It takes about 3 years to get to 1 Dan. Then to get to 2 Dan, it takes about a year or so more. I was extrememly busy during that time, hence the reason that I quit. Our sparring during class was mainly light sparring, but in the tournaments, it was full contact. I fought in the Junior division once, because I was 14. I quit shortly after that, and for the last 4 years I've been studying on my own.
What we learned was that General Choi Hong Hi was the first in Korea to actually DOCUMENT the arts common to the area. He wasn't the one to make them up, of course, but rather first to compile them together into what is now called Taekwon-Do, and teach it to students. Along with all our patterns or katas (to use the karate name) we were taught the history of what this particular form was actually about, and what inspired it. (I couldn't tell you all that crap now though.) I've sat in a few of Taekwon-Do classes my friends were taking, but none of them taught any of this. If you are interested in reading up a little, I found their website. It's
www.ustf-itf.com I personally have not seen this site yet, so I'm going to do some looking around too. I was a part of SereffTKD. Grand Master Charles E. Sereff was about the 3rd 9th Dan I believe. There's not many. His gym is in Denver.
Obviously, if you are gonna get jumped or something, someone will come in with a barrage of attacks. Those 3 to 4 are best avoided in my opinion. Keep your distance for the first few seconds, and you can learn a LOT about your enemy. Whether or not he has any experience, whether or not he is intoxicated, how quick and strong he is, etc. There's times when a guy has tried to tackle me like a damn football player, and I just tossed them aside. One swift kick, and he's done. Some people say that it's fucked up to kick someone while he's down, but shit, if you're going to try to beat my ass I'm not going to hold back. In my opinion, taking away someone's root (or balance) is KEY. I'm actually more prone to use knees and elbows. If your going to get close, might as well do the most possible damage, right. Your knee and elbow are about the strongest and most durable weapons you have. Why not use them accordingly?
Now, I've been really interested in Internal Martial Arts rather than External. Your external arts are Karate, Taekwon-Do, kickboxing, etc. Those arts that teach simply attacks, defenses, etc. Internal arts are the ones that teach about your body's flow of Qi, and those arts not only used for fighting, but healing as well. Some of these are Taiji Chuan, Baguazhang, Dim Mak, etc. I've found these to be very intriguing.