I got a bit of time between meetings today, and as I waited for the next rush of people I found time to do some research on what I will need to do if I intend to try some Olympic trials.

The first glaring obstacle is that I have to get a black belt recognized by the Kukkiwon.

(Kukkiwon (국기원; 國技院), also known as World Taekwondo Headquarters, and home of the World Taekwondo Academy, is the official taekwondo governing organisation established by the South Korean government. It is supervised by the International Sports Division of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism)

I am not a martial artist who was raised in the WTF... I began learning Tae Kwon Do in Mississippi at the age of 8 through Unified Taekwondo International. I progressed slowly through the ranks to red belt and that's where I stopped. That was around the year 2000 and it wasn't until later that I began studying with a small group of guys and was awarded my black belt through participation with them.

As it is, I suppose that I am an unrecognized black belt, and have been wearing the black and teaching off and on for 6-8 years. Before I will be allowed to set foot into anything resembling an Olympic Qualifier, I am going to have to find a way to get certified.

The downside is that the schools here in Austin Texas all seem to use the Taegeuk forms and I was brought up with the Chun-Ji set of forms used by the ITF. Achieving my Kukkiwon recognized black belt MAY be more hassle than I am prepared to go through as "traditional" martial arts do not interest me as much as they used to.