"Full contact" TKD?

[DWx]

You'd think, but not always. Some black belts simply do not have enough control in their high kicks to warrant being allowed to use them in sparring, for whatever reason.

Well in that case should they be black belts?

[YoungMan]

Of course they should. It has already been determined they can do the technique. Now, one of their responsibilities as black belt is to fine tune it so that they have control.

[shinbushi]

It doesn't sound like any full contact I've ever done, neither. I trained briefly in a Korean style that was close to where I lived a decade ago that did train full contact. They even wore the chest protectors you tkd'ers wear but no shin pads and had leg kicks, neck kicks, head kicks, knees, throws, take downs. It's too bad they weren't that good at it but the effort was nice.

[DWx]

Of course they should. It has already been determined they can do the technique. Now, one of their responsibilities as black belt is to fine tune it so that they have control.

This is just my opinion but...

If student is awarded a black belt, they have attained a certain skill level. To me, this means that they should have full, or as near as full, control over their techniques as part of the requirement of being a blackbelt IMO is to have mastered all of the basic (coloured belt) technical content. Part of being able to do the techniques is having a level of control over them. Since earlier you stated that students do not practise full contact until blackbelt, how have all these current blackbelts sparred over their TKD lives before being allowed to engage in full contact? Have they never been allowed to do high section kicks because they have too much power? IMO they've had 3+ years (?) to attain blackbelt so over that time they have either been taught to kick that hard or they've not been told/taught to tone down the power level in their sparring.