As some have pointed out, only the judges who witnessed this can accurately assess the amount of contact used, and whether or not it violated the rules of this particular tournament. It is true that "bad calls" by tournament officials happens, but I do not like to second guess judges, especially if I did not see it happen, and I do not encourage my students to do so. I have officiated at tournaments for 30 years, including the Taekwondo Jr. Olympics, and Sr. Nationals, where any dispute of a center referee's call must be done in writing (formal protest form), and only by a certified coach. Competitors are often of the opinion that they were "robbed" by bad judging, but in many cases, the officials are highly trained, and know a lot better as to why certain calls were made.
It is a contest, and there are rules for a reason - - so that students at varying skill levels can challenge themselves, grow, and learn without unnecessary risk of serious injury or death. Those of us who are familiar with the potential of unchecked, and unrestrained full contact will know that "full contact" kills and maims, even when full sparring gear is worn. There must be rules, and restricted contact to protect life and limb, and to help make tournaments enjoyable so that more people will participate. Your contact might not have been that excessive, but a line is drawn far from the point of being dangerous so as to leave plenty of room for error.
Were you wrong? About what? For throwing the side kick with the amount of force you used, or for disagreeing with the judges in your own mind. As for the contact, it would appear (by the judges' call) that there was a rule in effect which restricted "excessive contact." What constitutes "excessive" is left to the discretion of the trained officials, and usually pre-determined by the tournament director, referee chairman, or organizing committee as to what standard of safety they wish to enforce.
While one referee or a single judge might use poor judgment on a particular call, you seem to have indicated that it was more than one judge, thus a consensus of the officials agreed that the contact was excessive.
the judges made their disecion which i did not argue with.they said it was exsive cantact on my part.
There is your ruling. Now, why might they have felt it was "excessive?"
it it found its mark just under the ribs and above his hip.it propelled him outside the circle it did stun him momentarly.
If the "weak side blade kick" you threw, coupled with the momentum of your attacker, "propelled him outside the circle" and stunned him momentarily, then it must have been sufficient power to cause that effect.
i was under the impression it was his forward motion being slightly redirected that propelled him so far.my kick was quick but not hard.
Perhaps you are correct on this fact, however since your opponent was in the air, the amount of force you choose to apply must take into consideration their momentum. If you are throwing a side kick, and your opponent negligently rushes into it and receives an excess of impact, it is usually deemed as their own fault, but you should still try to control the amount of force you exert in that case. With an airborne attacker, a very small amount of force is all that is necessary to show you could have broken his ribs. Your force was apparently enough to displace his body (which might have been easy to do), but it was more than the judges felt was appropriate.
Judge's discretion! Thus, it would be futile to argue the point. You could disagree, but there really is no point. If you want to be able to apply more contact in competition, then enter tournaments that allow more contact. Of course, the fact that you were orange belts might have caused concern among the judges (ages of the competitors is also an issue). Black Belt competition is often more lenient on this type of contact.
Don't view it as right or wrong, just that you used an amount of contact with your kick which resulted in an impact to your opponent's forward moving body that the judges felt was not safe, thus "excessive" for your rank at this particular tournament. On the other hand, if you had become upset, thrown a fit, ranted, and argued with the judges, then I would say that you would have been wrong. I've disqualified a few competitors for those kinds of actions, or the same conduct coming from their coach (which is against Olympic rules).
CM D.J. Eisenhart
