Tae Kwon Do..Changes?

[oldman34]

My comments were more directed at the post saying that you needed to included grappling to make it r34l.

Im not sure where I said that. Could you quote it for me. I may need to clarify my thoughts, if that is how it is being interpreted.

[Blues-man]

2) is a hard row to hoe, but not completely implausible now witht the ever more likely WTF-ITF merger. The ITF rule set allows punches to the head, and I think sweeps (not sure about takedowns) and from what I've read, the North Koreans are demanding substantial changes in the tournament rule set, and we may likely see at the inclusion of punches to the face in Oly sparring sometime in the future (from what I've read, they may also move to a circular ring and score kicks to the head as three points to encourage more kicking). Maybe a little grass roots pressure from disgruntled TKDists could help this process along?

In ITF competition sparring punches to the face are allowed, but no sweeps and takedowns. All hand technique are allowed as long as you hit with the glove and you don't knockout your opponent. In my school at around 2nd gup we start doing sparring with sweeps and takedowns, but they aren't allowed in tournaments.

[TEA]

Im not sure where I said that. Could you quote it for me. I may need to clarify my thoughts, if that is how it is being interpreted.

Sorry for the confusion. I didn't mean a post by you, but a post by someone else earlier in the thread (biomed - post #15).

you must add grappling to your curriculum. 95 % of fights end on the ground. Therefore if you can't fight on the ground you can't fight.

Blues-man, thanks for the clarification. I don't know how we'd be able to get sweeps, takedowns and throws into competition, then. And if you don't have them in competition, most schools aren't going to train them, then. At least it looks like punches may be allowed to the head, though.

[oldman34]

Sorry for the confusion. I didn't mean a post by you, but a post by someone else earlier in the thread (biomed - post #15).

Damn you... I spent 10 minutes going back through and looking for it. :)

Blues-man, thanks for the clarification. I don't know how we'd be able to get sweeps, takedowns and throws into competition, then. And if you don't have them in competition, most schools aren't going to train them, then. At least it looks like punches may be allowed to the head, though.

You have a point here. Ultimately point competition is the devil that I am fighting in TKD.

[TEA]

You have a point here. Ultimately point competition is the devil that I am fighting in TKD.

You mean point sparring as in one guy gets a point and they stop and restart at the center of the ring ala Karate point sparring, or as in the judges awarding points for hits in a continuous action bout ala Oly sparring? Boxing, kick boxing, Judo and even BJJ tournaments and the UFC award points for successful techniques, too. Sans a KO or submission, its the ony way to determine a winner in a competition. They all also have techniques that are allowed and disallowed in competition, which provides a degree of safety to the competitors.

I think points could be awarded for throws and takedowns in TKD the same as in Judo comps, but the ref would step in a break up the competitors if they stayed in the clinch for too long like in boxing and would stand them back up again if the person throwing wasn't able to establish dominant position in a fairly short amount of time.

While I don't think competition is the be-all-end-all of MA training, I do think that it has its part in terms of pressure testing your techniques outside of your own school and as a means of QA to weed out McDojo. As such, there needs to be a uniform rule set that everyone can play by that is as least restrictive as possible, while maintaining a degree of safety for the competitors (e.g. how do you allow a safe knifehand strike to the throat, knee to the groin or kicks to the knee - all of which are in the forms and one-steps, but would cause serious injuries in the ring?).

When it comes to training for SD, there are some techniques that are difficult to practice safely (if not impossible) with full speed against a fully resisting opponent. I know that the "too d34dly for t3h st33t" is a big Bullshido taboo, but the fact is that if you did use some SD techniques in sparring or competition, people would get seriously fucked up. The hard part is establishing a ballance in your training and curriculum. If most if your training is in SD techniques that are too dangerous to use full speed against a fulling resisting opponent, then your training is going to be crap. On the other hand, I think its important to learn these techniques as well as the ones that are safer to use in sparring and competition. You never know when they might come in handy and the skills that you develop in sparring should enable you to employ these more dangerous techniques with full speed and power against somone whose safety you are not concerned about (e.g. if I can hit you in the jaw with a backfist in sparring, I have a pretty good chance of landing a knifehand strike to the throat of some douchebag if I need to).

[oldman34]

You mean point sparring as in one guy gets a point and they stop and restart at the center

Yep. Thats the point sparring I hate.

As for the rest of your post. I agree 1 bazilion million %.

[biomed190]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5q-OeU9Vh0

this is how all sparring should be in TKD and HKD

[kwoww]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5q-OeU9Vh0

this is how all sparring should be in TKD and HKD

To be honest it doesn't look particularly amazing. Maybe it's just the crap editing.

[biomed190]

To be honest it doesn't look particularly amazing. Maybe it's just the crap editing.

What I like is it shows how sparring should be. No points, where the fight goes you adapt.

[Torakaka]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5q-OeU9Vh0

this is how all sparring should be in TKD and HKD

If they added face punching I'd agree