Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine - Issue 17 - Usadojo

We can now see that there is a definite
bias towards the right leg in the colour belt
patterns; 59% of the kicks are with the right
leg. But, there are only 29 kicks in the
colour belt patterns. Rather a small number
to draw any firm conclusions about TKD
patterns as a whole. Let’s now look at the
black belt patterns, where the number of
kicks increases.
Black Belt Patterns
The first two black belt patterns (Kwang
Gae and Po Eun) are symmetrical, and
contain equal kicks
on the right and left
sides. In Kwang
Gae, each leg
performs a pressing
kick, a middle side
piercing kick and a
middle front snap
kick, while in Po
Eun each leg
performs a single
pressing kick.
But when we get to
the third and final
1st degree pattern,
Gye Baek, the
symmetry is lost and
the bias towards the
right leg is quite
astonishing. For the
right leg, there is a
low twisting kick,
middle side piercing
kick, two middle
turning kicks (one of
them is while shifting) and a flying side
piercing kick. For the left leg, there is a
single low side front snap kick.
The first 2nd degree pattern, Eui Am, is
symmetrical, with four kicks for each leg.
The next pattern (Choong Jang) is not,
though. For the right leg, there are three
low front snap kicks (one with the knee), a
high turning kick (from a crouched position),
a middle front snap kick, and a middle side
piercing kick. For the left leg, we again find
Left turning kick - from the First TKD World Cup in
Orlando, 2004
a single front snap kick (middle section).
Juche, the third 2nd degree pattern, is one
of the most difficult patterns in Taekwon-
Do. It is broadly symmetrical, except for a
few moves, and this is the first and only
pattern where we find more kicks with the
left leg than with the right. Kicks the left leg
performs that the right leg doesn’t are a
pick-shape kick and a slow-motion middle
back piercing kick. Does this make Juche
biased towards lefties? I don’t think so,
because there is another asymmetry in the
kicks. This is in the
form of a flying twodirection
kick, with
the right leg
performing a side
kick and the left a
twisting kick. This
kick may seem even
at first, but in my
opinion it is much
easier for righties to
perform than it is for
lefties. This is
because it is a left
leg take-off, and is
performed in a very
similar manner to a
right leg flying side
kick. I would
therefore say that
while Juche has
more kicks with the
left, overall it is
about even in my
opinion.
The picture improves slightly with the 3rd
degree patterns, although we still find a
right leg bias in Sam Il. Both legs perform a
middle side piercing kick, but for the right
leg there is a middle-section twisting kick
and a sweeping kick, while the left leg has
a low front snap kick.
Yoo Sin and Choi Yong are, however, both
symmetrical, with eight kicks split evenly
between left and right in Yoo Sin, and
twelve kicks split evenly between left and
Totally Tae Kwon Do - 61