Need training for newbie in Osan Korea

**seatown7** · Posted On: 6/29/2009 3:41pm

My daughter is going to be stationed in Osan Korea for a year. She has no martial arts experience but listened to her Dad suggest she not miss an opportunity to learn from someone "in country." I don't think she cares what style as long as it isn't McDojo which would make her Daddy cry.

Thanks,

Bill

**TheWanderingTaoist** · Posted On: 6/29/2009 10:39pm

I thought McDojos only existed in America.

**TNMP** · Posted On: 6/29/2009 11:17pm

the answer = no

no

no

there are lots of McDojangs in Korea, just like everywhere else. There's plenty of Bullshido, too. Gicheon alone provides enough Bullshido for an entire continent.

**Miguksaram** · Posted On: 6/30/2009 10:58am

If it is still there, I believe there is a Tang Soo Do school available. Else, there should be an "on base" class taught by a local.

**TNMP** · Posted On: 6/30/2009 12:16pm

To answer the OP, here are a few gyms in or near Osan (not on base). I haven't been to any of them. English probably isn't spoken, but they might be worth trying.

1. taekkyon
-- instructor: Im Jae-ho / 임재호
-- phone: 031-372-6930

This is likely to be a good place to train.

2. taekwondo
-- instructor: Kim Do-yeong / 김도영
-- phone: (010) 8961-2707

I have no idea.

3. Kyeoktugi / 격투기 - this just means "fighting." These kinds of schools typically teach something like MMA, though the quality varies hugely. This gym is in Pyeongtaek, which is relatively close to Osan.
-- instructor: who knows?
-- phone: (031) 655-9669

I'll look for others if I ever have more time.

**Vorpal** · Posted On: 6/30/2009 12:36pm

If Mr. Yi is still running the Dragon Gate (Hapkido) downtown he's definately worth looking up (things may have changed there a bit since 1988 though).

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 7/01/2009 11:36am

I lived in Korea for several years and being a huge MA fan I studied multiple styles in that time usually attending 2-3 different classes a night at 2-3 different schools up to 6 days a week. In retrospect I spent time training at places that I now wish I hadn't wasted my time on. If I could do it all over again here's what I would've done;

Judo: I actually spent a fair amount of time studying Judo in Korea, I just wish I had spent more.

TKD: If you find the right gym it's worth the effort.

Taekkyon: I really wish I would've done this.

GongKwon YooSool: I didn't know of it's existence while I was there. If I did I would've trained it for sure.

KyukTooGi: Basically Korean kickboxing, but now it is taking on more of a MMA slant. Really it's more of training to fight in a specific rules set than an actual system, but good nontheless.

Things to avoid in general (there are good and bad schools for each style but generally the bad far out number the good) :

- Any kind of Wushu, unless they teach SanDa.
- Kuk Sool Won or anything with the name Kuk Sool in the title.
- HapKido, there are some good HKD schools but they can be difficult to find.
- Kumdo, Yeah it's fun to twirl swords around but in the long run a waste of time.
- Hwa Rang Do, total made up bullshit and in Korea they jump around in orange and pink
uniforms. That right there was enough to make me avoid it like the plague.
- TeGong Moo Sool, Special forces martial art! Whatever, see hapkido.

All of this is just my opinion based on my time there. Hope this helps.

**seatown7** · Posted On: 7/01/2009 1:02pm

Ronin,

Sounds like you did quite a study. Do you recall any specific school names that were good around Osan?

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 7/02/2009 11:56am

Unfortunately no. I was living in Kangnam area of Seoul and tried to keep my training confined to that region to cut down on travel. Basically my above post is a guideline of what to consider and what to avoid.

We have some members that are actually currently stationed in Korea that would be more up to date on what are the good KMA schools right now, hopefully they'll make their way to this thread.

**rpeterson** · Posted On: 7/05/2009 7:05am

There are two different kinds of fencing schools in Korea. One is Haedong Kumdo, that's the twirling the swords around one. The other is just Kumdo, and that's just Japanese Kendo with a different name. The Kumdo places can be really good. The Haedong Kumdo places are pretty awful.

As far as MAs, from what I've seen personally, Judo may be one of the best to study in Korea. The schools I've been to use the old school system, white belt, brown belt, black belt. That's it. They train hard, and the instructors are good. The only issue, most of them use the Korean names for the throws, so you may have to figure out the Japanese terms later, pretty much anywhere else in the world. Not such a big sacrifice for good instruction though.