The Importance of Adaptability in Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo

By Sean Huntley, red belt, CTI LeAD Team Member

Adaptability, one’s ability to adapt or change in a situation, is important everywhere, however, it is especially important in Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo. In MSK Taekwondo things are constantly changing, reshuffled. You have to be able to keep up with all of it, and so you must be adaptable. If you can't change with everyone else then you will have a hard time in MSK Taekwondo and other aspects of your life, I know, I have personal experience. I hate change, I always want to have a plan, but I’m in MSK Taekwondo, and so I need to be able to be flexible. I will point out some examples of when I needed to be adaptable in MSK Taekwondo, as well as ones that you could find yourself in. I will also explore how to be more adaptable, so next time something changes for you it won't be that hard.

I am a testing red belt, and as such I need a black belt journal. The CTI Black Belt Symposium is a big event, like expo, for upper belts.  Now, I was looking forward to going to the 2019 CTI Symposium because it would allow me to fill out a large portion of pages in my journal. I got to the first presentation of a black belt and I realized I had forgotten by journal at home. At first I was panicked, what would I do without my journal? Then I calmed down and realized that I had to take notes somehow, so I grabbed a hand out I had gotten from another class and took notes on that. Throughout Symposium I took notes on whatever I had, papers, folders, even boards. When I got home I filled my journal in with those notes I had gathered and i got a good amount of pages. I could have given up on taking notes and just stopped trying, but I adapted and got through that unfortunate situation.

Another experience I have had where I had to adapt in MSK Taekwondo was every team tournament and demo. Now, with the team tournament happening soon, as of this writing, I have realized just how much my team demo has changed. We have gone through about 10 different ideas of how to make it look, always adjusting, rearranging moves, or switching formations. If anyone has been on a team or a demo they know how much it changes each time you practice it. This is why you need to be flexible when you do things like this, you are in a team and your teammates might have different ideas than you have. If you are rigid and unchanged in how you want the demo to go then your teammates will have problems with it, they may not try their best, they may feel upset because you are not listening to them, they might be confused on the demo and wanting to simplify it so they can look good while doing it. If you keep the demo the same you might be missing out on a really creative idea that could help your team. If you are participating in a larger demo you have to be able to be open to change and, however hard it is, go with the flow. Although it is less of a problem for me now I have always have problems working with others, I always wanted things to look my way. It was hard working with others on a team basics demo my first time at it. Over time I learned that you had to be flexible when you work with other people and today I work much better with teams. When creating or participating in a demo you have to be adaptable so the demo can grow and change to become even better and you can work well in a team.

The last example I will talk about is sparring. Sparring is one of the most important places to be adaptable in Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo. When you spar you have to make split second decisions, there is no time for a large plan. Sure, you can plan out a fake or a kick, but you can't know what your opponent is going to do. You could know their sparring strategy, but if you make a plan it could be shattered in an instant as your opponent makes one unexpected move. Now when I spar I keep my opponents sparring strategy in mind, but stay loose and focus on what my opponent is doing, no plan. This works quite well, as now I can change my attack, block, or where I am putting my hand or foot based on what my opponent just did. When sparring, you should focus on the moment, not getting caught up in a plan that was foiled. You have to be adaptable in sparring because if you are not you will not be able to defend yourself from and attack an unpredictable opponent.

MSK Taekwondo is ever changing, and so as a student you have to be adaptable. While you need to be adaptable in all aspects of taekwondo events, like tournaments and expos, team poomse and demos, and sparring are some of the most important. Try to be flexible when you go to class and do anything MSK Taekwondo related, make a plan B, go with the flow. If you allow yourself to be adaptable it will raise you to a new level of understanding.