Taekwondo for Self-Defense

On the afternoon and evening of our fourth day, Master Sanghak Lee, Coach of the Ranger Corps of the National Police Agency, joined us and offered lessons on how to use Taekwondo for self-defense.

We began with defending against a cross-hand grab. After working on the preliminary footwork with a partner, we then moved on to applying the footwork with breaking out of the grab and then throwing the partner to the mat. Although many of us found this simple move a bit difficult at first, we soon got the hang of it and the "thumps!" of bodies hitting the mat soon became deafening.

Master Lee also demonstrated various applications against different attacks. As can be expected based upon his official duties, his repertoire was direct and efficient.

The U.C. hapkido contingent joined us for the evening session after having spent the afternoon tossing the Yongin University Elite Judo Squad to and fro. Dr. Min had arranged this extra session of the program outside the official curriculum, and based upon the flushed faces upon their return, the contingent was quite pleased with this opportunity.

Although Master Lee delighted in showing the children how to wreak havoc upon one another, it is the opinion of this observer that he enjoyed wreaking havoc upon the hapkido group even more. As he wandered the room and corrected the students, it seemed that he spent more time with the hapkido students. And, it seemed he seemed to show them a bit more detail on how to inflict greater pain upon the recipient. No pain, no gain.