WTF Taekwondo one of the safer martial art sports around

I was browsing through some news feeds on the web, found this article entitled Concussion effect ’spans decades’ and immediately thought about all the possible concussions suffered (or delivered) by players in the sparring ring.

The previously concussed volunteers had poorer performance in the memory tests, delayed responses to unpredictable events, and were unable to complete the hand control tests as quickly.

That’s the bottom line for those 40 former athletes aged between 50 and 60 who were tested. The article didn’t really go into which specific sports that these former athletes played in – although it does mention football (soccer) and there’s also a photo of ice-hockey players also.

The soccer concussions came about from repetitive headers of the old-style heavier balls and you can just imagine all the hard knocks being dished out on the hockey rink – and that’s not even including the punch ups they occasionally engage in.

Now, those are just "normal" sports. What about our sport? What about all the combat sports out there? I can’t say that we definitely repeatedly get hit in the head, but I’m pretty sure we aim to do that to the other person! I can name an obvious combat sport that their athletes are in a high risk of getting concussions – and therefore the possible long term effects that the article was writing about; BOXING!

They love their KO’s and it’s always a great spectacle to see it happen. They pretty much aim for the head more than half the time and I wouldn’t be surprised if this earns the number 1 sport for athlete concussions. Albeit, professional boxing and amateur boxing is quite different with respect to protective equipment, they’re all still hammering to slog one square in the face of their opponent. With head gear or not, it’s still gonna hurt and repeated actions aren’t going to help, either.

Then, I’m grateful that in our discipline we have restrictions on punching to the face/head. Yes, we do wear head protective gear but then again, so do those amateur boxers. Luckily, in Australia at least, we also have restrictions on kicking to the head for those young children under 14 years of age.

All these add up to the safety and well-being of the players choosing to engage in the sporting side of WTF Taekwondo.

I don’t claim to know ALL or even a few of the combat sports out there. Though I had trained in Muay Thai for a year and I can tell you that we got smashed in the face plenty and the only thing that softened the blow was the cushioning in the boxing gloves we wore. We were really unlucky if we got hit in the head by a foot, a leg (shin), a knee or an elbow! So I’m glad that WTF Taekwondo has all the protective equipment and rules and regulations that we do.

Are there other combat sports that you know of that you’d like to share? In particular, their ability to hand out a concussion.

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Poomsae judging and scoring criteria reforms

The Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) held meetings with its judging officials and kukkiwon poomsae experts recently during January 2009.  The consensus view was that the current methods of scoring and criteria for scores should be reformed and changed. 

The current scoring criteria is based on accuracy of movements and techniques which is allotted 50%; 30% to mastery (extent of movement, balance, power & speed); and 20% to presentation (rhythmn, tempo, tone & power and expression of ki. 

The reform suggestions are to reduce the accuracy allocation to 30% and increase allocation to 70% for experience and expressivity.  Experience category entails balance, range of motion, speed and strength of movements, while expressivity involves fluidity, rhythm, tempo and ki-hap.

The thought is to increase focus on expressivity and experience and raising the standards of poomsae.  It is considered that the current criterion and scoring methods reward stiff and robotic movements.  Poomsae is not about producing a regurgitated set of movements from memory, but rather poomsae is about an art form that requires unity between the mind and body and how this is being expressed.

Comments are welcome in this post or you can join in with the discussions in the forum.

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Proposed changes to the WTF taekwondo competition rules

The WTF has proposed a series of changes and amendments to the WTF competition rules.  These had been proposed from the session held with the Joint Technical Committee in November and approved by the WTF Executive Council in December.

It is being presented to the WTF Member National Associations for their vote by end of January 2009. (edit: see comment below regarding the result of the vote)

A series of courses and refreshers will be conducted during 2009 to deploy the changes and with the 1st implementation possibly from the 2009 World Cup (June 2009 in Baku, Azerbaijan) or the World Championships (October 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark).

Here is a summary of the changes and amendment proposals:

1. Competition area is reduced to 8m by 8m.  The 1m surround safety zone still exists, so the court size is 10m by 10m.
2. Male division weights in 6 categories has been amended – still 8 male divisions
3. Female division weights in all 8 categories has been amended – still 8 female divisions
4. New weight divisions added for Youth Olympics:  5 for male and 5 for female divisions
5. Drawing of lots is now extended and may be one or 2 days before the 1st day comp.
6. After inspection, player + coach + team doctor (if available) to proceed to coach area.
7. Players now hold the head gear tucked under the left arm up to the bowing stage and then put on the head guard after bowing.
8. At the end of a match, the players to remove head guards before the bowing procedures.
9. The definition of face is replaced by head.  Head is all areas of the head above the collarbone, including neck, face and top and back of head.  Note: this rule had been practiced since the last world championships in 2007.
10. Legal scoring area is defined as the coloured area of the trunk protector.
11. Head kick point is now 3 points
12. An additional point is given (by the referee) for a “turning kick” to the body.  Clear definition of “turning kick” will be given before the implementation of these rules.
13. Combinations of kyong-go and gam-jeom will be given as additional points to the opposing player and not deducted from the offending player.
14. Lifting the knee to avoid a valid attack or impeding the progress of an attack is now a kyong-go
15. The inactive period of non fighting is now 5 seconds instead of the commonly practiced timing of 10 seconds.  The process for giving kyong-go for continued non fighting is as before.
16. Win by 7 point gap is removed
17. Win by 12 point ceiling is removed
18. In kye-shi situation, the commission doctor is consulted before the referee orders resumption of the match or declaring loss by expiration of 1 minute kye-shi time. Note: in most cases this is practiced, but it is now enshrined in the rules.
19. In the case when a “referee conference” is held during a match, the majority vote dictates, however in the case of a tie, ie 2 to 2 of the judges’ votes, the centre referee can be the deciding and casting vote.
20. The competition supervisory board now contains members of the technical, referee, games and education committees, with the chairman of the technical committee as the chairman of the competition supervisory board.
21. Lodging of a protest time limit is now 15 minutes after the match conclusion.
22. Competition Supervisory Board members must now declare any conflict of interests or any party can question each CSB panel member re: conflict of interest before the start of arbitration
23. All protests must be filed in time and contain the reason of the protest plus the competition rule being protested, or the protest can be denied.
24. The CSB can hear the protest case of the protesting party and likewise the protested party.
25. The CSB can overturn a match result if it determines there is a clear error in judging the facts.
26. Any party adversely affected can lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration.
27. A coach can make an appeal for a video replay and the referee shall request the Review Jury to review the instant video replay.
28. Each court shall have a Review Jury (1st class or S class referee).  He reviews the instant replay with a member of the CSB and decide on a review challenge within 2 minutes; the decision is final.
29. Each coach shall have one appeal per contest, and if his appeal is successful the quota of one appeal remains.
30. Each contestant can have a maximum of 3 unsuccessful appeals per competition (but still only one per match).
31. Any party receiving an adverse ruling on an appeal (by Review Jury) can lodge an appeal to the Court of Arbitration.

In the event a video replay system is implemented, the following items #27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 is implemented; trials will be conducted leading up to the June 2009 World Cup.

You are welcome to add any comments in this post or join in the discussion in the forum page.

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Blocking and Evading in Taekwondo Tournament Sparring

WTF Taekwondo tournament fights permit blocks and blocking actions in their form of the sport. I had a student ask me about it recently – "Should I block or not?". The answer? Read on and then you decide for yourself.

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Tags: rules, techniques

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WA Technical Poomsae Seminar

The Technical Poomsae Judging Course held on Sunday July 20, 2008 at the Kwinana Recquatic Centre was presented by Mr Shin Boo Kim (8th Dan from the South West Taekwondo Academy). He is the current head of the WA State Technical Committee and the Australian National assistant Coach for the Australian Poomsae National Team in 2006 and 2007.  It was an honour to be instructed by him and to be refreshed on the judging criteria for poomsae competitions.

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