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After I hurt my back really bad I actually got back into Hapkido through a very "orthodox" organiztion that practices the same curriculum as the founder of the art. I got back into it because of the lack of sparring because my injury was so bad that I couldn't do any shrimping, bridging, etc. All I could really do was standing wrist locks and crap for a long time. I WANTED to spend that time on BJJ, but just couldn't. But I wanted to still do martial arts so I contacted an instructor that I thought was the closest to being legit. I've had a good time with it though.
Oddly enough their striking curriculum includes open hand strikes, elbows, knees, and low kicks such as instep stomp type kicks. All stuff that works from within clinch range. So they actually could do some decent sparring with a focus on very close striking and still stay within their curriculum. I'm not saying it would make them "cage ready" but definitely some pressure testing to make them ready for an actual self defense fight. If you get my point.
I may have been to hard on Hapkido. My thing is, i have a hapkido place near me, that spars. Watched the sparring and it looks like KKW/WTF sparring but a bit different. The scant little bit i have watched didnt have grappling but featured way more punching then i saw in WTF sparring.
My issue with Hapkido is the way they teach some of the standing locks. I saw lots of stuff done off of a punch. Saw things like they would do a 2 on 1 catch of a punch, usually at the lower forearm, then do a lock/throw of some kind. But it looked alot like akido punch catching... Which was a red flag for me.
Does any of their punching/kicking defense actually work?
If it helps the school i watched, the teacher trains under Grand Master West.