Tae Kwon Do sparring Reform?

**sharkattack4173** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 3:21pm

I have been carefully watching the olympic Tae Kwon Do sparring this year and am both impressed and concerned. No doubt Tae Kwon Do practitioners who train for competition are fast and clever fighters. Their ability as martial artist should be more than impressive to anyone who studies striking arts. That being said I was concerned with the amount of single kicks followed by a clinch. This technique is performed frequently because of its low level of risk. Unfortunately it leaves much to be desired by spectators and really lowers the appeal of the sport for me. If the same emphasis for kicking was kept but rules were implemented to allow for quick judoesk throws I believe the sport would be much more entertaining and more accurately represent actual combat. Any thoughts from others on the forum?

**sempaiman** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 4:55pm

Maybe they should have their arms tied to their sides so they cannot clinch....

**ronaldk** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 4:56pm

meh, olympic rules just fagged it all up. punches rarely ever get counted, so i believe they'd have to fix that first.

but yeah, adding takedowns would be awesome. nevertheless, i am not sure if they once were officially part of a TKD syllabus, given my father does tell me he was taught some sweeps and throws back in his day, but i don't know how official, or effective any of that really is.

as of currently, the WTF TKD syllabus is basically a variety of kicking techniques, 2 punches, and a bunch of mostly useless blocks/parries. the only 'clinchwork' i was taught (you can't actually touch your own hands, that's a foul i believe) is to wrap the opponent with your arms and sway your weight around to unbalance him, release and kick.

**Meson** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 5:27pm

I mostly of the opinion that they should just use Knockdown karate rules (ala kyokushin) and be done with it. That would solve the majority of the goofiness.

**3moose1** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 6:31pm

They should put boxing gloves on, take off the head gear, and add more contact.

Also, allow punches to the face.

**Hex** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 7:36pm

I've been watching the Olympic TKD and trying to enjoy it for what it is.

However, I don't understand how they determine scoring at all. Several times I've seen clear kicks that did not win any points. I've even seen a couple of fighters throw punches just before the clinch. Once again, they clearly landed but no points were given.

The absolute worst was a match in which one fighter was knocked on his ass by a kick, but as he was going down he managed to get a little snap kick on the other guy. The fighter who was knocked down was awarded a point and the other guy got nothing!

All the Bruce Lee shouting is really annoying as well.

**Robdogg** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 7:56pm

Originally Posted by sharkattack4173

Their ability as martial artist should be more than impressive to anyone who studies striking arts.

Welcome to bullshido! Please stand still, more posters are about to arrive in order to rape you silly.

**sharkattack4173** · Posted On: 8/21/2008 11:58pm

Hmmm, well I cant say I thought there would be raping when I signed up at this site but I guess if thats part of it....

I agree with some of the suggestions but can also see the reasoning of the WTF to keep points limited to kicks in order to make Tae Kwon Do sparring unique. If they allowed punching to the face it would resemble kickboxing and if it followed the rules of kyokushin it would be knockdown karate. What would be nice is a set of rules that don't make for such ridiculous matches but still keep Tae Kwon Do unique. I think adding the ability to throw the opponent within about a 3 second time frame would definitely spice up the action. As for the scoring system I certainly agree some of the points awarded thus far have been unbelievable. Fortunately I witnessed a match featuring a fighter from Britain this evening and was impressed with his skill. If I recall correctly they didn't even have to warn him about not fighting. Steven Lopez on the other hand was rather disappointing.