Tang Soo Take 2

My second lesson of Tang Soo Do, was as intriguing and interesting as my first. I arrived at the dojang in Mtarfa a few minutes early, again on a very cold day- the cold weather seems to have become a running theme, and walked in on Master Wallace explaining the meaning of the symbols on the South Korean flag to his younger students. I must admit, though having trained a Korean martial art for roughly 10 years, I did not know what the symbols meant, so I too listened intently.

The adult class then started with the usual, kick a** warm-up, because as you might remember from my last post, it’s through tough times that we are moulded and fitness defines character right?! I’m actually quite looking forward to the toned arms I’m sure to be sporting after these classes, because trust me, press-ups are definitely a thing here!

This time the class focused on basic, traditional blocks and their practical application in combat. We practiced a variety of grabs and locks, which when combined with the blocks make for some pretty cool defensive techniques… for when you’re in a bit of a sticky situation of course! The key is to mentally ‘dominate’ your opponent or attacker by adopting a posture that is conducive to this, i.e straight back, no hunched shoulders, chin kept up and so on.

At the end of the class, I had a bit of a discussion with Master Wallace about why our uniforms, known in Korean as ‘dobok’, both in Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do, are white, with black trimmings when you reach black belt level. Interestingly I found out that this stems from what ancient warriors essentially called a ‘death gown’, which was a white suit worn for burial. Ancient warriors wore this suit under their combat suit to show their opponents that they were ready to die in battle, so they were definitely going to give it their all. This was one of the ways by which they mentally intimidated their adversaries. The black trimmings are there as a representation of the warriors’ combat suits which often also had black trimmings.

The experience did not stop there. Upon hitting the changing room, I struck up a discussion with Master Charlene Vella, another Tang Soo Do instructor (girl power for the win right?!), touching upon various subjects such as training methodologies, differences and similarities between our two arts, and competitive and traditional aspects of combat sports.

Once again, this class helped me to better myself, not only from the physically but also mentally. Of course, the development of both aspects are essential for a good martial artist. The exposure to another discipline, as well as the very interesting tidbits from Master Wallace, who seems to have a wealth of knowledge about martial art traditions, philosophies and history, has had the effect of creating in me a thirst for more knowledge on the subject and this will definitely be something I pursue.

Till next time… Tang Soo!

Anyone wishing to take up Tang Soo Do may find more information on their website www.maltatangsoodo.com