Now that the Olympics have come and gone, not to return for four more years and taekwondo goes back to being 'Ka-RAH-tay' to the general public, one thing is different this year: thanks to a Cuban athlete's temper tantrum, the word, Taekwondo, appeared on the front page of the papers, for all to see.  Not Judo, not Karate, not kickboxing, but Taekwondo.  Putting aside the negative aspect of the story, Taekwondo made the front page of probably every major paper in the country, at least every major paper in my area. 

Now, everyone knows, and will remember for probably a month, that Taekwondo is an olympic event and a martial art.  Some of that everyone either already was considering a martial art or was sparked to consider one upon hearing about it.  Since the TKD events weren't televised, nobody is going to be asking about why they spar with their hands down or why nobody punches at the Olympics.  They'll be curious about the martial art.  Most will not do exhaustive web searches to get their info.  They'll do what everyone else does and head to the local TKD school to check it out.

While I'm not anticipating a huge windfall of customers, I do see any increased exposure and interest to be potentiall beneficial.  Potential students coming in the door this month will have it in the back of their mind that taekwondo exists and is in the olympics.  For those who's schools don't say 'taekwondo' on the door, when we tell them that it isn't karate, but taekwondo, they won't say, 'never heard of it.'

So here's my question:  How can we take that relatively instant and quickly fading exposure from the Olympics and put it to work to benefit both our schools and our art?  Doesn't matter if you're an Olympic school or not, I'd like to hear all points of view.

Daniel

i had a brother and sister start this week and when i asked the parents how they found out about the class they told me they saw tkd on tv at the olympics and decided to give it a try. must admit i nearly fainted on the spot as after the cuban's antics i never thought in a million years anyone would take up tkd based on the olympic showing. suppose any sort of press is good press

Well we are not an Olympic style school, but when I have been explaining the difference between our art and other styles, I have been using the fact that one part of our art is in the  Games since the first time it was a part. I have also been using the fact that our art is practiced by more people world wide than any other single style (this was the info. I was told when I was with our old organization, if this is no longer true or never was, please let me know, so I can quit lying to people). Anyway, the fact is negative press always gets more attention than positive, it's what sells papers and gets ratings. The true test is explaining how what they saw isn't what the true art is about and still keep their attention. This is where your passion for the art can truly shine. I plan on putting a poster in our window. Something like "Taekwondo Sparring - An Olympic Event" or something along those lines. Use it as a draw and then show them the whole package.

As un-tkd like as the Cuban incident was, I wonder how many more people would have signed up if he had dropped him with that kick.  You're right though I have had people that showed no interest in TKD that wanted to talk to me about it all because of this guy's behavior.