Patterns help students develop

Stronger, faster, and more effective kicks, blocks, and strikes
Stronger and more secure fighting stances and positions
Sparring techniques
Defensive and offensive moves for every self-defense situation
Build endurance
Condition muscles to be harder and stronger
Rhythm and grace of movement
Awareness of oneself and body
Effective breathing techniques

Patterns mark the progress of student development. Higher ranks require more complex patterns that challenge them to increase their level of discipline and proficiency. As students progress in rank, the patterns they are required to learn increase in complexity and difficulty. Traditionally, students must perform a pattern hundreds of times before learning the next one, but in modern Taekwondo, this level of proficiency is not usually required.

In the ancient Orient, a law similar to the law of Hamurabi (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) was rigorously enforced. If you injured another person, you had to be punished, even when the injury was caused accidentally. Since modern free-sparring had not yet been developed, Taekwondo students who practiced their fighting skills against other persons risked their own safety if they harmed their opponents. Therefore, the development of fighting proficiency was somewhat hindered until the first patterns were developed. Then students were able to fight imaginary opponents with no chance of injuring an opponent.

Through the practice of patterns, students learn to apply various Taekwondo techniques in practical ways and to join the techniques into useful combinations. They improve their sparring skills by developing fluid, smooth, rhythmical, powerful movements. Gichin Funakoshi, the father of Shotokan karate, taught only a little sparring, he based his teaching on patterns. Funakoshi believed that "Once you have completely mastered kata, then you may adapt it to kumite." Patterns also help students refine their coordination, flexibility, balance, timing, endurance, and breath control, all of which are essential to the proper execution of Taekwondo techniques. Patterns enable students to practice techniques alone and to practice them against simulated attacks that are difficult to duplicate during class exercises or while sparring. While free-sparring enables students to compare their fighting skills to those of other students, patterns permit students to evaluate critically their own individual techniques in a controlled situation. Karate master, Richard Kim, always believed that within kata was all he would ever need to know to defend himself.

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