Category Archives: Tournaments and Competition
WTF Poomsae Competition Flashback
Thursday 5 April 2012
The first World Poomsae Championships was held in Seoul Korea from 4-6 September 2006 at the Olympic Gymnasium. There were 57 nations participating with 256 males and 151 females competing, giving a total of 407 competitors.
Topping the medal tally was the mother country to the wonderful art of Taekwondo, Korea, with some 16 gold medals. In order the remaining top 7 countries after Korea were Iran, Turkey, Spain, France, Netherlands, Germany and Australia winning assorted numbers of silver and bronze medals, with no country other than Korea winning a gold medal in the top 8 countries. Continue reading
The Strategic Science In Taekwondo Sparring
29 January 2012
Looking from the outside, taekwondo sparring may look like random kicks and punches thrown ruthlessly with the objective of injuring the opponent.
But from the inside, a sparring match is like a chess game.
In chess, you cannot win a game by unthinkingly moving around the pieces anymore than one could win a sparring match by involuntarily throwing techniques.
Continue reading
Are Martial Arts Tournaments Martial Arts?
Friday 4 November 2011
It has often been said that Martial Arts Tournaments Are not Martial Arts, however nothing could be further from the truth. Those who say Martial Arts tournaments are not Martial Arts do not understand the origin of the Martial Arts, or the many purposes that Martial Arts have in the development of the “total” person.
There are many aspects to the development of a Martial Arts person, as is the case in a person’s development in any of life’s pursuits. As with a child’s schooling, for example, it would not be complete to simply study English and Science without the study of Arithmetic. A well rounded academic program has many facets, as is the case with a well rounded Martial Arts program. Continue reading
Taekwondo Electronic Scoring?
Wednesday 27 July 2011
Electronic scoring systems for WTF Olympic style Taekwondo commenced development many years ago, however none were provided with official accreditation until only in recent years. La Just obtained WTF recognition and following this Daedo achieved recognition for their scoring systems. It is believed that this technology will have a significant impact on officiating at the matches of the modern Olympic sport of Taekwondo
Wednesday 27 July 2011
These systems are an excellent idea and serve to further remove subjective decision making from the scoring of Taekwondo. As has been the case for many years, the subjective decision about what makes a score and what doesn’t has been based on whether the judge believes there is sifficient accuracy and impact. The accuracy has rarely been difficult to determine, however level of impact, or power of the technique, has been very difficult to ascertain. Continue reading
Hanmadang Delivers Excellence
Friday 24 June 2011
The traditional Hanmadang – a technical festival of Korean Martial Arts – has at its core purpose to encourage, nurture and challenge the persuit of excellence in the many disciplines of the traditional Korean Martial Arts. The final published results of the Factor10 Martial Arts Technical Hanmadang held on Saturday 18 June are testament of what children, teenagers and adults can do when they apply themselves in an environment that that focusses on excellence. Continue reading