ITF sparring

[Jake]

I gang, hope you all are well. I can't seem to find an answer to this question anywhere. In I.T.F sparring competition, is the sparring Full Contact? I have watched a lot of youtube videos and the sparring looks full contact, it looks a lot like the old PKA karate stuff, which I think is cool. Is I.T.F sparring only Full Contact at black belt? or for novice as well. I have liked the I.T.F sparring I have seen. Thanks in advance for any answers.

 

[Tryak]

The rules depend on the competition in question. Some place restrictions on contact by belt level and other tournaments are capped at semi-contact regardless. There are sometimes also restrictions based on what belt levels are allowed head kicks (ie: so the students have sufficient control before they are allowed to perform them). I will leave it to some of the higher ranked ITF practioners to give you a more complete answer.

 

[BrandonLucas]

That pretty much sums it up, as far as I can see. I've done a youtube search for ITF Tae Kwon Do, and the results that I've come up with are somewhat similar to how we spar in class.

I haven't been to too many tournements of this nature, so as far as that goes, the only experience I have with that is that it really depends on the tournement you go to as far as what the rules are.

In class, though, we go as close to full contact as we can, but with full sparring gear on.

That's just my experience, though.

 

[terryl965]

It depends on which ITF and what tournament directors call for at each tournament. Some is hard and others are light contact.

 

[Jake]

What about at national and internetional competitions, are they full contact there? thanks for the helpful input everyone.

 

[chrispillertkd]

Technically, the ITF World Championships are NOT full contact matches. However, from what I have seen the contact level tends to increase the higher you go. I was talking to an instructor who had some of his students at the ITF WC in South Korea in 2004 and he said that the matches there were very heavy on the contact.

There is also the ITC, the International Taekwon-Do Circuit, which is run by the ITF under GM Choi and headed up by Master Gallaraga out of Argentina. It is basically a full contact circuit run under ITF rules and usually by top ITF fighters. They've had several ITC matches at recent ITF WC's (Korea in 2004 and I think in ENgland in 2007).

Pax,

Chris

 

[Kacey]

What about at national and internetional competitions, are they full contact there? thanks for the helpful input everyone.

It depends on which ITF you're referring to; at this point, there are at least 3 - the one chrispillertkd mentioned, one headquartered in Vienna, and one headquartered in North Korea... which is a political question that is not relevant to the discussion at hand.

Technically, tournament contact is supposed to be moderate contact to the body, and light contact to the head - but that is a subjective definition that will vary by association, referee, rank & age of the students (young adult male black belts tend to have a much higher level of contact that they consider "moderate" than other groups), and the level of competition - the higher the level of competition, the greater the allowed level of contact. Not much help, I realize, but the best I can do.

 

[Inugami]

Officially its full contact.
You can kick/punch as hard as you want and punch/kick to the face.

 

[KickFest]

All the ITF tournament sparring I did was "semi-contact" to all legal areas (including face/head) with any technique. However I never really found this to be well defined in practice, so this could mean anything between getting a moderate tap and having your face smashed through the back of your head, depending on your opponent. I only once saw a judge penalise for excessive contact, but the guy wasn't disqualified for it.

 

[StuartA]

Officially its full contact.
You can kick/punch as hard as you want and punch/kick to the face.

Sorry, that is totally incorrect.. officially its "light contact". There are some tournaments that are billed as Full Contact (esp in Poland) but these are exceptions to the rule.

To the OP.. maybe this will help: http://www.raynerslanetkd.com/ARTICLES_Light_Continuous.html

Regards,

Stuart

 

[Sylo]

I've always done.. light/medium contact.

harder to the hogu than other places though.
and light contact to the head. no hands of any kind to the face, but hands to the head are allowed.