TAE KWON DO AND ARNIS: A LINK BETWEEN DIVIDED ARTS- At his Michigan dojo, Jeff Arnold is proving it is possible for a man to love two martial arts.
Excerpt:
“Picture, if you will, a shotokan practitioner sharing a school with a tae kwon do teacher. Imagine a shorinryu instructor giving his student permission to study eagle claw kung fu. Or, can you envision a ranking black belt in a national organization that disapproves of safety equipment sending a black belt contingent to a semi-contact tournament dominated by nationally-ranked semi-contact fighters? How about a full-contact manager encouraging his fighters to enter a breaking competition? Is it likely that an upper dan expert who had trained in Japan with the bo would take up the whip chain? Is a Korean style kicking specialist likely to set sail for China to learn the latest in wu Shu?
If you’re honest you will have appreciated that such blends and combinations are impossible in the world of martial arts as we know it today. In fact, an instructor with a very definite approach to teaching his art would most often find that another system or approach to teaching would confuse his students, especially in the early stages. Still, the possibility of benefit is very great. One style has a great deal to teach the open-minded, serious student of another—to say nothing of the economic benefits that could result.”
For the full article, click on the image below to open a pdf version:
“Tae Kwon Do and Arnis- A Link Between Divided Arts”, Karate Illustrated March 1982 Vol 13 No 3