Ta ekwon-Do and Ground Fighting Best Positions in Grappling Sanko Lewis Please Support us And Visit MartialArtsHeadquarters.net TAEK WON- DO is primaril y a s trik ing art. This me ans that the bulk of our arsen al focuses on stri kes a nd kicks, rather than on gra pplin g. Nevertheles s, Taekw o n-Do does in clude jo int lock s, joint breaks and ground fighting techniques. In the ITF Encyclopaedia(Vol . 1, p. 21) , in the sectio n discussing t he defin ition o f Taekwon -Do, the following is written: Thus taken collectively "Taekwon-Do" indicates the mental training and the techniques of unarmed combat for self- defence as well as health, involving the skilled application of punches, kicks, blocks and dodges with bare hands and feet to the rapid destruction of the moving opponent or opponents. The emph asis is clearly on “pu nches, ki cks, blocks and dod ges” and aga inst “moving…opponents”. For this reason, Taekwon-Do spends a lot of time learning how to be swift- footed. The Taekwon-Doin must be light on the feet and have great (static and dynamic) balance. Through the ma ster y of dodgi ng te chniques th e T aekwon-Doin lea rns h ow to keep a safe distance, especially avoiding being taken down to the floor. The re a sonin g behi n d Taekwon-Do’ s focus on stri king a nd kicki ng, r ather tha n on grap pling, is that gra pplin g us ually limi ts y our defenc e to a singl e opponent. While grapp ling it i s p racti cally impossible to fi ght more than on e o pponent, be cause groun d fi ghti ng seri ousl y li mi ts your mobili ty. On t he other ha nd, a st and -up fi ght er i s mor e mo bil e, a nd a lth ou gh i t is dif fic ult , a standing fighter has a better chance against multiple opponents than a reclining fighter does. A fore-knuckle fist punch performed on the ground as shown in the ITF Encyclopaedia.However, fig hts are u npr edictable an d the unf ore seeabl e does h app en. Therefo re, it is i mport ant to have some knowledge of ground fighting. The ITF Encyclopaediastates (Vol . 4, p. 321): “The student of Ta ekwo n- Do shoul d b e abl e t o m eet an op ponent or opponents even in a reclining position.” Bei ng pri mar ily str i ker s, Tae kwo n-Doin shoul d fo cus o n using thei r f a mili ar weapons while o n the g round. The ITFEncyclopaedialist s m any s t rikes a nd ki cks ( excluding elb owi ng a nd kne ein g) that can be per fo rmed fro m a reclining position. Taekwon-Do’s Theory of Powershould be empl oyed a s far as possi bl e ev en i n thi s clo se ra nge of combat. Students can ask their instructors to cover some ofthe gro und t echniques (“ noowo gi sool ”) fou nd in t he ITFEncyclopaedia. Some extra knowledge of “traditional” grappling techniques may also come in handy. Periodically I will s upply so me thoughts, theories or techniques for fighting on t he ground. Some of them will be purely Taekwon-Do based, while others may be a fusion of Taekwon-Do principles and other grappling arts, such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The S ideki ckAn eZine published by the SA-ITF’s Information Directorate. www.taekwondo.co.za
