Is this club at the campus? If so how old is the "instructor"?
Yes he is insecure, blinkered and closeted - as most people who stick to a traditional art are and become more so
- what Bruce Lee called "The Classical Mess".
TKD s a good art if you remember to absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and don't get caught in the structure. Come back to freeplay - the original freedom.
It was more regimented than disciplined - this is a training aid - very different from "teaching a class. That's why you need to be a 3rd dan to be a sensei while any black belt from 1st dan can instruct drills at a class.
You should always strecth before a kicking session but it should not turn into a streching class - you are there to learn MA not yoga. And is the stretching directly relevant to the kicking done?
And is the "kicking" actually kicking or just waving the leg in the air?
The different ways to launch a kick are only important in relevance to what you are doing at any time.
Attributes are always more important than technique.
Speed, power, accuracy, correct line, recovery.
Tactics are even more important - not just HOW to kick but WHY and WHEN.
They have a dropped guard because they work at long kick range and kick in front of the target so don't realy learn to block properly - hence the running backwards and ending up against the wall.
TKD is one of those styles that looks flash and has no real substance - it only works against someone doing EXACTLY the same thing.
In the SC matches of the 90s TKD players never got past the first round - they all lost against karate and lau gar players.
Also look at UFC - do you see TKD guys keeping distance and doing those kicks against thai boxers, boxers, shooters and grapplers? No because it doesn't work when the gap closes.
Savate is far more effective which is why we tap savate not TKD in STMA and JKD.
But like I said, if you enjoy TKD and Judo, or anything else, keep up with it, come back and try some moves out in sparring freeplay - that's what freeplay is for.
Remember Ren doing WC in Leeds and coming back to do chi sao with our sempai. The training he did had benefitted him when he didn't get caught in the structure.
Ultimately your style of fighting will end up being the" style - when you are moving and expressing yourself from a place of freedom. Any "teacher" who tells you different just wants to keep you in a place of ignorance - and is either lying to you or doesn't know better.
If you:
1. learn something
2. get a good workout
3. have some fun
you have achieved your objectives in attending a training session.
There really aren't any other.
