Uniform (Dobok)

A Dobok is the uniform worn by practitioners of Taekwon-do. Do means “way” and bok means “clothing.” A Dobok consists of a top, bottoms, and a belt to denote the grade of the wearer.

We require all students to wear the same uniform, our Doboks are sourced from our association (UKTA) and have specific insignia for both the UKTA and ITF. Please do not purchase these from external sources as you will be unable to find the correct Doboks.

Doboks must be kept clean at all times and should be washed after each session. This is to ensure a high level of hygiene is kept and to prolong the life of the dobok. Ensure that your dobok always fits correctly, if you out grow your dobok or your dobok becomes excessively worn then please be sure to purchase another.

Doboks can be altered as needed, we recommend rolling the sleeves inwards if they are too long and stitching or webbing them. Trouser legs are similar, however the waist of the dobok may be rolled up first. Please note that we always order doboks slightly larger for children, as they often grow out of them very quickly, so any alterations can be undone as the student grows.

Sparring Equipment

Protective equipment is a requirement to participate in sparring and competitions, due to health and safety we will not permit any students to participate without this equipment. We often suggest purchasing this equipment once the student has trained for a couple of months, and before they achieve their 8th Kup (Yellow belt) grading.

Once students achieve their 8th Kup grade, their subsequent grading criteria will include sparring, and at this grade the student is also eligible to participate in national competitions.

A student’s sparring kit should contain:

• Gloves (10oz close fist gloves)
• Foot pads
• Head protector
• Shin protectors
• Groin guard
• Chest guard (Ladies)
• Gum shield

Sparring equipment colours must match and be either Red or Blue, and all equipment must conform to the UKTA’s rules on competition equipment. We take the safety of students very seriously and students must have the correct equipment.

All purchases of equipment should be placed with your instructor. There are many different types of safety equipment and we require certain ones, so please do not purchase this without speaking to your instructor. Costs for this equipment vary, and we try to order as many at once to ensure discounts and reduced shipping costs.

Other Equipment

While not essential, we do recommend the following be part of a student’s kit.

• Kit bag
  This should be large enough to hold all of your safety equipment.
• Skipping rope
  This is essential for some warmups, however we will always provide alternate exercises for those without.
• Plasters, medicine, deep heat (adults), etc.
  Any essential medicines for medical conditions should be brought to every session, i.e. inhalers.
• Muscle rollers
  For adults, this helps with muscle relaxation after difficult training sessions.

We have a range of NEST Taekwon-do kit available, these are ordered in bulk so aren’t readily available for purchase, however we usually do a clothing order every 6-12 months. Keep an eye out throughout the year for us posting information on this kit and how to order it. All of this kit is of the highest quality.

Student Handbook

Student handbooks are available for purchase from your instructor. These books should be used as a learning aid for students to accompany their instructor’s teaching. We recommend that all students have the colour belt book before their first grading as it contains essential information for students to revise for their gradings.

The Blackbelt handbook is aimed at 1st to 4th Dan grades, and should only be purchased by blackbelts.

Training App

As an accompaniment to our instructor’s teaching, and the student handbook, we have produced a Taekwon-do Learning app to help students develop their Taekwon-do knowledge and learning. This app is available on the Google Play store and can be downloaded for free, for alternate platforms please contact us.

This app contains video demonstrations of patterns, and all the essential knowledge needed for each grading. However students should use this along with the Student Handbook for their revision.