JadeDragon3
Black Belt
I do not practice TKD and I have a few questions. Is there any face/head contact allowed at TKD tournaments? If not, why? Does TKD teach any weapons?
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My school allows contact only to the areas of the head "protected" by the sparring gear. I got in trouble because the training I had in the past it was no-contact but you stopped about an inch shy of the target so when we began sparring I threw a punch that stopped about an inch from one of the aides face. She was not happy about it and I didn't understand why at first.
Headgear isn't to protect your head from hand and foot techniques... it's to protect your head from the floor after you get swept; at least, that's why we require it. If you are relying on headgear to protect your head, you need to keep your hands up more; you're learning bad habits - it sounds like you have good habits, but the aide seems a little iffy to me. As far as the punch, 1 inch is plenty far away to demonstrate focus; I don't understand the aide's concern, as long as your technique was clearly under control.
A friend of mine was KO'd in a tournament (kicked in the jaw) - he hit the floor pretty hard, but because of his head gear he was unconscious for about 30 seconds and had a mild concussion. Without the headgear, he'd have had a significant traumatic brain injury. The bruises were mostly where he landed, not where he was hit - luckily for him, he landed on his headgear and not his face.