The June issue of Black Belt has an article by Scott Shaw, "Forgotten Fists of Taekwondo." His article refers to the emphasis on sport in TKD as opposed to self-defense, not saying that TKD lacks SD, but, on the contrary, that the hand techniques aren't emphasized enough.

Shaw says on p. 97 that "[TKD] began evolving into an Olympic sport [and] that process brought numerous rules and regulations that altered the art's self-defense slant. . . . The [hand strike] sacrifice was made because Olympic rules prohibited punching to the head." (emphasis added)

He went on to say that the sport aspect overshadowed the self-defense aspect of the art, with instructors concentrating on the former.

It's interesting that you can kick to the head, but not punch there. Do you think that punching to the head/face should be permitted in Olympic TKD, or that it would adversely alter what has developed? Do you think that the introduction of permitting such strikes would encourage instructors to incorporate more hand techniques, particularly punching to the face, into self-defense training, or that it'll have no noticeable effect?

POLL ABOVE

I am all for hands to the face/head/etc.! I have been teaching Olympic Style for the past four years but have always practiced hand techniques to the face/head during drills and insist my students keep their hands up as I feel that this is essential to the self-defense aspects of the art. Besides, my students will be well practiced when they re-institute it in TKD tournaments!!!!

Luckily as a TKD practitioner the tournaments I've attended are not WTF based, so we've been lucky enough to use our hands as much as our feet in competition as we do in class.

I think that the head punch is something that needs to be addressed in TKD training. If you don't train to defend it in sparring, then in actuality, we will likely get hurt.

At least it would make Olympic stylists get their darned hands up when sparring.

I think if they reinstitute it, you will see a significant change in the sport. Especially because it is easier to punch someone in the face than kick them. That's the whole key here. Taekwondo's status as a sport is what keeps the rules as they are. If you all of a sudden open up the head as a target for punches, things open up a lot more. The clinch game would change significantly if it survived at all. I can tell you this, I will immediately try to get into a grad program to take advantage of most people's (in the collegiate TKD world) inexperience with head punches if the WTF decides to bring them back into the mix.

I hear what you say here, but even the Olympic committee has been teetering on whether or not TKD should come back to the next Olympics, because the matches don't draw a lot of attention. I think that some significant rules change would be able to revitalize TKD's sport side.

Would be interesting to see if they allow head punches if ITF/WTF merged. Punching is such an integral part of our sparring system that I can't see them taking it out but then again, would WTF accept it.

The powers that be in the Taekwondo world should stop worrying about whether or not TKD will stay an Olympic sport. They need to go back to basics. TKD has become a big money maker due to name recognition. The problem with this, is that you have a lot of people labelling themselves TKD to get students on the floor and into contracts for 3-6 months at a time. It's become a money making proposition without much of a soul. It is a matter of pride for the Korean people that their sport is an officially recognized Olympic sport (I'm living here, I'm Korean, I understand), but I think they need to think about how much of the essence of the martial art they're willing to give up so their sport will survive.

I agree with you 100% here. I'd wouldn't mind if it did fall out of Olympic favor. It might be better for the art all around, but who knows for sure.

The June issue of Black Belt has an article by Scott Shaw, "Forgotten Fists of Taekwondo." His article refers to the emphasis on sport in TKD as opposed to self-defense, not saying that TKD lacks SD, but, on the contrary, that the hand techniques aren't emphasized enough.

Shaw says on p. 97 that "[TKD] began evolving into an Olympic sport [and] that process brought numerous rules and regulations that altered the art's self-defense slant. . . . The [hand strike] sacrifice was made because Olympic rules prohibited punching to the head." (emphasis added)

He went on to say that the sport aspect overshadowed the self-defense aspect of the art, with instructors concentrating on the former.

Probably not the way it started. Those instructors who trained sports champions became wealthy and famous, attracted more new students, and had something to brag about that would cement deals for books, videos and magazine articles. Junior students want to learn sports from ex champions and their instructors, and they are defined by their competition success. These people are marketable - they build the large successful schools that pump funds back into the parent body, the magazines that advertise them for free get their credibility from quoting their tournament achievements, and therefore they have the influence on the "art's" evolution. They teach what they know - and that's what they've learned to win. Their students learn more of that. Even the ones trying to incorporate real self-defense typically aren't qualified to do it.

Many others who wanted at least enough success to keep teaching had to follow suit to an extent, even if their real interest or ability was in self defense.

Ultimately, an art is inevitably transformed into a sport by competition rules. Where I've trained and taught, there's been aggressive but controlled sparring, and nobody's keeping score or proclaimed champion. It's about education, learning from how you were caught out and how you overcame....

It's interesting that you can kick to the head, but not punch there. Do you think that punching to the head/face should be permitted in Olympic TKD, or that it would adversely alter what has developed? Do you think that the introduction of permitting such strikes would encourage instructors to incorporate more hand techniques, particularly punching to the face, into self-defense training, or that it'll have no noticeable effect?

No - it won't be permitted. That would make it easy for so many other hardened kickboxers to enter WTF TKD tournaments and humiliate the fighters. My bet is that the Olympic committee would resist such a change too: they let TKD but not other systems, to remove the principal rule shaping the differences is to admit a grave misjudgement.

Yes, it would have a gradual affect that would benefit practitioners' self defense abilities. Still, most WTF TKD instructors wouldn't know how to teach this effectively, so they'd throw in whatever they could manage or be taught themselves in a weekend seminar. Not a good scenario.