[ireleda]

I've been emailed by a guy and his son interested in joining our group here in tally. He said that this was his old Kumdo dojang. My gut tells me this is a McDojo but I want to ask you guys before I reply to his email.

[onlineslotetes]

Never mind. I just looked at the pics.

[Indoendris]

LOL, ok.... But if it helps, I think is normal being suspicious when you alreasy saw too many McDojos

[Buildityrit]

would love to see actual video...

dude, yeah.. it's obviously nothing serious going on over there (although some of them look to have decent bogu)...

if he wants to do kendo with you, look at the bright side:
1. it's an opportunity for you to get some REAL kendo to the guy, AND,
2. it's an opportunity for you to get another person at your club to practice with... (and you need practice partners down there)

is he talking about joining your group on a permanent basis?

in any case, i'd tell him to come on in, but that's just my opinion.

[blogwado]

Definitely. I would never refuse anyone willing to learn. I still have to email him and explain things but I hope he and his son decide to join.

would love to see actual video...

dude, yeah.. it's obviously nothing serious going on over there (although some of them look to have decent bogu)...

if he wants to do kendo with you, look at the bright side:
1. it's an opportunity for you to get some REAL kendo to the guy, AND,
2. it's an opportunity for you to get another person at your club to practice with... (and you need practice partners down there)

is he talking about joining your group on a permanent basis?

in any case, i'd tell him to come on in, but that's just my opinion.

[ApporpSothe]

oh good lord.. i'm reading more at the website....

Q: Are colored belts worn in Kum Do, as they are in many other martial arts?


A: Yes. Sabumnims (masters) wear a set of red colored do-bok, which is different from students.

[Anaerbguagree]

Bryan,
You should also perhaps be aware of this (for whatever it's worth) since Mr Kang (of the link you provide) says he is the director of the World Kumdo Federation (WKF)..

from wikipedia (grain of salt caveat here):
World Kumdo Association (WKA) - founded around 2001 as a merger of thirteen of the smaller, rival kumdo organizations, they are critical of the KKA and seek to become a rival to the FIK by having kumdo included in the Olympic games with them as the recognized governing body ahead of the FIK. They are proponents of changes to the format and scoring system, advocating the use of electric scoring as with fencing. Although they have strong political ties with people who were involved in making Taekwondo part of the Olympics, their membership is far smaller in number to that of the KKA and many FIK affiliates. Some WKA officials are noted as being practictioners of taekwondo rather than kumdo. It claims affiliates in other countries as well.

[jarsbars]

...of course, it's hard to get a handle on things (IMO) when talking about the koreans and kumdo.

I always seem to run into countless variations of "kumdo federations" which SOUND like one big deal but can mean any number of little deals.
there's a "world kumdo federation"
there's a "united states NATIONAL kumdo federation"
there's a "united states WORLD kumdo federation" (which can't be googled, btw).
.. on and on and on...

It's very confusing.

Heck.. when I was doing taekwondo in college, the main instructor of the system (he was in NJ, we were in TN)'s last name was KUM. He has since changed the spelling (how? why?) to KAHM. He's also added the title "Dr." to his name .. but I digress.
He mixed some things he had learned over the years to call his own style "Sung Woo Do Kwan"... and then this later seem to morph into what became known as "Kum Do" ..and it was also known as "Royal Korean Karate"... and "Kum Do Tae Kwon Do" ... (confused yet?)...
Anyway, the got rid of the "Kum Do" name because it was said that he was getting slack from guys doing kumdo (or maybe it was the whatever-kumdo-federation).

My point is... I have a hard time trying to figure out who's who and what's what when it comes to kumdo schools and kumdo federations. NO OFFENSE TO ANY KUMDO PLAYERS ON THIS BOARD.

That said, I know that Mr. Park (in Atlanta) is a kumdo guy and he's definitely legit.

[ScosyGissiok]

Here's a simple way of verifying whether a dojang is FIK sanctioned or not. Legit kumdo dojangs are either affiliated with AUSKF or the Korea Kumdo Association. (KKA is the only FIK sanctioned body in Korea.) Most KKA-affiliated dojangs with website usually display the KKA logo (which you can see at below websites). There are two KKA federations in the US:
KKAUSA (Western US)
KKA USEKF (Eastern US)

[xquFzpNw]

Ahhh! so many patches!

[drycleden]

No Owen.No. Patches are my territory. Back to the thread, I would love to do some jigeiko with the guy. I say let him drop in.