Tang Soo Do

In Chinese, TANG SOO DO means "The way of the empty hand".

Tang Soo do (TSD) is one of the oldest of the Korean fighting arts, most of which were later combined into Taekwondo.Tang Soo Do, however, maintained its unique character as one of the world’s foremost arts! It encompasses all ranges of fighting - teaching devastating kicks, powerful hand strikes, grappling, pressure point knockouts AND weapons training.

Tang Soo Do focuses on fitness, flexibility, concentration, self-control and discipline as well as practical self-defence. It combines traditional and scientific training methods in its comprehensive syllabus, which sees the student progress through 10 coloured belts, a probationary black belt and then onto the Dan levels of black belt.

TSD is a complete martial art, consisting of free fighting, empty hand forms/patterns and weapons forms. It is also excellent for self defense and general body conditioning, fitness and flexibility. It is famous for it's high spinning and jumping kicks and for using these to spectacularly break 1" thick wooden boards. Haedong Kumdo is the sword art of Korea's ancient warrior knights which has some similarities to the Samurai; the main difference is it's a battlefield art and not  based on two-person dueling. This makes the art much more free-flowing and multi-faceted, covering sword draws; complex sword forms/patterns; paper, straw and bamboo cutting as well as one-step and complex sparring. Haedong Kumdo is also famous for the use of two swords.

It's ideal for both men and women, with no prior experience necessary! There are about four tournaments per year, culminating in the Korean Martial Arts Selection Championships. From these championships the Korean Martial Arts National Team and Presidents Team are selected. These Protea colours and President’s development colours are awarded by SASCOC – South African Sports Council and Olympic Committee! The Wits club held two very successful gradings in the year and all the students progressed to their respective next levels.

Below: action from the 2013 Tang Soo Do SA Champs staged at the Old Mutual Sports Hall on 23 February

The Wits Tang Soo Do Club recently hosted the South African Championships at Wits University for Combat Tang Soo Do (Korean Martial Arts) and Haedong Kumdo (Korean Sword). A team of 17 students from the school led by Master Instructor Gregory Hart (6th Dan) fared extremely well, winning 17 medals in Tang Soo Do, 1 medal in Haedong Kumdo and 10 medals in the team events.

A feature of the championships were the team forms which have to be perfectly synchronized as well as being fast, powerful and show correct technique. Although some of the Wits Teams had only a weeks' preparation they did extremely well!

This Championship was also a selection event: medalists are up for selection for the Presidents' Development Team (all winners from junior [16 & under] categories and coloured belt categories) and the Protea Team Squad to represent South Africa at the next World Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 2013! Some of our Wits students stand a very good chance of being selected for the President’s Development Team. At the moment we have no Black Belts so no-one can make the Protea squad this time.

Competitors take part in 3 individual categories for Tang Soo Do: Empty-hand Forms (patterns), Weapons Forms and Points Sparring. In Haedong Kumdo there are 2 individual categories: Sword Forms and Sword Sparring. There are lso Team forms categories, sometimes Team fighting and occasionally board breaking categories. Once they are selected, team members will have to attend two more local championships, in Bloem and Mpumalanga, as well as take part in two national training camps (March & September) to maintain their position on the team. They will also only be able to wear their colours if they go on tour and compete in Holland, so they will also have to pay for their tour costs as well. This is normally the biggest stumbling block in selected students getting colours and representing SA internationally.

Come and be a part of this World Class Martial Arts.

Experience this dynamic art for yourself and see if this is what you are looking for - get into great shape and learn how to take care of yourself.
TANG SOO!

WHERE: Squash Complex, West Campus, off Yale Road
WHEN: Tuesdays & Thursdays 6 – 7:30pm
CONTACT: Katrijn Thys 082 719 7946
COACH: Gregory Hart 082 452 9213, 011 478 2220  master_gregory@tangsoodo.co.za
WEB:  www.tangsoodo.co.za