I have shared in the past that I swore I would never be a “forms collector.” Yet, over the years, I have amassed a lot of form patterns: my Chungdokwan foundation, the Kukkiwon forms, teaching the Jidokwan forms at IU. And then there are the tai chi forms, our hapkido body movement drills, etc. I started to count but gave up at 50. In my defense….I would define being a forms collector as more than just knowing a lot of forms. A real collector confuses the rote memorization of a lot of patterns, many of which are redundant and use the same movements in a slightly different sequence, as having more competence in martial arts. Any form depends less on knowing the sequence and more about how you perform it—being functional with the movement versus going through the motions or making it a dance. Knowing more dance routines doesn’t necessarily translate to being more functional.
In my teaching career and charting a path for GMA, I have been conflicted with knowledge of the aforementioned discrepancy between knowledge and functionality, and my sense of duty to pass on the art that has been taught and entrusted to me. I take preservation of that knowledge very seriously, even if it is more for historical sake. Yes, I realize YouTube has largely removed a lot this burden, but I often share with my black belts, there were drills or routines that GM Choi would only show us once a year at summer camp, and we would steal away on breaks to review, write it down, etc. so as not to lose it. There was a good chance we would still be expected to know the material, perhaps not again until next summer camp. Admittedly, this was probably more about GM teaching us the attitude of being an earnest student than any secret advantage the additional sets would give us. But still, I was ingrained to treat them as valuable. And so, I wanted to pass them on to my students as part of our lineage. To be more specific, our original CDK roots are so old school that in a way they represent a living time capsule of the era from 1944-1960. As a martial arts academic, I appreciate that, and hope our students also do somewhat.
But not many people really care…nor should they. No one has inquired about classes because they wanted to specifically learn that era of “Korean karate,” under whichever name was being used at the time. People come to learn skills and get the added life skill benefits along the way.
And so, we feel that our effort to preserve our heritage has ultimately started to distract us from the true purpose and benefits of TKD. At this point I must also say I am very proud of how hard our students have worked to learn and do both. But it is hard to accomplish both in class 2-3 times a week. In the end, it is more about technique than memory. At a tournament, the judge doesn’t care how many other forms you know. They only care about how well you look doing that one form in front of them.
Understand this…it doesn’t mean it is going to be easier. Different, yes. Less memorization, which for some of our students will be helpful. But it means a lot more work, hard work, to improve in other areas. There are going to be even less excuses why your technique isn’t up to standard. And that standard is going to be raised.
Some people rely on their forms collection as a justification of why their school is the best or view it as some talisman that will protect them even though they don’t have the functionality to back it up. Our collection, while valuable to some, has become a thing too large to keep dusted. And so, a lot of it is going into storage until the upper ranks. For the ones we keep out, they are going to be polished to shine even brighter.
visit us at www.gentrymartialarts.com
Gentry Martial Arts--the rants of a martial arts eccentric 