Wtf

[Sagat]

Do you yo have to be a black belt to compete in a WTF tournament? Can i compete in it? I'm a red belt in shotokan and yellow in enshin.

[DerAuslander]

You do not have to be a black belt to compete in a WTF tournament. However, given that the WTF is a sport organization, you may have to be a member of whatever the local organization is, such as, in MD, the Maryland Taekwondo Association. Also, be careful what tournament you enter. Many are just excuses for the local dojangs to have their people compete to satisfy the parents. Find a state or regional championship to find competitors with actual Olympic TKD calibre. Also, find a good state for it, such as Mass., FL, MD, or Colorado.

You do have to be an adult black belt in order to compete in Olympic qualifying tournaments. Kiddie black belts cannot apply. Black belts of other styles cannot apply. Olympic TKD is a sport. The point of Olympic TKD tournaments is not to find out who is the better fighter, it's to find out who is the better TKD athlete.

The real question is why do you want to enter? To whore WTF guys at their own game? I would wait on that. A red belt in Shotokan is not going to get you very far. Non-contact ippon style karate does not fair well against in WTF TKD competitions. Say what you like about it, Olympic TKD does hit each other, and encourages the use of combinations, rather than just "one hit kill" techniques.

The Enshin would be a better preparation, but I'd wait until you had much more experience in Enshin.

Then I would train under the WTF style for a while, in a good gym, not a McDojo. It's a game, remember? A sport...until you have an understanding of how it's done, you're not likely to do very well. You may beat the crap out of people who don't see it coming, but you know what? That doesn't matter. They're athletes in a sport. All you would be is the idiot who beat up a bunch of athletes. You wouldn't have proved who was a better fighter.

[Thaiboxerken]

Why do you want to compete in a "what the ****" tournament anyway?

[DerAuslander]

Why do you want to compete in a "what the ****" tournament anyway?

Agreed. Why waste your time unless you wanted to go to the Olympics?

[SFGOON]

Whatever you learned in other MA will get you your ass kicked at a TKD meet. It's all about the "trembling shock" and the michelin man suit there, nothing else gets points. No punches to the head are allowed, only kicks (?!) so just stick with MMA tourneys.

Of course, if some TKD geek trys to use it against you on the street, feel free to whup up on him.