Classes

Maynooth Taekwon-Do School has two scheduled classes per week, for children and adults aged 8 and older. We train on Tuesday and Thursday evenings 19:00 to 21:00. All students are requested to arrive ten minutes before the beginning of class. Both classes are in Gaelscoil Uí Fhiaich (Maynooth Road).

Activities during classes

Typical classes include the kinds of activities listed below. Although of course not every activity takes place in every class:

Formal start

The class begins with all students lining up and bowing to the instructor

Warm up

Typical warm up exercises include:

• jogging around the dojang (exercise hall)
• jumping jacks
• leg swings

Stetching

Arms and especially leg muscles will be streched after the warm-ups,
to increase flexibility and to avoid injury when performing Taekwon-Do

Learning & practising techniques & theory

Typical techniques include:

• kicking and punching techniques, either non-contact or to pads held by another student
• self-defence techniques, in theory, and practising with other students
• patterns - learning the progressively more sophisticated sequences of set movements, both to improve techniques and to exercise the body
• breaking - higher grades learn to break wooden boards to demonstrate correct application of kicking and striking techniques
• light contact sparring, with other students, all wearing regulation safety equipment, under the supervision of instructors
  if near a competition date, a mock sparring competition may take place (for those choosing to enter the competition), to ensure are familiar with the sparring competition rules and procedures
• Korean language practice - while beginners are trained and examined in English, higher grades are expected to learn the names of techniques in Korean, and so occassionally part of a class will include pracive and learning of Korean language for Taekwon-Do techniques and parts of the body

Mock gradings

Some classes, near to the time of a grading examination, will include practice gradings, to ensure students are familiar with the examination procedures, and to help them become aware of the extend to which they are able to perform the theory and techniques required to progress to the next Taekwon-Do grade

Fun and games

sometimes instructors will get students to play enjoyable games, with the aim of improving balance, speed, awareness of others around us
Examples of such games:

• 2-minute relay race in small teams of 3 or 4
• knock out games, where the aim is to survive as long as possible, for example you might have to pat someone on the head, or touch their shoulder with your foot, or grab their belt, in order to knock-out another student
• crab soccer - where all students play soccer in the hall with a tennis ball, while moving around on their hands and legs

Warm down

Typical warm down exercises include:

• stretching
• pressups & plank
• situps

Formal end

The class ends with all students lining up and bowing to the instructor

Classes

• Taekwon-Do Classes
• Little Dragons Programme
• Self-Defence and Awareness
• Schools Programme
• Private Lessons
• Club Rules