Stupid Rule?

[unknownstyle]

thats pretty dumb i teach my students to keep punching until they are stopped by there opponent, i think in no way is this brawling it is reality

[DWx]

thats pretty dumb i teach my students to keep punching until they are stopped by there opponent, i think in no way is this brawling it is reality

It turns into brawling with the rule set. ITF sport sparring only allows for jabs, nothing else. So its does turn into a brawl where you are basically steamtraining your arms rather than throwing crosses or hooks or uppercuts.

[joesteph]

Only about halfway through the 1st 1 minute round did he tell me that punching more than twice in a combo was forbidden. What kind of stupid rule is that!?! . . . I wouldn't go so far as to call it my signature move but in my club I'm known for taking a fight in and then boxing my opponents until they escape. . . . (emphasis added)

Anyone agree with me that only allowing 2 punches is totally stupid?

I think I've kinda reversed my opinions on this. I sparred in a tournament a few months back where this rule wasn't implemented. It was awful. I think our club was the only ones doing what resembled like proper fighting, everyone else was brawling. (emphasis added)

When I read your first posting, DWx, I thought I'd identified that the reason for the rule was to eliminate a boxing emphasis in the tournament, to keep it as legs-oriented as possible. When infighting, talented boxers can really hammer away; not exactly as flashy as kicking away.

With your second posting, it looks like the tournament people you'd first dealt with had gone through one brawl too many and just lowered the boom on what could lead to it reoccurring. That second tournament you were in, with the six-footer who sounds like she was out of control, could have used some sort of rule to deal with "competitors" like her.

I'd say, though, that if there were to be a rule on limiting the number of punches, three would be the limit. It can be two if that's the right thing to do, with up to three you have a better choice than the old "one-two" and then look for a spot to kick at, and three punches do not a brawl make.

[bushido_man96]

The thing is, it tends to take a strategy away from those who don't tend to kick as much. I think that punching should be as much of the strategy as kicking, otherwise, it will become more and more like Olympic style TKD sparring.

[DWx]

I like punching but even then, if you compete in ITF, you can only do straight jabs anyway so there's not much of an opportunity for a punching based strategy. You can't uppercut, hook or whatever, its got to be straight forward jabbing. Its not so bad adapting the way you spar to this method though. You can get around the rule by breaking it up with a kick every two punchesand the kick doesn't have to score, just so long as you do something to break the combo up. In ITF sparring anyway, you're unlikely to score for the whole flurry. You'd probably only ever get one or two points for the lot so in some ways its better to keep it to two clean punches rather than waste your energy on five or six bad ones. But I agree that it needs to steer clear of becoming another Olympic style.. TKD isn't just about the legs. I would like more punches too. For a start two punches doesn't feel like the combo has ended and your opponent will always know that there can only be one or two punches to the string so they just have to wait it out until you're done before coming back with their own.

[joesteph]

I like punching but even then, if you compete in ITF, you can only do straight jabs anyway so there's not much of an opportunity for a punching based strategy. You can't uppercut, hook or whatever, its got to be straight forward jabbing.

I didn't know about this rule against uppercuts, etc., that it has to be straight forward. If you do use another punch, is it simply no point awarded, or do you receive a warning that you can lose a point for an illegal strike?

[tallgeese]

Bummer about the punching rules for only straight movements. This would seem to really limit the amout of time for working a very intuitive weapon for those who utilize t his mehtod of training often.

Not to mention that you're taking away some very effective combinations that could lend themselves well to setting up more kicks.

[bushido_man96]

I like punching but even then, if you compete in ITF, you can only do straight jabs anyway so there's not much of an opportunity for a punching based strategy. You can't uppercut, hook or whatever, its got to be straight forward jabbing.

I didn't know about this rule against uppercuts, etc., that it has to be straight forward. If you do use another punch, is it simply no point awarded, or do you receive a warning that you can lose a point for an illegal strike?

I didn't, either. That would count me out, because I like to cram, and then hook and uppercut.

In ITF scoring, do you guys spar continuously, or do you break for point?

[DWx]

In ITF scoring, do you guys spar continuously, or do you break for point?

Spar continuously for 2x 2minute rounds with the 4 corner refs totaling up what they see. If its a draw at the end, got to extra time, still a draw after that, sudden death where first point wins.

I didn't know about this rule against uppercuts, etc., that it has to be straight forward. If you do use another punch, is it simply no point awarded, or do you receive a warning that you can lose a point for an illegal strike?

Depending on the punch, sometimes they'll ignore it but if its quite clearly a violation, you get a warning. Then if it happens too many times its -1 point. Hooks aren't so bad if you do them with control and you look as though you're moving your body round, you can sort of get away with uppercuts but only if they're to the body.

You can find the rules here (although they are from 2005 so they aren't up to date): http://www.internationaltaekwon-dofederation.com/

About ITF > Tournament Rules

[bushido_man96]

Do you wear chest protectors, and fight to knockout?