I was at a TKD tournament on Satruday TKD October Fest Las Vegas(250 competitors) . On Sunday I attended BJJ Grappler X (100 competitors). One of our competition team girls does both BJJ/TKD. She won a gold at the TKD tournament and two gold at the BJJ tournament Gi and No Gi. She submitted all three girls she fought in less that 30 seconds. She has been doing BJJ for 2.5 years ans is a Orange belt. She is a BB in TKD.
Observations!
1. Organizationally the tournaments ran smoothly so I would say that they are about the same. One major difference is that in TKD tournaments are run by the Local Masters. The BJJ tournament seems to have been run by a group from California who travels around throwing tournaments. I have no problem with this but I doubt that it would work in the TKD World to much politics.
2. The level of fighter at the BJJ tournament seems to have been higher. The Mid range and the beginner levels the BJJ fighters seemed to be much better. The TKD tournament had a better set of fighter at the Elite Level.
Overall if you compare the Level fighter at both tournaments the nod would go to BJJ.
3. The adult kid Ratio at the TKD tournament was 80\20 kid. The BJJ tournament was 80\20 adult.
4. The Tattoo ratio was clearly much higher at the BJJ Tournament. Boy they love the Tat's
5. Their were several people at the BJJ Tournament that do both. The consensus of the group is that TKD takes a much longer time to master and is more of a Sport. They also stated that BJJ is more relevant as a fighting art. The transition for TKD to BJJ is much easier than it would be from BJJ to TKD. It is also the consensus that most BJJ practitioners would never consider TKD. I spoke with a BJJ Black Belt and School owner. He said that he likes to get kids from TKD because they are very flexible and have very good body control. He really likes the kids because they are more open to new things. He said many adult martial artists carry to many bad habits and are not as open to change.
6. The BJJ kids have more Patches on the uniforms and more stripes on their belts than the TKD Kids. I attribute this to much slower belt promotions. I saw a BJJ kid with a Camo Gi! Lots more colored uniforms in BJJ.
7. I also noticed that in the BJJ tournament that you would see a more mismatches among the belts than in TKD. In TKD among color belts the experience levels are about the same. Because of the slower promotion in BJJ the difference in skill within the belts is much greater.
8. The level of sportsmanship at the BJJ tournament was much higher. No yelling at the Refs and no complaining. I can't say the same for the TKD tournament.
9. TKD is much more of a body type sport favoring the Tall and Thin based on weight.
I was very impressed with both tournaments and they both have their good and bad! This was my first BJJ tournament all the people were very nice and many had great respect for TKD. My respect for BJJ went up 10 fold. All though we have differences we are much more alike than some would like to admit! Great Weekend!
Observations!
1. Organizationally the tournaments ran smoothly so I would say that they are about the same. One major difference is that in TKD tournaments are run by the Local Masters. The BJJ tournament seems to have been run by a group from California who travels around throwing tournaments. I have no problem with this but I doubt that it would work in the TKD World to much politics.
2. The level of fighter at the BJJ tournament seems to have been higher. The Mid range and the beginner levels the BJJ fighters seemed to be much better. The TKD tournament had a better set of fighter at the Elite Level.
Overall if you compare the Level fighter at both tournaments the nod would go to BJJ.
3. The adult kid Ratio at the TKD tournament was 80\20 kid. The BJJ tournament was 80\20 adult.
4. The Tattoo ratio was clearly much higher at the BJJ Tournament. Boy they love the Tat's
5. Their were several people at the BJJ Tournament that do both. The consensus of the group is that TKD takes a much longer time to master and is more of a Sport. They also stated that BJJ is more relevant as a fighting art. The transition for TKD to BJJ is much easier than it would be from BJJ to TKD. It is also the consensus that most BJJ practitioners would never consider TKD. I spoke with a BJJ Black Belt and School owner. He said that he likes to get kids from TKD because they are very flexible and have very good body control. He really likes the kids because they are more open to new things. He said many adult martial artists carry to many bad habits and are not as open to change.
6. The BJJ kids have more Patches on the uniforms and more stripes on their belts than the TKD Kids. I attribute this to much slower belt promotions. I saw a BJJ kid with a Camo Gi! Lots more colored uniforms in BJJ.
7. I also noticed that in the BJJ tournament that you would see a more mismatches among the belts than in TKD. In TKD among color belts the experience levels are about the same. Because of the slower promotion in BJJ the difference in skill within the belts is much greater.
8. The level of sportsmanship at the BJJ tournament was much higher. No yelling at the Refs and no complaining. I can't say the same for the TKD tournament.
9. TKD is much more of a body type sport favoring the Tall and Thin based on weight.
I was very impressed with both tournaments and they both have their good and bad! This was my first BJJ tournament all the people were very nice and many had great respect for TKD. My respect for BJJ went up 10 fold. All though we have differences we are much more alike than some would like to admit! Great Weekend!