What is Taekwondo

Taekwondo, meaning the art of hand and foot, is a Korean martial art famous for its powerful kicks and dynamic techniques. It has quickly developed into a global sport and has national bodies in over 200 countries with over 600 million taekwondo players world wide. There are two main branches of taekwondo, ITF and WT. We practice in WT Style taekwondo which is also known as Olympic style!

Like all martial arts taekwondo has multiple aspects to it's practice, notably: Self-Defence, Sparring, Poomsae, Board Breaking and Freestyle.

A female black belt taekwondo student kicking to head height

We focus on first having great basic technique, then expand into the areas of competitive sparring and poomsae. Board-breaking and Self Defense, along with the other areas of our practice, are covered in our grading sessions.

Taekwondo athletes aim to follow the 5 tenets, these are derived from the commandments of the Korean Hwarang, an elite warrior group.

Courtesy

Integrity

Perserverance

Self-Control

Indomitable Spirit

WT Sparring

Competition sparring is all about scoring the most points with attacks to the body and head. Players wear body protectors (hogus) and an open face helmet, along with shin/forearm/groin guards as appropriate.

Matches are comprised of 3 rounds of 2 minute bouts, with one player in blue (Chong) and one player in red (Hong).

Points are given for:
- 1 point awarded to a clean punch to the body
- 2 points are awarded to a kick to the body; an additional 2 points are awarded if a spinning element is involved.
- 3 points are awarded to a kick to the head; an additional 2 points are awarded if a spinning element is involved

If an advantage of 12 points is gained before the end of the bout, the bout will end early under a 'point gap'. The winner of the match is decided on best of three rounds.

Fouls consist of punching the face, kicking below the belt, falling to the floor, stepping outside the match area or grabbing your opponent.

Two taekwondo players in sparring uniform, the red player sores a kick to the head on the blue player

For more info check out these links:
Olympic Explainer, British Taekwondo Combat Sport Page, BlackBelt Wiki Sparring Page

WT Poomsae

A high front kick is demonstrated by a black belt taekwondo student

Poomsae is the performance of a set routine of kicks, strikes, punches and blocks. It requires both technical accuracy and performance skill to demonstrate the defensive and attacking moves. Poomsae is a required element of gradings and there are different poomsae associated with each grade level. There are 8 poomsae covering up to 1st Dan black belt, and a further 9 within the Dan structure. Each poomsae becomes more complex with a different focus reflecting the skills and characteristics with the belt levels.

Competition poomsae is a popular non contact way to practice the sport. Players will receive a total score out of 10, with 4 marks for accuracy, and 6 marks for presentation. Deductions can be 0.1 for a minor error such as a small deviation in the height of a punch, and 0.3 for a major error such as losing balance. In addition to individual poomsae, these can also be performed as a pair or group, where additionally synchronicity as a group will be considered in the scoring.

For more information on poomsae please check these links:

British Taekwondo Pomsage Page, Kukkiwon Poomsae Videos, Black Belt Wiki Poomsae Page