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Interesting Comments

10/21/99 -- TKD Comments by TR McClanahan, former Treasurer of the Pan American TKD Union -- Even though Americans now control the Ohio TKD Federation, there still is a pervasive Korean influence. This is good or bad depending on the who gets the money and if the control is turned into a competitive business. He said that Koreans are moving into their own organizations in completion with the NGB. He also said that it is a myth that the Korea killed the Kwans. They are prospering in the USA.

10/19//99 - I have heard of the CTA many times over the past years. What is it? It has even been called the Central Technical Authority. How so?

The CTA was envisioned in the sixties and formed in the early seventies.

The formation of the Central Taekwondo Association (CTA) was caused by the indifference to American cultural ethics practiced by many Korean Taekwondo instructors together with the growing isolation of American practitioners and the discouraging possibilities of Americans to collaborate together and share their hard gained knowledge.

American have an interactive and gregarious culture developed by the interchange of ideas and commingling of cultural patterns. To tell Americans where they can practice or that they can have “only one father” defies American cultural norms. Learn everywhere from everyone and apply it as you see fit. That’s the American way. Loyalty and honor, respect elders and seniors is a basic tenet, but freedom of action and choice is American to the roots.

American instructors thus formed the CTA with these ideas of interchange of Korean Karate in the Americans but still with the principles of great respect and support for the original master instructors. Loyalty from free people is the strongest type of loyalty, but the subject and leader must share equally in responsibility and obligations.

In a few years the CTA grew large and became a leading organization in the Central USA. Strategically place and with a truly enlightened leadership of great skill, it was inevitable that it would become involved with the national martial arts movement toward the Olympics which was spearheaded by the AAU.

Involved with the AAU, CTA personnel became instrumental in accomplishing the separation of TKD and Karate within that body and soon occupied serious executive position, directing both TKD and Karate under the Martial Arts Committee. From there it was prime mover in the splitting of the Martial Arts Committee into the separate committees of TKD and Karate. Eventually, the CTA chose to work with the Karate Committee because the structure was more open to the American, although the new chairman of the AAU TKD, Ken Min, was a really good buy and was always a consummate gentleman. Unfortunately, that couldn't be said of all the personnel, many of whom protected the Korea positions to the detriment of the Americans.

The CTA now became involved with the USKA under the late GM Robert Trias and was appointed thee controlling body for USKA TKD. The CTA chairman became the style-head for TKD and GM Trias agreed to help with the push to the Olympics. The CTAs connection with the AAU TKD ruptured when the association became the leader in moving the AAU Karate to the Olympic standard under the name of the USA Karate Federation, and CTA personnel then assumed key roles in the formation of the new organization. For several years the USAKF Nationals continued to be co-sanctioned by the CTA and approved by the USKA.

Soon after this, the AAU Taekwondo became the USTF and moved under the USOC umbrella. A few years later the USAKF was fully formed and also moved into the Olympic family

Because of the animosity displayed by some TKD and Karate practitioners for each other, the technical section of the CTA became know as the Central Technical Authority and played a strong part in the development of the national federation.

Historically, the CTA is one of the oldest actual federations in the United States and has been instrumental in the formation of many organization of great size and strength in this country.

These include The USA Karate Federation, The US Jujitsu Federation. The World Kobudokan Federation, the Global Martial Arts Federation, The Kwanmukan International, The International Traditional Bujitsu Development and Research Foundation, The International Karate Instructors Institute, The USKA PSDI, and The International Shudokan Association. And, of course, we should mention that it wrote the constitution for the Pan American Union of Karatedo Organizations and hosted the First World Technical Congress of WUKO, under the designation of the Central Technical Authority of the USA Karate Federation.

Quite a history.

Today you could say the CTA is a sub-kwan of the Chang Moo Kwan and works tirelessly for USA martial arts and Taekwondo in particular.