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Tae Kwon Do Competition

Our team competes in Collegiate competitions, and any other regional or national competitions that are convenient to our academic schedule. There are three kinds of events in which to compete:

• Breaking: In which a competitor breaks boards, and is judged based on success in breaking on the first attempt, the number of boards, the difficulty of the technique, and ring presence and spirit (remember a good formal bow to the judges before and after your breaks!). Usually a competitor is allowed to demonstrate three breaks, and may try each break three times. If you plan to compete in this event, you should only plan on breaks that you are sure you can perform on the first try without injuring yourself. Please go over your breaking routine with an instructor! They will help you select appropriate techniques.
• Forms: In which competitors, usually broken up into gender, rank, and weight categories, perform their highest WTF form. Competitors are judged on the flow, rhythm, snap, and immediacy of their form. If you plan to compete in Forms, you should practice your form every single day. Perform in front of an instructor or two frequently. They will help make sure that you are not mislearning the finer details of your form. Remember: the difference between a winning form and a loosing form may be as small as a slight bend in the wrist!
• Sparring: Different competitions have different sparring rules, but in general: competitors are broken up into weight, gender, and rank categories. Fights usually last for two rounds of between 1 and 3 minutes each (depending on rank). At many competitions lower ranking belts are not allowed to perform techniques to the head. Higher ranking belts, however, earn two points for a successful technique to the head versus one point for a successful technique to the chest.

More complete sparring rules for different kinds of competition can be found at the following links:

• Collegiate: http://www.inctl.org/
• United States Taekwondo Union: http://www.ustu.org/USTU_Manual_62304.pdf

Weight Categories

Please plan out which weight category in which you would like to compete far in advance of competition. You will not compete as well if your body is tired from sudden weight loss, or bloated from rapid weight gain. Don't try to gain or loose more than about 5 or 10 pounds, and make the weight change over a month or more.

Weigh in is usually performed with the contestant in uniform with a 2 pound allowance for the weight of the uniform.

Collegiate

USTU and Olympic

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Last Modified October 28, 2006 9:33 AM , Site Hits: