The 2005 ATA All Tang Soo Do Championships featured a very special event. The "Iron Man," Grandmaster Richard Byrne, set out to break his own world record of 14 boards with an elbow strike. With a huge crowd watching, could he come through and set a new world record, 15 boards with an elbow strike?
Well, what do you think happened?
How many people in this world can break 9 1-inch pine boards with a punch? 8 boards with an instep round kick? 14 with an elbow strike?
Not many. And the number that could do all three, in rapid succession? Well, there's only one name on that list. Grandmaster Richard Byrne.
It's one thing to hit hard, to break a board or a rock or a piece of concrete with overwhelming physical force. It is something completely different to lay a hand on a cement block and have it crumble because of the channeling of internal energy. We've all seen the former. Here, from the ATA Masters Demonstration at the 2002 Summer Camp, is Grandmaster Byrne doing the latter...
Some of you might be wondering, "Don't they have anything to offer other than breaking?" The answer to that is, "Yes." Here, we've got an educational self-defense routine, performed by two of the highest-ranking members of the ATA, Master Penny Mitchell and Master Gordon MacDonald, at the ATA's 2005 Summer Camp Masters Demonstration.
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