Tae KwonDo is a very good sport but is it efective in real life situations? Probably not, no. The problem with Tae Kwon Do is, it's turned more into a Olympic sport rather then a real self defence. If you want to do a real self defence martial art that realy does work in the real world try Jiu Jitsu or Judo. There are others but that would be my choice simply because most of the moves are fairly simple to learn. Lets face it when are you ever going to have a chance to perform a 10 move combo! before you get knocked down! Simplicity is the answer on over complex movements.