TAEKWONDO Australia Tournament Guide 2013 Australian Taekwondo Festival and National Championships and Australian Open 1
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About this guide This guide is intended to provide a basic overview about Taekwondo Australia tournaments for athletes, coaches, and members of the community to gain understanding into tournament events. This includes the intent of the various types of competition events, the roles and people who are involved in running the events, and an overview of how tournaments are officiated and judged. About Taekwondo Australia Taekwondo Australia (TA) is Australia s peak national body for Taekwondo. TA is committed to the development of Australian Taekwondo athletes, coaches, referees and judges helping them reach their highest potential to represent Australia with distinction. TA also encourages Taekwondo as a martial art, a high performance sport and a sport for all. About this event This highly anticipated national event aims to provide a great experience of the sport and culture of Taekwondo, through a range of fun and challenging events. The event is split between a Festival style competition and the National Championships and Australian Open tournament. The Festival creates a unique competition environment and offers opportunities for athletes of all age and skill levels to compete in a fun and family friendly environment. The National Championships provides an opportunity for all Black Belts to challenge themselves against the best Australian and international athletes and improve their national ranking through the Taekwondo Australia Point System (TAPS). TAPS allows top athletes to gain experience, participate in training camps and receive the opportunity and funding to compete at international events. For more information on the TAPS policy, visit http://www.taekwondoaustralia.com.au/forms.php 3
How the event works Hosting a tournament event takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. What looks like a smooth running of events on the day, has taken many weeks and months of preparation. It also requires a large amount of help from many people. Running state and national tournaments is a huge team effort. Who is involved There are several types of people and roles that all work together to make a tournament possible. Almost all of them are volunteers, and everyone is there because of love for their sport. Role What they do Who they typically are Competitor Coach Referee Judge Competes in Festival and/or TAPS events Trains athletes and coaches them on the day for optimum performance Conducts sparring events, including centre referee, corner judging and head of court Scores technical events, including poomsae, freestyle, self-defence and board breaking Taekwondo practitioner, wanting to challenge themselves and improve their skills Seasoned Taekwondo practitioner / instructor Taekwondo practitioner, specialising in the sparring discipline Taekwondo practitioner, specialising in the technical discipline Official Oversees the event and its management Seasoned Taekwondo practitioner Team Manager / Chaperone Volunteer Spectator Looks after team and coordinates team on the day Carries out the many behind the-scenes activities that enable tournaments to run Supports athletes, clubs and states by watching and cheering Typically a Taekwondo practitioner, family member or member of the Taekwondo community Athletes, parents, families, members of the community Family and friends of competitors, and members of the community As you can understand, each of these people are on their own development path and have varying skill levels. Just like a martial artist progresses from white belt to black belt, each of these roles have a range of experience. For example, Taekwondo Australia coaches, referees and technical judges have nationally accredited ranking and certification courses that provide them with a development pathway. Volunteers and roles such as team managers can be experiencing nationals for the first time, or may have attended these events for many years. Two disciplines Taekwondo tournaments consist of two main disciplines of competition sparring and technical. The two disciplines are fundamentally different in their competition format and require different tournament rules and specific skill sets for competitors, judges/referees and officials. 4
Sparring competition Sparring is very popular and well known Taekwondo competition and is also an Olympic event. It involves to players scoring points by kicking each other to the torso and head. Players wear protective gear for their chest, head, legs, arms, groin and mouth. Some divisions use chest and feet guards containing electronic sensors that register the pressure of a technique to the torso. These provide a quick and objective way to judge a point, as they register on the score board immediately and take into account the player s weight division. Kicks to the head and extra points are judged by three corner judges, who push a red or blue button to register a point for the relevant player. Scoring points Points are scored for kicks to the torso or head. Only kicks (any part of foot below the ankle) and punches (clenched fist) techniques are allowed. Kicks to the head can only be from the ears forward, e.g. not to the back of the head. One point is received when successfully registering a basic attack to the opponent s chest guard, e.g. turning kick Three points are awarded for a successful kick to the head An additional point is awarded when the scoring technique involves a spin, e.g. back kick An additional point is awarded if the opponent is knocked to the ground Penalties Warnings and deductions of half points or full points can be awarded to a player by the centre referee. Warnings are issued for minor infractions whilst deductions are issued for more serious actions. Two warnings equate to one deduction. Every time a player receives a deduction, and on every second receipt of a warning, their opponent automatically receives an additional point. Warnings and deductions are typically for: Illegal techniques e.g. elbow strike Illegal targets e.g. strike to the knee Avoiding the fight, e.g. turning one s back, running away, stepping outside of the court with two feet Intentionally falling down Poor sportsmanship. 5
Protesting A player s coach may protest a decision by the referees, for example when a point was scored or not scored. Coaches are given three protest cards to use through the match. The coach raises his protest card and the referees analyse the protested event. If the coach is found to have been in the right, his protest card is returned. If not, the coach loses the card and cannot protest again in that round. Winning There are several ways to win a match: Points: whoever has the most number of points at the end of the match Golden point: if the scores are tied at the end of the match, an additional sudden death round is held where the first player to score wins Superiority: if a sudden death round fails to identify a winner, the judges will vote and award the match to the player judged to be superior Knock out: if a scoring technique renders a player unable to continue, the scoring player wins regardless of the score at the time Disqualification: if a player receives the equivalent of 4 deductions in a match, they are disqualified Withdrawal: if a player is unable to continue they may stop the match, forfeiting the win to their opponent Technical competition Poomsae numerical scoring (ipad) Poomsae is the Korean name given to the traditional forms performed by athletes all over the world to achieve their international Black Belt Dan ranking. Poomsae competition performance is scored out of 10, on two main criteria accuracy and presentation. Scores are given by qualified judges 3 or 5 judges, and the average of the middle scores is calculated as the final score (highest and lowest scores are dismissed). As often as possible, when the number of available judges allows, a court will have 5 judges. Whenever 4 or more judges are used, the highest and lowest accuracy score and the highest and lowest presentation score are deleted. The final score for a competitor will be the average of the remaining accuracy scores plus the average of the remaining presentation scores. Where there are only 3 judges on a court, the score will be the average of all scores collected in both accuracy and presentation. 6
Accuracy: 4 points out of 10 Athletes are judged on the accuracy of their technique. Deductions of 0.1 are given for minor errors, such as incorrect position and angle of hands, feet, knees and elbows. Deductions of 0.3 are given for major errors, such as performing an incorrect move (e.g. punch instead of block), kihaping at the incorrect time, looking in the incorrect direction, or finishing more than 1 foot from the starting position (exception: Jitae and Keumgang). Presentation: 6 points out of 10 Athletes are judged on the overall performance of the Taekwondo techniques and the Poomsae as a whole. Power and Speed (2.0) is judged on the soft starting and powerful finish of the moves, the timing of feet and hands, and the appropriate speed at which movements are performed (e.g. slow moves are performed slowly). Movements which begin with a soft start and a sharp finish will score better than techniques performed stiffly or without any force. Rhythm and tone (2.0) is judged on the execution of power at the right time, connections between actions and changes of the rhythm, and the balance and symmetry of the pattern. Expression of Energy / Ki (2.0) is judged on the focus, sharpness and confidence with which the Poomsae is performed, as well as the quality and dignity from mastering energy. Poomsae - flag scoring Flag scoring involves two competitors on the court performing their Poomsae simultaneously; one on the blue and the other on the red side of the court. Judges then raise a red or blue flag to indicate their decision. The player with the majority of flags wins. Just like in numerical scoring, players are judged on accuracy and presentation. However, in flag scoring, accuracy is given precedence. Presentation is only considered if a judge cannot split the competitors on accuracy alone. Just like in a Sparring draw, players are randomly matched in the draw. The double elimination system requires players to lose two times before being eliminated. This gives every player a second chance in case they find themselves against the strongest competitor in an early round. If a player is uncontested, they will perform both patterns to the judges and scored numerically rather than with flags. 7
Freestyle Poomsae Freestyle Poomsae (formerly known as Creative Poomsae) allows competitors to make up their own routine. The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) has recently introduced this as an event at the World Poomsae Championships, the top technical event in the world. In addition, this event now has a Tricking component. Tricking is an emerging sport that is a mixture between martial arts and gymnastics. Taekwondo Australia has been running Tricking Seminars across Australia. Just like traditional Poomsae, Freestyle Poomsae is judged on two main criteria: Accuracy Accurate execution of techniques. Minimum of 70% Taekwondo moves Presentation Difficulty of moves, proficiency of execution (e.g. Tricking moves) and smooth transitions. At the Australian Taekwondo Festival, props and weapons are permitted. However, they are not permitted at the National Championships Freestyle Poomsae to Music As above, except that competitors perform their Poomsae to music. The time limit is 60 70 seconds, with a minimum of 90% Taekwondo movements. Music must be submitted as an mp3 file via email prior to the competition. Tricking Battle This event has two competitors in a one on one face off, with competitors taking turns to perform tricks. During a turn, a competitor may perform up to 5 techniques linked together as they wish. When both competitors have taken a turn (round), 3 or 5 judges score using blue and red flags. The competitor with the most flags is awarded a point. After 3 turns (rounds), the competitor with the most points is declared the winner and continues to the next round of the competition. Judges score the superior player based on the difficulty of techniques, execution and smooth transitions between tricks. For example, a player who finishes a technique and immediately steps into another will be rated better than a player who comes to a stand-still and takes a run up before performing a second technique. A player who performs a simple technique and lands on 1 or 2 feet will be rated better than a player who performs more rotations in the air but falls over after the landing. A player will be highly rated if all tricks are linked smoothly and transition directly into the next, swing through techniques will also be highly rated ie. landing on one leg and immediately swinging the other leg through to the next trick. 8
Self Defense (Hosinsul) This event sees two competitors simulating a self defence interaction. Performance is judged on the practicality of techniques, timing and judgement as well as final execution. Board Breaking (Kyupka) There are two types of Board Breaking competitions run at this event. Technical Breaking This involves a competitor breaking boards with various techniques. Each competitor is permitted 5 breaking stations where they may break multiple boards or boards with different limbs simultaneously. Competitors are awarded one point per broken board Points are also awarded for each successful technique with more difficult techniques (e.g. jumping, turning kicks) scoring more points. The winner is the competitor who has scored the most points after 5 breaks. Power Breaking Competitors attempt to break the highest number of stacked boards, tiles or cement blocks with a hand technique (fist, palm heel or knife hand). Jumping is not allowed. The competitor with the highest number of broken boards/tiles wins. In the instance of a tie, i.e. two competitors break the same amount of boards, the winner is the one who weighs the least. Protesting for Technical A players coach may protest against a decision by approaching the technical director with this request. A fee of $100 is paid immediately and prior to their case being heard. A board of 3 or 5 elected persons will then hear the case and a decision made by majority. If the protest is successful, the $100 protest fee is returned, otherwise it is forfeited. 9
What next Complete the survey! As part of our continuous improvement process, we have a post-festival and National Championships survey. It is an online survey for all involved competitors, officials, volunteers and spectators. The survey will be open the week after the event. Please check the Taekwondo Australia website, Facebook or look out for it on enews to fill it out! Your feedback is greatly appreciated. While unfortunately we cannot implement all suggestions, we love to hear what you think and how we as a team can improve your experience. Subscribe to enews The best way to stay up to date with what is happening is to subscribe to Taekwondo Australia s enews, simply visit http://www.taekwondoaustralia.com.au/forms.php. These monthly newsletters will be delivered right to your email inbox. Up to date information is also regularly posted on Taekwondo Australia s Facebook page. Simply Like Us at https://www.facebook.com/taekwondoaustralia Interested? If you are interested to be part of the large team that makes these events possible, that is great! We can always use volunteers at these events. For details on how to become part of the team, please contact your State Tournament Director. 10