Tae Guk Pal Jang

There are many sites on the Internet, which offer instruction on performing the forms of taekwondo. They vary widely, partly because instructors refer to the same techniques by different names, but mostly because people just write things differently. I am intrigued at the notion that although we are all doing these forms exactly the same way, we are all talking and writing about them very differently. It's really easier to learn forms in class than it is to learn them from written text, but I think this is helpful. I wrote this out to help me study for my test (December 2011), and I offer it up to anyone who might find it useful. If you note any errors, please let me know. Thanks.


Tae Guek Pal (8th) Jang is represented by the symbol for earth.


From the Joon Be (ready) position (facing north):

1. Step forward with the left foot in back stance and perform a double middle block with the left hand, then immediately move left foot to to create a front stance and perform a middle punch with the right hand.
   
2. Perform a jumping front kick with the left foot. KI HAP! (yell) Land in front stance, left foot forward and perform an outside-in middle block with the left hand, followed immediately by two punches.
   
3. Step forward with the right foot into front stance and perform an middle punch with the left hand.
   
4. Turn 270* to the right into front stance right foot forward (west), look back (east) perform a low block with the left hand and a middle block with the right hand (also known as mountain block).
   
5. Turn both feet 180* to the left into front stance with the left foot forward (facing east) and perform an upper cut with the right hand in slow motion (8 count).
   
6. Step back with the left foot into cross stance with the arms crossed in front of the chest and look right. Step forward with the right foot into front stance left foot forward (east), look back (west) and perform a low block with the right hand and a middle block with the left hand (also known as mountain block).
   
7. Turn both feet 180* to the right into front stance with the right foot forward (facing west) and perform and upper cut with the left hand.
   
8. Turn 90* to the left into backstance (left foot forward) and perform a double knife-hand block with the left hand, then shift into front stance and perform a middle punch with the right hand.
   
9. Perform a front kick with the right foot. Bring the right foot back behind the left foot in tiger stance and perform a palm block with the right hand.
   
10. Turn 90* to the left in tiger stance with the left foot forward and perform a double knife-hand block with the left hand.
    
11. Perform a front kick with the left foot, landing in front stance with the left foot forward and perform a middle punch with the right hand, pull the left foot back into tiger stance and perform a palm block with the left hand.
    
12. Turn 180* to the right into tiger stance with the right foot forward and perform a double knife-hand block with the right hand.
    
13. Perform a front kick with the left foot. Bring the left foot back behind the right foot in tiger stance and perform a palm block with the left hand.
    
14. Turn 90* to the left into back stance with the right foot forward and perform a double fist low block.
    
15. Perform a front kick with the left foot followed immediately by a jumping front kick with the right foot. KIHAP! Come down in front stance with the right foot forward and perform an inside-out middle block with the right hand followed immediately by a middle punch with the left hand and another middle punch with the right hand.
    
16. Turn 270* to the left into back stance with the left foot forward and perform a single knife-hand block with the left hand. Shift into front stance (left foot forward) and perform an elbow strike with the right hand followed immediately by a back fist with the right hand and a middle punch with the left hand.
    
17. Turn 180* to the right into back stance with the right foot forward and perform a single knife-hand block with the right hand. Shift into front stance (right foot forward) and perform an elbow strike with the left hand followed immediately by a back fist with the left hand and a middle punch with the right hand.
    

My second demonstration

On Friday night, July 30, 2011, my taekwondo school performed a demonstration at the Scappoose community festival at Veterans Park in Scappoose, Oregon. It was the second time I have been involved in a taekwondo demonstration with my school. I performed a power break as part of the grand finale. I stood up with three other adult students to break through ten boards with a hand technique. My hand technique was chop. I only broke through seven boards on the first strike. I think part of the problem was that we were performing on grass. It was a little bit soft and squishy, so the boards moved away from our hands a little bit.

My eight-year-old daughter also performed in the demonstration. She also appeared in the grand finale power break. She also did an axe kick break earlier in the demonstration. She did a flying side kick and self defense routine.

The demonstration opened with a form in which ten students demonstrated blocks and punches. My favorite part was when the transitioned from a high block and a chop to a punch. It looked really cool, reminded me of a scene in Kung Fu Panda 2.

The demonstration was a big hit. Lots of applause. I think we signed up a lot of new students.

Taekwondo Day Camp: Day Five

Today, Friday, July 15, 2011 was our last day of day camp. Today we didn't start with a run. Today we started out writing letters to our parents. Most everybody wanted to write about how much fun they were having at camp, and how grateful they were that their parents had paid to send them to camp. My six-eyar-old son wanted to write me a list of gifts he would like to receive at the earliest appropriate moment. My eight-year-old daughter was much more sentimental. I wrote my father a get well soon card. I received an email yesterday from my mother explaining that he has an infection in his foot. He's been in the hospital for a couple of days, but they haven't made any progress on slowing the rate of infection.

After we wrote letters, we did our conditioning drills. We did the drill where we form up a line and we zig-zag between our team mates. It took a bit of practice to get the turn right. Then we did the same basic thing, but we sat down and took turns jumping over each others legs. I only recall winning one of these events. We mostly came in second.

After our conditioning drills, we played dodge ball. My team, the green team, paired up with the yellow team and the blue team paired up with the white team. It was great fun, but I don't think we found a winner. After playing a rather basic game of dodge ball, we played another version in which one team dodged and the other team threw. It was fun to see who might be the last man standing.

We did kicking drills and forms and nun chucks today. He taught us Nun Chuck Form Number Two. It's quite a bit more difficult than Nun Chuck Form Number One. There are fifteen single nun chuck forms. There are about ten double nun chuck forms.

At the very end of the day, Instructor Eric explained to us why he asked us to pick one person to stand up as the best team member and one person to stand up as the worst team member each day. Sacrifice. Since we had to pick a different person each day, some one had to sacrifice part of their ego for the good of the team. This was to teach us that none of us can do taekwondo without our team. Master Kim is an Olympic Gold Medalist, but he has also said many times, that he did not win his gold medal alone. He had his coach and his team mates and his parents all supporting him, and without them, he could not have won a gold medal.

Taekwondo Day Camp: Day Four

Day Four proceeded very much like Day Two and Day Three except that our runs were longer again by one minute each. On Day Four we played capture the flag again. My team did better than we had done on Day Two. On Day Two, I think we came in dead last for the capture the flag tournament, but on Day Four we came in second. In spite of this proud showing, we continued to lag behind in our total points. I believe it had to be because I am so very slow during the conditioning drills. I forgot my ice which was sorely missed. We practiced with our nun chucks again. I was mostly too tired to blog about the day afterward.

Taekwondo Day Camp: Day Three

Day Three proceeded very much like Day Two except that both of our runs were longer by one minute each. We played another soccer tournament on Day Three, and my team won again. In spite of this proud showing, we began to lag behind in the points. We didn't practice nun chucks today which was a little disappointing. We did have a great time. We were all a little sore and a little tired, but we were all very happy to be there. I also began to notice that not everyone was washing their uniform every day. I brought ice bottles to use on my feet during lunch, and this helped a lot.

Taekwondo Day Camp: Day Two

Today I can admit that I was tempted to complain that yesterday's workout was a bit light. I felt no such temptation today. We began with a five minute run. Every time Deacon (our fastest runner) completed ten laps, we switched directions. After stretching, we ran conditioning drills. Some of them were relay races for points. We had trouble with one of the drills and we had to repeat it many times before we got it right.

Then, we played capture the flag. I would not have thought it possible in so small a space, but we had a lot of fun. My team lost our first game but we won our second, placing us third in the tournament and earning us six points.

After all at running around, we took a little break and did some reading. Of course, the tendon in my foot tightened up something awful while I was sitting, and I limped rather heavily as we started our next thing: kicking drills, but they loosened up after a bit. Kicking is my favorite. Instructor Eric had us do a tricking kicking drill where we did a roundhouse kick followed by another roundhouse kick with the same leg. We had to make a funny switch between kicks in order for them to both be back leg round house kicks.

After kicking drills, it was time for lunch. We take a whole hour break for lunch even though it only takes about 20 minutes to eat our lunch, so that our food has time to settle. With nothing to do, a few students got in trouble (again), but most everyone else got out their nun chucks to practice their form. I was surprised how many students had practiced. Almost everyone had the form memorized.

After lunch, we started with three minutes of running. This time we switched directions every time our slowest runner completed ten laps. Instead of blocking and punching drills we practiced forms. We did basic forms numbers 1, 2, & 3. It has been a very long time since I had done those forms. I was surprised at how quickly they came back to me.

Finally it was time to practice with our nunchucks. I was really surprised that everybody was so much faster than me. I'm slowest at almost everything except maybe punching, but I practiced a lot with my nun chucks last night. Thought I would be amazing, but I'm still the slowest. Oh well, a good reason to keep practicing.

Taekwondo Day Camp: Day One

On Monday, July 11, 2011, I joined my eight-yar-old daughter, Samantha, and my six-year-old son, Jason, for a five-hour day of taekwondo day camp. We arrived at the dojang at 9:00 am. We warmed up with some jumping jacks and some pushups. Colin lead the stretching, and they we divided up into four teams. Instructor Eric called out Monique, Claire, myself, and my eight-year-old daughter Samantha as team captains. There were four students on each team. Jason (age 6), Jacob (age 9) and John (age 10) were on my team. We received a green sheet of poster board, so we were known as the green team. We also received four colored sheets o construction paper. We each drew a picture on our sheet of construction paper and pasted it to our poster board. Then, Instructor Eric mounted the poster to the wall and that spot in the room became our team base. The poster board would also be used to record our team points for the week.

Then we faced off in a soccer tournaments. Two players from each team faced off for one minute. Then we rotated in other players. My green team won our first game against Claire's white team. Jacob and John played well together, and so did Jason and I. I also tried pairing Jason with Jacob and then with John, but neither of those pairings worked out very well. Then, Samantha's blue team lost to Monique's yellow team, so we played the yellow team - and we won again! Then Samantha's blue team won a match against Claire's white team. Instructor Eric said we are going to continue with tournament play liek that each day, and at the end we will be awarded points for our team. I'm not sure why we were not awarded the points each day, but I'm sure it will make sense before the end.

After soccer, it was time to do some reading. Each students was asked to bring a book. Two students forgot, so they were set to work reading the student manual. That did not really hold their attention very well. My son Jason had some trouble in that he has not yet learned to read, so he wanted me to read his book to him. I thought that would be hard to do without bothering everybody else, but it didn't matter. He wasn't listening any way, so I was able to read to him VERY quietly.

After reading, it was time for kicking drills. We paired off and held targets for each other. I was paired with Claire. We practiced front kick, face-high front kick, round house kick, face-high round house kick, and axe kick.

Finally - lunch. I think I might better eat a bigger breakfast tomorrow, so I don't get so hungry before breakfast. The lunch break was one hour. It didn't take most of the kids an hour to eat their lunch, but it was important that we didn't get right back into it so that our food could digest a bit, and we didn't end up vomiting all over the dojang (yuk). So Instructor Eric had us lie down for nap time on the mats. It soon became painfully evident that I was in a room with mostly 10-year-old boys. Everyone thought it was incredibly hilarious to make snoring, burping and farting noises. :rolleyes: Instructor Eric was kept pretty busy taking care of the trouble makers.

After lunch it was time to work on our blocks and punches. Everyone was able to earn lots of points for their team during this activity. John was the star of my team. He performed the entire punching sequence quickly, powerfully and without any errors.

And finally, the very last 30-mnutes of camp, we received our brand new foam nunchucks! We lined up and spaced ourselves out so we wouldn't hit each other, and Instructor Eric started teaching us the first nunchuck form: spin-down, spin-up, figure eight, over-the-head, one-hip, the other hip, and KIHAP! It was surprisingly difficult, but tons of fun. I can't wait for tomorrow!