Company: Turtle Press
Tape Name: Junsado: Combat Tactics 1 (JSD2)
Tape Cost:
Length of Tape/Time: 60 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques: 32
Return Policy:
Experiences in dealing with this company: Fantastic
Instructor: Sang H. Kim
Company's Address: 403 Silas Deane Hwy., Wethersfield, CT., 06109
Company's
Phone Number: 800-77-TURTL
Web Page: http://www.turtlepress.com
E-Mail:
sales@turtlepress.com
Main Grading Criteria:
1. Production/Tape Quality: 8
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 10
3.
Comprehension Score/Immediate Understanding: 9
4. Degree to which this will make
someone a better Martial Artist: 9
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 10
6. Degree
to which we'd recommend this product: 9
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number,
the less "fluff" and repetition): 8
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over
again: 9
9. Would I purchase more of this company's products: 9
10. Overall
grade based on cost vs. value: 10
Total: 92% (Good = 3 Stars)
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1. Beginners: Very Good
2. Intermediate: Good
3. Advanced: Good
4. Time
to benefit: immediate on most materials
5. The need to buy additional tapes to
understand this one: None
Written Summary:
This tape by Mr. Kim
goes through a variety of counters one could apply to various self defense situations.
From a TKD'ers point of view, you could describe this as a "self defense tape".
Mr. Kim takes the viewer through 32 different self defense situations, whereas many
TKD schools in our area only teach, maybe, 12-15. The sheer number of self defense
scenarios shown on this tape, in my opinion, earned Kim some "brownie points".
OK, on to the technique portion. There were several counters I'd never seen
before that were quite incredible, and this helped Kim rack up even more "brownie
points". However, there were several techniques I saw that made me kind of scratch
my head and go: "Yeah, that might work if the guy stands still, or your timing
is absolutely perfect." I guess the best way to explain that is like this. During
each of these counters, Mr. Kim does anywhere from 2-3 techniques for each self defense
scenario. Some of the techniques chosen weren't necessarily the ones I might've picked,
and this somewhat concerned me. I come from the school of thought that you always
try to go for the closest, quickest, and simpliest target. Some of Mr. Kim's techniques,
in my opinion, went for what I'd define as "secondary targets", that were
somewhat out-of-the-way. These secondary targets by themselves didn't bother me as
much as the finese that might be required to get to them. But due to my TKD background,
I can understand the average TKD'ers mindset in which you can never have too many
options when it comes to "self defense". It's good to know how to counter
a hair grab, for instance, in as many ways as you possibly can, even if some of them
are "secondary targets". OK, no reason to fault Mr. Kim for that because
it doesn't make this an undesireable tape. Just something people should keep in mind
that I thought should be pointed out.
Next, I had a problem with the production
quality of this tape. Some of the counters were shown up to 6 times, a little excessive,
but still, Mr. Kim did provide 32 scenarios, and provide the viewer an overabundance
of scenarios, whereas many schools only teach 12-15, total, all the way to Black
Belt. That one I was able to justify and let slide a little, still, he only earned
an "8" in the production category. This was mainly due to another production
problem which I would describe as an editing one. The editing was done haphazardly,
in my opinion. During different self defense scenarios, the very beginning of different
"takes" is missing. Meaning, you might miss seeing how the person actually
steps in, the first grab or punch, and sometimes the first countering technique shown
by Mr. Kim. This was mainly a problem when the tape would do several repeats of the
same technique. For me, this was very annoying. Not only was there alot of repetition,
showing techniques up to 6 times, but to sometimes have the first entry, grab, or
counter, mistakenly cut out, was frustrating to no end. Still, there wasn't any scenario,
in which a person might COMPLETELY miss a certain significant entry of counter shown.
This happened mostly during the "repetitions" of each scenario.
OK,
so what was on this tape, well here it is, Kim shows counters to each of these self
defense scenarios:
1. Front Push (3 different counters shown, 1 was awesome
and I'd never seen or thought of it!)
2. Rear Push
3. Single Wrist Grab
4.
Double Handed Collar Grab
5. Rear Arm Lock w/ Hair Grab
6. Front Choke
7.
Rear Choke
8. Straight Front Punch
9. Shoulder Grab w/ Punch
10. Elbow Strike
11.
Backfist
12. Slap
13. Hook Punch
14. Circular Kick (but really looked like
a front kick)
15. Stomping Kick
16. Side Kick (back leg side kick, or # 2 side
kick for you ATA'ers)
17. Knee
18. Low Kick
19. Rear Kick
20. Head Kick
(not sure how many of these one might run into, but what the heck!)
21. Take Down
22.
Inside Sweep
23. Tackling (one of the counters I'd never seen or thought of before,
and it was awesome!)
24. Rear Tackle
25. Leg Grab (would work on single or
double leg grab)
26. Leg Throw (this one I had problems with, might only work
if timing was absolutely perfect)
27. Rear Arm Lock
28. Rear Arm Lock w/ Choke
29.
Rear Arm Lock on the Floor
30. Side Head Lock
31. Frontal Headlock
32. Chin
Lock
So there you have it. I wouldn't rate this as an excellent tape, due
to production problems, and the basic concept that you should learn your primary
targets, before you let yourself get overwhelmed or confused by the use of secondary
targets. However I can't say I felt this was a bad tape because of that. There was
alot of valuable information. It really had some excellent stuff. For those of you
that are ITF, WTF, or ATA practitioners, you probably wouldn't want to pass it up.
The techniques shown would add alot to your repetoire. And for those that are intermediate
or advanced students of TKD, owning this tape could provide you a ton of additional
ideas, as it did for me, that you could incorporate in these self defense situations
and others. For everyone else, specifically those not involved in a kicking art,
I'd put this one on your "get it someday" list.
