World Tang Soo Do Association - our organization's web site

World Ki Gong Club - Kwan Chang Nim J. C. Shin's other passion

An Early Profile of Kwang Chin Nam Shin - originally published in 1971

WTSDA Region 21- Florida & Georgia Tang Soo Do web site, includes all other Region 21 clubs

Christi's Family Fitness - Where we train. A family fitness center, with fitness equipment, swimming, gymnastics, and more.

Korean Art Society - Another great site, with galleries of Korean Art, links to museums and more.

Swords of Korea - An interesting private site, promoting Korean culture and history as it relates to warfare

Order Page - WTSDA Order Form Here. Uniforms, gear, other cool stuff. Help support your organization. You can save a little money by ordering through the club.

Macho Martial Arts Equipment - A local company which produces karate uniforms and equipment. Order through the club for a discount.

AWMA - Asian World of Martial Arts, a discount martial arts supplier. See Mr. Campbell for additional savings.

Indiana University Korean Studies - Want to know more than karate terms or anatomy? Go here for both photos and audio files on the Korean people, culture, painting and more.

Very Early Tang Soo Do - Grainy video of Hwang Kee, the founder of Tang Soo Do, in his dojang in Seoul, South Korea, in the early 1960's. Note the typically strong kicks and sparring, and the basic stances and basic techniques which look somewhat loose and disjointed by our standards today. I don't know if GM Shin is among the students in the video, although the film was made while GM Shin was still in South Korea.

Different ways to High Block - A short video of Tang Soo Do high block. Note that the block comes from the back hip and is powered by hip rotation. The student finishes square. Then compare to a Shotokan high block.(at about 4:15) Note that the front shoulder drives forward, and the power is from a reverse rotation. The student finishes turned to the side.

Block and Counter at the same time - in Japanese, called "sen-no-sen". If there is an equivalent Korean term, I don't know it. However, the idea is you block the attack and at exactly the same time, counter-attack.

Block, then Counter - short video showing a block, and then a separate counter. Compare the feeling to the above.

Blending - From "Aiki", meaning "merging", or "things coming together." Loosely, the idea that one matches your opponent's speed and direction, then diverts the opponent's energy (rather than directly opposing a technique, say, by blocking).

An example of Aiki-do blending technique.

Which is not the same as Will It Blend? which is apparently a TV show about trying different items in an electric blender, including an iPad, a fish (gross-out warning) and a rake handle. Oh, and a Chuck Norris doll.

Chuck Norris fight video from 1966.

Hapkido - something about which I know nothing, but which looks like a very cool martial art. To me, it appears to be similar to Judo, but with more strikes.

Sparring Video - More than 8 minutes of great sparring. The style is Kyokushin-kai, a Japanese style founded by a Korean, Mas Oyama. This includes just about every kick you can conceive. This style does not allow hand techniques to the head, so the emphasis is knock-down by kick. Notice that many of the really hard kicks result in the kicker falling as well.

Diagonal Kick - Also called a reverse roundhouse kick. Slightly different than I have seen before, but very effective looking.

Miami Open Tournament - Video of recent U of M Open Tournament. Check out the little girl @ 1'15", and the second little girl at about the 5 minute mark who performs Bassai.

Dam Gum Hyung - Knife form.

WTSDA Sword Form #2 and WTSDA Cane Form - Poor quality video of WTSDA cane form and the 2nd sword form.

WTSDA 1st Sword Form - Will Sistler performs Sword Form #1. You can see how this form has evolved in the U. S. compared to its European version below.

WTSDA 1st Sword Form - A 2007 European masters demonstration of the same sword form. Note the differences from Will's performance above. For instance, there is more emphasis in hip rotation in the U. S. variation,which also inlcudes several rising blocks, which seem to be represented by upward strikes in the European variant.The moral: don't get caught thinking your version is the only correct way.

Hyung Videos - Videos of Tang Soo Do forms, including some very advanced hyung.

Taiho Jutsu - A web page with photos of Miami Police judo training in 1970 by Sensei Jack Williams. Note the level of padding present on the training floor. We also trained using a short shinai (shoto) from nito-ryu kendo instead of a baton.

Japanese Military Karate - be glad your teacher doesn't hit this hard! This is rough training.

English-language site of the Republic of Korea - some interesting history links

Century Martial Arts - Perhaps the oldest and largest martial arts supply company in the world. Save a little money by ordering through the club.

Oriental Drumming - If you attended the World Championships, you witnessed some stirring Oriental drumming. This may be the most well known Oriental dum group, KODO. Another drumming ensemble is TaikoProject, a U. S. based group, which blends traditional Taiko with more contemporary music and themes. A car commercial, starring the female members of TaikoProject.

Make a proper fist - good video

How to Punch - Another good video. Note that the punches come straight from the hip, and the elbow brushes the uniform. Also note the strong pull-back of the non-punching hand. In the distance demonstration, the punching hand rotates more as the distance increases. In the side view, note that the top of the forearm and the back of the hand form one straight line. Advanced lesson: notice in the full speed punches that the instructor loads up his hips and torso just before the punch, by turning very slightly toward the punching side, and then rotates the hip and torso slightly with the punch. In the way, his punches are not just arm strength. His entire body is behind each punch.

TSD Street Defense Demo - A video from a WTSDA studio in Bulgaria, demonstrating self defense techniques. In case you're wondering, the fine-looking auto in the background appears to be a Trabant P601S, an East German made car. The Trabant remained unchanged in design for almost 30 years, which is why it looks a little like a midget '57 Chevrolet.

TKD Kicking - A series of kick tutorials. The videos break down various kicks in slow motion. Links to Front Kick, Side Kick, Back Kick, Push Kick, Axe Kick, Jump Side Kick, and Jump Roundhouse Kick. I did not include the video for Roundhouse Kick rom this series, because the demonstration starts the hip spin slightly sooner than our style.

Spinning Back Kick

Jump Spinning Back Kick

Wheel Kick

Spinning Hook Kick

Fake front then roundhouse kick

Axe Kick

While in China in 1937, Hwang Kee, Grand Master Shin's teacher, found a Japanese martial arts book probably written by Funakoshi Sensei. Many of the hyung of Master Kee strongly resemble the kata, or forms, of the Japanese styles originating with Funakoshi, who, in turn, learned from the Okinawan masters, including Itosu Sensei (Korean - Master Ito). The form Naihanchi, also known as Tekki and Naifuanchi, is widely acknowledged to be originally from Northern China. At each link, the form was probably altered slightly.

A 1924 film of Funakoshi performing Tekki Shodan - This is easily recognizable as nearly identical to Tang Soo Do's Naihanchi Chodan.

Sample Black Belt written test - thanks to Pat Besong at Penn State.

Plymouth Pines Breaking Boards - Pine boards, pre-dried. More expensive than Home Depot, but very good for breaking.

Muyedobotongji - English language Korean site about Mooyae Dobo Tongji, martial arts book. Unfortunately, the rest of the site is in Korean, and I'm not sure about who to credit with maintaining this page. Anyone who can help, drop me a line.

Tang Soo Do World - A very large resource about our art. Master Constantino Terrigno covers many different schools and organizations in a candid and politics-free manner. Read through carefully and you'll appreciate the role GM Shin has played in the careers of so many TSD martial artists.

Compare these two contrasting (and very opposite) styles below with Tang Soo Do, which seems to be balanced somewhere between them.

Shotokan (Japan) style sparring - This is a series of fights in the 1985 Shoto Cup. The Shoto Cup is the world championship of Shotokan, occurring only every other year, and held in Japan only every four years. This is classic Japanese style sparring, with much posturing but very few actual techniques thrown. Note the defensive nature of the contests, as the person throwing the first technique usually loses to a counter punch. The philosophy is "one punch, one kill," or a single decisive strike. At this skill level, Japanese students consider most kicks too slow developing to be effective and too difficult to control, although there is one score by kick on the tape. Most techniques are simple, very straight and linear, and depend on speed.

Chinese style sparring - This demonstrates a Chinese style of sparring, which is many consecutive and rapid techniques intended to eventually overwhelm the opponent's defense. Most techniques are circular, often very complicated, and can depend on deception and misdirection. In this video, there is an odd demonstration of a series of front kicks which apparently do not harm the person being kicked. Do not try this at home.

dojang@treasurecoast-tangsoodo.org - email for INFORMATION or QUESTIONS.

You must have colored lapels on your uniform for official WTSDA events. We're looking for a good - and inexpensive - place to have uniforms altered and to have patches and colored lapels sewn on.

Please EMAIL me if this sounds like you.

Southern Embroidery is our source for Treasure Coast club patches and embroidery, T-shirts, hats, etc. You can order any item from Master Califf or from Andy at

Southern Embroidery, 790 15th Place, Vero Beach

567-8337

Have pride in your club. Put Treasure Coast on your Do Bohk. Our club makes no profit on the sale of embroidered items.