of doors down.

[AC]

http://www.visiontkd.co.uk/vision.htm

I think that's who you are talking about. They are legit. The ITF('s) are a mess but these guys are affiliated.

Philip Lear is the head instructor (6th Degree) and on the board of directors for ITF Europe: http://itfeurope.org/board_directors.html