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Patterns: The Devil Is In The Details - Part 4
by Stuart Anslow
Page 3/3
Ge-Baek’s Flying Side Piercing Kick
Whilst on the subject of 1st degree patterns, lets take a look a the Flying Side Piercing Kick (move #23) in Ge-Baek tul. Following the previous move which is the Middle Turning Kick the (previous) kicking foot (right) is placed down about one shoulder width from the left foot, keeping the heel of the right foot off the ground, in preparation for the next move. The Flying Side Piercing Kick is executed immediately following the Turning Kick, with no pause or what ITF’ers would term ’fast motion’ and this is where my issue kicks in (excuse the pun).
What I see fairly often is students executing the Flying Side Piercing Kick using a skipping motion, meaning their left or rear foot comes off the floor first as they start the skip, then they kick as they land and this is incorrect as the Flying Side Piercing Kick is a ‘twin foot’ take off technique.
What the student should be doing is, following placing the foot down after the Turning Kick, bend both knees slightly and spring straight up and forwards, lifting both feet off the floor at the same time, tucking the knees up and then executing the kick in mid air before landing in the Walking Stance for the next move.
This is the final article in the series. As always, be sure to clarify any changes you may make (or feel like making) with your instructor first as some organisations do require some things performed differently.
Just to remind you that the musings in this article are randomly off the top of my head though the photo’s are taken from my books ‘The Encyclopedia Of Taekwon-Do Patterns: The Complete Patterns Resource For Ch’ang Hon, ITF & GTF Students Of Taekwon-Do” and feature Dan grade students from Rayners Lane Taekwon-Do Academy.