Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine - Issue 9 - USADojo.com

this misrepresentation will persist, as its up
to the instructors not the student.
Taekwon-do Is Touch Contact
This is a fallacy born
from the semi-contact
form of ITF based
competition. In ITF
competition sparring,
contact is suppose to be
controlled, though in
many of the
competitions I have
been in as a black belt,
the contact levels have
varied between medium,
to hard, to occasionally
full contact. The
difference is the rules.
The actual rules for ITF
competition state ‘light
contact’ and it is really
up to the judge to
enforce it. I have never
gone into a fight in an ITF based
tournament and deliberately gone in with
heavy contact. The problem stems from
the referees not enforcing rules properly
and thus, if an opponent went heavy on me
and the referee didn’t pull them up, then I
had no choice but to give as good as I got.
Those outside of Taekwon-do simply see
ITF based competition, with two opponents
skilfully controlling their techniques (and it
is a skilful opponent that can fight fast and
intensely and still
control their techniques,
as those less skilled rely
simply on brute force)
and summarize that this
represents Taekwon-do
as a whole. The fact
that in many dojangs,
competition sparring is
the only sparring helps
further promote this.
My good friend from
Poland, Piotr Bernat,
has told me that most
18 - Totally Tae Kwon Do
Polish competition sparring is heavy and
full contact and unlike WTF sparring,
allows punches to the head (Competitors
wear the same protective equipment as in
any standard ITF based
tournament) so even in
competition, its not
strictly true.
Competition aside, in
training I have had
many heavy contact
sessions with fellow
black belts. Seniors in
my classes spar from
light to medium to heavy
contact and are also
allowed to use take
downs, sweeping, low
kicks, trips and throws
at the same time,
depending on the type
of training we are doing.
Hosinsol is often
performed with techniques at full power,
but stopped short to avoid injury. Obviously
one cannot strike full contact to a vital point
as it would cause major damage to a fellow
student, however the strikes are thrown at
full speed and intensity and blocks are
often utilized at close to full power unless
hitting a joint or vital point.
The pattern applications show the full
contact state of Taekwon-do. Techniques
are designed to maim, kill or destroy an
opponent and without
full power, this cannot
be achieved, hence why
patterns practice and
more so, patterns
practice with
visualization, is so
essential to maintaining
this element.
Taekwon-do
Contains No Low
Kicks
Another fallacy born
from competition only