Your sparring rules

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Taekwondo includes many different techniques. Theres a half dozen basic kicks, and several types of punches and open-hand techniques. There's even some grappling, even though most dojangs don't teach it. You have even more techniques if your instructor has cross-trained.

However, in WTF sparring, all you use are roundhouse kick, back kick, crescent kick, hook kick, and pushing kicks.

Other combat sports use less protective gear and Llow more techniques. Is WTF Taekwondo too restrictive? Or is it good that it focuses on kicks?

Do you prefer the rules from another TKD organization? What would be your rules for TKD sparring?
 

Dirty Dog

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Taekwondo includes many different techniques. Theres a half dozen basic kicks, and several types of punches and open-hand techniques.

Well, there's certainly more kicks, and more than "several" hand techniques, but you're new enough that you may not have been exposed to them yet.

There's even some grappling, even though most dojangs don't teach it.

I'd question the basis on which you've determined that this is true of "most" dojangs. How many have you been to, and how well do you know their curriculum? There are certainly schools that are so focused on WTF-style sparring and the KKW minimum requirements for rank that they neglect to teach (if they themselves were ever taught) the full scope of TKD, but I'm always leery of overgeneralizations.

You have even more techniques if your instructor has cross-trained.

Or if your instructor just teaches the full scope of TKD.

However, in WTF sparring, all you use are roundhouse kick, back kick, crescent kick, hook kick, and pushing kicks.

Well, no... you see front kicks, axe kicks, spinning kicks of all sorts, mid-section kicks, high kicks... and more importantly, you see combinations of kicks. Although the roundhouse is absolutely the most commonly seen kick in WTF sparring.

Other combat sports use less protective gear and Llow more techniques. Is WTF Taekwondo too restrictive? Or is it good that it focuses on kicks?

Do you prefer the rules from another TKD organization? What would be your rules for TKD sparring?

Obviously, (since I've said so many times) I consider the WTF ruleset needlessly (and even harmfully) restrictive. There is absolutely no reason you cannot emphasize kicks (with bonus points based on the difficulty of the kick) while still allowing the use of a wider selection of TKD skills.

At our dojang, we use different rulesets. Most commonly, we follow the WTF convention of no low kicks, and we award bonus points for high kicks and additional bonus points for more difficult kicks. We also allow punching to the head. We do avoid contact with the face, simply because it's too easy to bloody noses and split lips.
With more advanced students, we at times allow low kicks, sweeps, throws and takedowns. In those cases, points will be awarded for the technique, and we will allow a couple seconds for them to follow their opponent down and execute another strike. We don't turn it into a ground game. TKD is primarily a striking art, after al.
We require pads for the hands, feet and shins. We strongly encourage, but do not mandate, cups and headgear. Hogu are available, but very few choose to use them, and those are all newer students. Lower ranks are required to use lower levels of contact than higher ranks. Most (but not all) of the black belts prefer to go fairly heavy on the contact when sparring each other. When there is a difference, the lighter level of contact is used.
 

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Taekwondo includes many different techniques. Theres a half dozen basic kicks, and several types of punches and open-hand techniques. There's even some grappling, even though most dojangs don't teach it. You have even more techniques if your instructor has cross-trained.

However, in WTF sparring, all you use are roundhouse kick, back kick, crescent kick, hook kick, and pushing kicks.

Other combat sports use less protective gear and Llow more techniques. Is WTF Taekwondo too restrictive? Or is it good that it focuses on kicks?

Do you prefer the rules from another TKD organization? What would be your rules for TKD sparring?
I'm not here to bash anything. I am all for what they are saying. TKD sparring should be limited to TKD. They want you dump out that cup, and fill it with TKD stuff. This forces you to solve problems using... you guessed it! TKD. The sooner you figure this out the sooner you will rank. :) As for helping you fight in the UFC or the Bar, it is, then OK to seek the forbidden fruits of the other arts.
Sean
 
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Dirty Dog, I said basic kicks, and I am lumping some categories together when I say that. Semantics here, but several I understand to encompass a wide range of numbers.
 

Dirty Dog

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Dirty Dog, I said basic kicks, and I am lumping some categories together when I say that. Semantics here, but several I understand to encompass a wide range of numbers.

Fair enough. No comment on all the other stuff I posted?
 
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I'm on a mobile phone at the moment. Comments forthcoming.
 

Balrog

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ATA tournament rules

Nothing below the waist, nothing to the back.
Punch to the midsection, one point. No punching to the head.
Kick to the torso, one point.
Kick to the head or jump kick to the torso, two points.
Jump kick to the head, three points.
 

Gorilla

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Taekwondo includes many different techniques. Theres a half dozen basic kicks, and several types of punches and open-hand techniques. There's even some grappling, even though most dojangs don't teach it. You have even more techniques if your instructor has cross-trained.

However, in WTF sparring, all you use are roundhouse kick, back kick, crescent kick, hook kick, and pushing kicks.

Other combat sports use less protective gear and Llow more techniques. Is WTF Taekwondo too restrictive? Or is it good that it focuses on kicks?

Do you prefer the rules from another TKD organization? What would be your rules for TKD sparring?

There are a lot more kicks in WTF tkd than mentioned in your post....not to mention various combinations!
 
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I'd question the basis on which you've determined that this is true of "most" dojangs. How many have you been to, and how well do you know their curriculum? There are certainly schools that are so focused on WTF-style sparring and the KKW minimum requirements for rank that they neglect to teach (if they themselves were ever taught) the full scope of TKD, but I'm always leery of overgeneralizations.

Just the reputation I’ve heard, and the fact I’ve seen several posts that allude to the fact that most TKD schools are either sparring gyms or dance studios.

At our dojang, we use different rulesets. Most commonly, we follow the WTF convention of no low kicks, and we award bonus points for high kicks and additional bonus points for more difficult kicks. We also allow punching to the head. We do avoid contact with the face, simply because it's too easy to bloody noses and split lips.
With more advanced students, we at times allow low kicks, sweeps, throws and takedowns. In those cases, points will be awarded for the technique, and we will allow a couple seconds for them to follow their opponent down and execute another strike. We don't turn it into a ground game. TKD is primarily a striking art, after al.
We require pads for the hands, feet and shins. We strongly encourage, but do not mandate, cups and headgear. Hogu are available, but very few choose to use them, and those are all newer students. Lower ranks are required to use lower levels of contact than higher ranks. Most (but not all) of the black belts prefer to go fairly heavy on the contact when sparring each other. When there is a difference, the lighter level of contact is used.

I actually like the sound of this. Do you do a constant session or do you stop after each point?

I'm not here to bash anything. I am all for what they are saying. TKD sparring should be limited to TKD. They want you dump out that cup, and fill it with TKD stuff. This forces you to solve problems using... you guessed it! TKD. The sooner you figure this out the sooner you will rank.
C:\Users\Skribs\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif
As for helping you fight in the UFC or the Bar, it is, then OK to seek the forbidden fruits of the other arts.

Are you saying it should be just kicking like WTF sparring is now, or should there be more of TKD in the mix?

---

Balrog, what about spinning/turning kicks?
 

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We do not stop unless there is a safety issue or injury or a person down.


Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Really.
 

Earl Weiss

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ITF Rules. Of course Punching to the head allowed. Many more lead leg Kicks and more use of the side Kick.
 
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I meant are they bonus points for turning/spinning kicks. i.e. is a back kick or tornado kick worth more than a basic roundhouse.
 

Thousand Kicks

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This is off topic as you are asking about rules. But, I wanted to comment on some of the replies I see about the limited rule set and techniques used in WTF.

I have studied several different fighting systems and I have noticed that the specific techniques you use are a small part of actually fighting or sparring. When you really get into the science of fighting you start asking yourself questions like

How do I control the pace of the fight
How do I control the distance of the fight
How do I prevent my oppoenent from using certain techniques they are really good with

So from the outside you may see a fighter using only push kick, round house, and axe kick. But, if you study the situations in which they use those kicks it can start to get more complex. My instructor has always stated that the best fighters have excellent fundamentals and when they get in trouble they don't look to use advanced techniques, they go back to fundamentals.

I have spent the majority of my training using the WTF rule set. That being said, there are times where several of us will get more gear and allow punches to the head and low kicks. We don't generally do takedowns as we are not all that adept at using them.
 

DETLTU

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We always used ITF style rules. Two things that bother me about WTF style- people don't keep their hands up, and they often run into each other in a sort of clinch. I myself dropped my hands quite a bit in ITF style, but anytime the action got closer your hands had to come up to protect against punches to the head. The clinches look terrible too with both fighters trying to push away. Simply adding head shots would eliminate some of this and change the dynamic of the style. I like the full contact style, just think punching to the head would improve the quality.
 

Gorilla

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This is off topic as you are asking about rules. But, I wanted to comment on some of the replies I see about the limited rule set and techniques used in WTF.

I have studied several different fighting systems and I have noticed that the specific techniques you use are a small part of actually fighting or sparring. When you really get into the science of fighting you start asking yourself questions like

How do I control the pace of the fight
How do I control the distance of the fight
How do I prevent my oppoenent from using certain techniques they are really good with

So from the outside you may see a fighter using only push kick, round house, and axe kick. But, if you study the situations in which they use those kicks it can start to get more complex. My instructor has always stated that the best fighters have excellent fundamentals and when they get in trouble they don't look to use advanced techniques, they go back to fundamentals.

I have spent the majority of my training using the WTF rule set. That being said, there are times where several of us will get more gear and allow punches to the head and low kicks. We don't generally do takedowns as we are not all that adept at using them.

If you control the center of the ring and "fight center out" putting your opponent on the boundaries you will control distance pace and limit you opponents ability to throw techniques....what we call fighting center out. This strategy puts a lot of pressure on your opponent allows you to control the fight!


At the highest level technique is something everyone has it becomes about strategy!
 

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