Taekwondo, also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do, is a Korean martial
art and combat sport involving punching and kicking techniques. The
literal translation for taekwondo is "kicking", "punching", and "the art
or way of". It sometimes involves the use of weapons.
Taekwondo practitioners wear a uniform, known as a dobok. It is a combat
sport which was developed during the 1940s and 1950s by Korean martial
artists with experience in martial arts such as karate, Chinese martial
arts, and indigenous Korean martial arts traditions such as taekkyon,
subak, and gwonbeop.
Among the styles of taekwondo commonly practiced are:
- Traditional Taekwondo. This term generally refers to an amalgam of martial arts styles practiced during the 1940s-60s, before the various schools (kwans) that established the foundations of taekwondo in Korea were unified.
Traditional taekwondo often shares forms and techniques with some styles of karate.
- International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) style , also called Chang Hon style . This can be thought of as an offshoot of the style that at the time was being developed by Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA).
ITF Taekwondo is characterized by relatively wide, low stances and often more hand techniques (such as punches and strikes), sometimes delivered while performing an down-up-down (sine wave) motion. Schools teaching ITF-style taekwondo will often have a punching fist logo.
- In the United States, American Tae Kwon Do Association (ATA) taekwondo (also known as Songahm style) is also popular. ATA taekwondo was first established in 1969 as a private taekwondo school in Omaha, Nebraska by a former Traditional Taekwondo teacher in the Korean military (Haeng Ung Lee) who emigrated to the United States.
ATA taekwondo can be thought of as a hybrid between ITF and WT styles. Like the ITF-style, it generally focuses on combat (rather than sport sparring). Like Kukkiwon/WT-style, it places greater emphasis on kicks that ITF-style does. ATA taekwondo often incorporates weapons training.
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