WTF Olymic TKD sparring questions

[moriniuk]

I'm not a Taekwondo stylist although I have dabbled in it a few years ago.

I mean no disrespect from the following questions, I'm just curious.

I went to watch the British Nationals Championships in Manchester, UK today.

The players were wearing the electronic vests.

Can somebody explain any of the following:

* Why, when high scoring kicks are allowed to the head are the arms almost always held down by the sides and not in any sort of guard position?

* Why, when punches to the body score, are they very rarely used.

* Why does there appear to be almost no attempt made to defend against any incoming techniques other than body evasions. The emphasis appears to be to just keep attacking and hope that you score more points than your opponent in the process.

Thanks.

[tsd1592]

I also have no exp in tkd. But from what i have been told. You can not use your hands to perry a punch or kick. So i think as not to loose points they train just hold the hands down. As i said this is just what i have been told. I do not know this to be fact

[DWx]

You can download their competition rules here (right at the bottom): http://www.britishtaekwondo.org.uk/btcb-downloads.html

It doesn't say anything about not being allowed to parry but I guess if you don't get anything for doing it, why bother? On the punching to the chest, I guess because its hard to get withing that range when the kicks are flying about and you're more likely to score with the kick.

Its just the sport side of it. The TKD gets modified to the rules so that the obvious things like the guard gets neglected. Its sad in a way because I have sparred a sport TKD blackbelt and get withing punching range and they don't know what to do. Or block a kick properly and they don't recover from it so great and you can then close in on them.

My friend (who's ITF TKD) tried out for that Olympic TKD fighters programme for 2012. Although she got down to the last 20 or so candidates she was rejected in the end because she was too ITF in that she kept trying to block and punch. Guess its just not a desirable trait for sport competitors.

[moriniuk]

DWX said,

"I guess if you don't get anything for doing it, why bother?"

At the risk of stating the obvious, I'd bother to make an attempt at blocking a kick so that it doesn't score on me or knock me out, and I can return a fast counter attack whilst my opponent is in a disadvantageous position.

Regarding punches, there seemed to be so many missed opportunities when the players came in close after kicking and they both just held their arms out to the side waiting for the referee to separate them.

It's a shame, but there's no doubting the worldwide success of the formula and everybody seemed to be having a good time.

[DWx]

DWX said,

"I guess if you don't get anything for doing it, why bother?"

At the risk of stating the obvious, I'd bother to make an attempt at blocking a kick so that it doesn't score on me or knock me out, and I can return a fast counter attack whilst my opponent is in a disadvantageous position.

Yeah I would have though so too. It really does seem strange. Compared to ITF TKD in which we even get points if its a good block (one that knocks them off balance) Olympic TKD just doesn't seem to emphasize a guard or blocks.

Regarding punches, there seemed to be so many missed opportunities when the players came in close after kicking and they both just held their arms out to the side waiting for the referee to separate them.

The punch thing's always seemed weird to me. From watching videos, fighters just seem push each other away to get back to kicking range rather than to punch. Maybe its a points issue? In what I do (ITF style) body shot punches do score but people choose to punch to the head because it is a more visual punch and judges are more likely to score it. Punches to the body tend to get obscured by legs and arms and not all the corner refs can see them. Maybe its a similar thing with WTF? Punches to the body aren't visual enough for the points?

[Dobbersky]

Very True, If I was to choose TKD as my main Style ITF would definately be my choice, I don't care if I'd never get to the Olympics atleast its more effective for transition to Street situations

Although ITF is "Semi-Contact" I can gurantee that on some competitions there are no pulled strikes between the competitors

The only thing I'm not too keen on is the Sine Effect on the Poomsae.

[CTTKDKing]

I can't say for what you saw, but in my school (we are WTF) my instructor always yells at us to keep our guard up. He also encourages punching to the chest when you are in close because even if it doesn't score, it hurts and throws your opponent off guard. Maybe that's why the students in my school that compete seem to do well in the local circuits.

[wayneshin]

There was a pretty extensive (and at times heated) debate on this subject recently on another forum which involved a number of posters who seemed to be pretty involved in WTF.

The argument was that the hands were down because Elite practioners tend to use more footwork to avoid kicks rather than blocking. I guess from my prespective I wouldn't want to block a full power kick with some sort of evasive movement anyway.

Re the punching - I had a look at the WTF rules. They allows for punching, it seems to me a clear case of referee bias against them. They just don't score. Be interested to see whether as the electronic guard gets used more if punching becomes more widely used.

[sensei8]

Maybe, and I maybe, the emphasis is on kicking, because TKD is known for it's kicking, and not on punching and/or blocking. Remember I said...maybe.

[DWx]

I can't say for what you saw, but in my school (we are WTF) my instructor always yells at us to keep our guard up. He also encourages punching to the chest when you are in close because even if it doesn't score, it hurts and throws your opponent off guard. Maybe that's why the students in my school that compete seem to do well in the local circuits.

Yeah it does seem to be only the heavily sport orientated schools/fighters that adopt the hands down approach e.g. Olympic fighters. Would seem to suggest that there is no advantage to doing it.

There was a pretty extensive (and at times heated) debate on this subject recently on another forum which involved a number of posters who seemed to be pretty involved in WTF.

The argument was that the hands were down because Elite practioners tend to use more footwork to avoid kicks rather than blocking. I guess from my prespective I wouldn't want to block a full power kick with some sort of evasive movement anyway.

That's a good point. Footwork should always come first anyway. If you can move out the way, move. But would it not be sensible to at least raise the arm to protect against kicks that you didn't quite evade? From an ITF perspective we do a lot of footwork and positioning work but we still keep the guard there because sometimes a kick (or punch) gets through or your opponent anticipates where you will move.