Olympic Taekwondo - Skills

[Oh Mah Gawd]

TKD fighters holding their hands lower than fighters from other combat sports is not something that is specifically taught (the traditional fighting stance has the hands up near the face), but is a practice that has resulted from the confluence of several factors:

1) Ratio of body kicks to head kicks -- Many more body shots are thrown than head shots, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a 10:1 ratio. Therefore, keeping your hands and arms lower to cover the scoring zones of the chest protector is preferred to keeping them up to protect the face for the occasional head kick.

2) Emphasis on evasion and counterkicking -- Since TKD emphasizes kicking, and especially emphasizes counterkicking, it behooves the TKD fighter to maintain kicking distance when attacked. While blocks are taught and sometimes used, fighters generally prefer to evade and create space for a counterattack rather than stand in the pocket and just block. So when that occasional head kick is thrown, TKD fighters prefer to move and counter rather than counting on their hands to protect them. This is especially true given that head kicks require more commitment, and therefore leave a greater opening for counterattacks. That opening is likely to be lost by not maintaining distance and blocking.

3) Use of arms to create rotation -- Fighters from other combat sports that use kicks generally lower their arms a bit to swing them and create extra rotation and power. TKD fighters are no different. And since TKD fighers are constantly kicking, economy of motion dictates that it benefits TKD fighters to keep their arms lower to aid this movement, rather than constantly switching from a hands-up-by-the-face stance.

Great post and explanation.

 

[Jambo99]

No mention of electronic scoring in relation to punching?

Currently at all top level WTF competitions (A Class and above) Electronic trunk protectors are used to register points - judges do not score them. Due to the technology being in it's infancy there have been a number of issues and this is alreday starting to alter the gameplan for many fighters.

Taekwondo had become very fast and dynamic with lots of doubles etc. Players are finding these difficult to score due to the calibration of the equipment. By contrast lots more punches are now scoring as the concentration of the force into knuckles translates well onto the electronic protectors. So there is lots more punching these days (albiet still not much).

 

[leftlegkicker]

No mention of electronic scoring in relation to punching?

Currently at all top level WTF competitions (A Class and above) Electronic trunk protectors are used to register points - judges do not score them. Due to the technology being in it's infancy there have been a number of issues and this is alreday starting to alter the gameplan for many fighters.

Taekwondo had become very fast and dynamic with lots of doubles etc. Players are finding these difficult to score due to the calibration of the equipment. By contrast lots more punches are now scoring as the concentration of the force into knuckles translates well onto the electronic protectors. So there is lots more punching these days (albiet still not much).

E-scoring is currently only used for kicks to the body. Head shots and punches are still scored by judges.

Lajust and Daedo (who make the gear) have designed it so that it will score punches, but WTF has not OKed it for competition use yet. My guess is that they are still trying to figure out how to score punches electronically without turning TKD matches into boxing matches -- after all, why go through all the trouble of kicking when you can throw a bunch of punches.

 

[Jambo99]

Correct about headkicks - I didn't make my post clears that judges don't score body shots.

However, punches are scored by the electronic protector, the pressure sensitive protector does not recognise what it was hit by.


WTF competition rules
Article 13.3.1
"valid points scored on the mid-section of the trunk shall be recorded automatically by the transmitter in the electronic trunk protector......"
Then goes on to describe manual scoring for extra points for "turning" kicks but nothing about punching.

 

[leftlegkicker]

Correct about headkicks - I didn't make my post clears that judges don't score body shots.

However, punches are scored by the electronic protector, the pressure sensitive protector does not recognise what it was hit by.


WTF competition rules
Article 13.3.1
"valid points scored on the mid-section of the trunk shall be recorded automatically by the transmitter in the electronic trunk protector......"
Then goes on to describe manual scoring for extra points for "turning" kicks but nothing about punching.

Both the Lajust and Daedo system work by sensing power. But sensing power alone is not sufficient to score a point, since someone could use an illegal strike (elbow, knee, open palm) with enough power to register a point. So in order to score a point, both systems also require a sock-like foot covering with an embedded sensor to make contact with the hogu to differentiate a kick from an illegal strike. Only when the hogu registers both power and contact from the sensor will the point go up. The software can be set up to measure power alone for training purposes, but in every official WTF competition I've seen, socks have been mandatory.

Lajust and Daedo have also designed their system to use hand protectors with embedded sensors for scoring punches, but the hand sensors have not yet been officially approved, so punches are still scored by judges. The reason for this is technical, but basically, the hogu and sensors are not smart enough to distinguish between punches and kicks. My guess is that WTF wants to electronically score punches, but they also want to distinguish between punches and kicks so that the scoring system will favor kicks somehow (by awarding more points, for example). Without this ability to score punches differently from kicks in an automated fashion, people will just throw lots of punches and TKD will turn into a boxing match, which is NOT what they want.

 

[Oh Mah Gawd]

I've actually considered switching to a WTF school, but truth be told, the sparring rules drive me fucking insane. I'm not big on stop point sparring. I'd rather go out there for 2-minute rounds and just go at it.

But Olympic style WTF sparring is 3 - 3 minute rounds non stop. Much of the higher level competition has a lot of inactivity because so much is at stake for them but you can go non-stop, 100% for 3 rounds if you want to.

 

[leftlegkicker]

But Olympic style WTF sparring is 3 - 3 minute rounds non stop. Much of the higher level competition has a lot of inactivity because so much is at stake for them but you can go non-stop, 100% for 3 rounds if you want to.

WTF has been using two-minute rounds for a few years now, with a sudden death 4th round for tie-breakers. Although intended to reduce stalling, there is still quite a bit of it in the high level matches.

 

[Guestx]

If only the the WTF would allow hand attacks to the head. . .

 

[wisemanrax]

They've also introduced the 10 second counter. If you don't kick or punch after your last kick/punch within 10 seconds, you get a warning. They would gave to get different types of gloves then if they allowed face punches.

 

[Guestx]

But Olympic style WTF sparring is 3 - 3 minute rounds non stop. Much of the higher level competition has a lot of inactivity because so much is at stake for them but you can go non-stop, 100% for 3 rounds if you want to.

Thanks for the clarification. Maybe I misunderstood. It's seemed that when I've watched vids in the past that someone will land a good shot and the referee will jump in while the other guy runs celebrating into the distance.

 

[wisemanrax]

The referee only jumps in if you are clinching for too long or this was the 4th round where someone scores first and wins because of the tie braker.

 

[leftlegkicker]

Thanks for the clarification. Maybe I misunderstood. It's seemed that when I've watched vids in the past that someone will land a good shot and the referee will jump in while the other guy runs celebrating into the distance.

Even in continuous fighting, the referees will step in occasionally to give penalties, break up clinches that are lasting too long, give standing 8 counts (they still do that it TKD), or poll the corner judges when point that should have gone up doesn't get counted. Also the referee will step in when someone falls, which often happens when someone tries to throw a crazy jump spinning kick.