ok, more specific: I have heard that WTF and ITF used to be the same style until very recently (within the last hundred years), is this true, and if so why did they split apart? Why is WTF competitions full contact rather then semicontact like ITF:was it developed more for actual battle, while ITF was developed more as a sport version of it? Or is there some other reason for the full vs semi contact?ITF, as far as I know, focuses on punches, while WTF doesn't seem to have many, if any...if they really did come from the same origin, what happened to the punches, or did they not focus on punches until after the split? Finally, do either of them have self-defense application? I'd assume that ITF would because if it does have punches WTF doesn't, then its more well-rounded, but the idea that it is only semi-contact makes me feel as if it would be less useful in self-defense situations, because the artists aren't truly taught how to hurt each other.
If any of this sounds offensive to either style, I don't mean it that way. I don't know enough about them to hold any real bias either for or against them.
This is difficult to answer as Taekwondo has never really been a unified single style. Here's my limited understanding of TKD's somewhat blurry history. I look forward to others correcting anything that's not quite right.
Even in the 1940's - 1970's, there were separate Kwan (schools) teaching separate techniques and emphasising different areas.
Choi Hong Hi, the founder of the ITF, came out of one of these Kwan, and developed and documented his own syllabus and methods. He had success promoting his version of Taekwondo in various countries, including North Korea.
In the early 70's, the KTA (formed from the unification of leaders from the Kwans without Choi) and Dr Un Yong Kim acting with the help of the South Korean president, founded the Kukkiwon, the headquarters for South Korean Taekwondo. Kukki TKD was a separate system to Choi's ITF, with a separate syllabus based on the Kwan movements but incorporating more traditional Korean philosophical principles. (Choi had developed much of his syllabus independently).
The Kukkiwon administers a syllabus and testing requirements and certification for the South Korean variant of the martial art Taekwondo.
The WTF is a separate organisation that governs the rules and administration of Olympic sport Taekwondo (to compete internationally one needs to be a Kukkiwon 1st dan or higher)
WTF competition is full contact because at the time of the development of the sport, the focus was on building a way to test the techniques of taekwondo under full contact conditions, without inhibiting the development of superior kicking skills - so hand techniques outside of punching to the body were eliminated from the sport rule set.
For this reason, you're seeing no punching in WTF competition. It's a sport where punching the face is not allowed.
I can't say why ITF competition remains semi contact, although I suspect most competitions at higher level are close to full contact anyway.
Both ITF and Kukkiwon Taekwondo feature many punches, and a proportion of the hand and leg techniques are the same under both. The method of power generation is different (ITF sine wave knee spring, WTF waist twist and weight shift)
Both feature self defence as part of the syllabus, and practitioners of either should be more than capable of defending themselves / inflicting pain.
The focus for sport purposes is on kicking, but the martial art including hand techniques and self defence applications in both cases remains.
Gnarlie
Did some research outside, but know I can trust the answers on here more than from random people on the internet...well...different random people on the internet lol
