By This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , July 14, 2009

Last month, I interviewed Grandmaster Chang Keun (C. K.) Choi, who helped create Tae Kwon Do. He was the world’s first champion in the art, a two-time winner of Korea’s full-contact, mixed-martial-arts championships in 1962 and 1963. If you know anything about the bare-knuckled, heavyweight sparring in those days – in Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Tang Soo Do, Kong Soo Do, whatever – then you know how tough and talented he had to be. He still is.

He allowed me to videotape a couple of the Sparring Patterns that he developed in South Korea and Canada, techniques that he considers essential in training how to fight. Here’s one: “Punching Sparring Pattern,” which is done in three positions (stationary, sliding forward, and sliding backward). The punches are executed continuously with maximum speed and power, which means that you need to engage the hips – all your momentum – for every punch, without flailing, and with the intention that each punch is a knock-out to a vital spot.

“A lot of Tae Kwon Do students do weak techniques that put them in a danger,” Choi told me. “All attacks must have enough power to damage or knock-out an opponent.”

In the video above, CK Choi demonstrates the punches slowly, in stationary position, so you can see each technique. In total, you should do 30 punches (10 for each position). Choi knocked out many opponents with some of these punches – both in the ring and out. More about those stories in future posts.

For now, please read what he told me about himself. If any of you know where we can find the “Educational Film” that he talks about, please contact me ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). C K Choi hasn’t been able to track it down. He writes:

“My Tae Kwon Do relationship with General Choi Hong Hi began in 1960 after I gave a demonstration for a Tae Kwon Do “Educational Film” in the largest South Korean Army Training Center in Non-San, South Korea, where General Choi was commander. After the demonstration, General Choi and Lieutenant Woo Jong Lim asked me to join the Korean Army in 1960 and to teach Tae Kwon Do in the Training Center. I ended up supporting General Choi in spreading Tae Kwon Do worldwide, until he developed ties with communist North Korea. At the time, South Korea was technically at war with North Korea.”

For more about C. K. Choi and his tell-all book, The Korean Martial Art of Tae Kwon Do & Early History, please see his website. It also includes archival photos and a reliable list of Tae Kwon Do’s pioneers: www.taekwondopioneers.com.