Is an amateur ITF black belt allowed to compete in the black belt divisions of WT?

[Acronym]

I read somewhere that ITF black belts are put in the green belt division, but that is contradicted by this:

Does the replier only refer to professional fighters?

Is the an ITF Taekwondo athlete allowed to compete in the WTF tournament? - Quora

 

[Metal]

Most important for competing in WT sanctioned events is having purchased the WT Global Athletes License. And the coach needs to hold the Global Official License. ;-)

And regarding being a Dan holder:
British Taekwondo for example holds their Fighting Chance Events where they encourage young athletes from other martial arts or with an ITF background to try competing under WT ruleset. If they discover people with talent then they may add them to their BT Development Program. They then simply get that person a first Dan Kukkiwon and let the athlete compete as a black belt. Good example: Damon Sansum who did Kick Boxing before his career as a Taekwondo Athlete.

If someone already holds an ITF black belt, then it's even easier. Just join a club or school that's a member of the National Member organization of World Taekwondo. Get your Dan rank converted to the National Dan rank and/or Kukkiwon rank, purchase the Global Athletes License and you're ready to compete.

For Continental or World Championships an athlete has to be a member of and be nominated through the National Team.

 

[Acronym]

If someone already holds an ITF black belt, then it's even easier. Just join a club or school that's a member of the National Member organization of World Taekwondo. Get your Dan rank converted to the National Dan rank and/or Kukkiwon rank, purchase the Global Athletes License and you're ready to compete.

For Continental or World Championships an athlete has to be a member of and be nominated through the National Team.

But how can you get a belt converted without any gradings and knowledge of patterns? You can't do that between Karate styles.

 

[skribs]

But how can you get a belt converted without any gradings and knowledge of patterns? You can't do that between Karate styles.

If the organization says you can do it, you can do it. Are you so arrogant to think you know the rules of the organization better than the people that run it? Are you seriously going to argue with them when this can benefit you?

 

[Acronym]

If the organization says you can do it, you can do it. Are you so arrogant to think you know the rules of the organization better than the people that run it? Are you seriously going to argue with them when this can benefit you?

Transferring dojangs & black belt question. : taekwondo

My experience in the US is they don't really care, as long as it's a black belt and it's under the same organization as the school you are joining (ie WTF vs ITF vs independent).

 

[WaterGal]

I think this is one of those "it depends" things.

We mostly go to local recreational-type tournaments that aren't WT/USAT-sanctioned. They use WT rules (or modified versions thereof), but are actually open to anybody who wants to compete as long as they wear that general style of equipment and follow those rules. I pretty much always see at least a few people from non-WT schools competing (not just ITF, but also karate and so forth), and I think they can compete at whatever rank they have.

However, for high-level WT-sanctioned events, I don't think that's allowed. I'm pretty sure you need a KKW dan cert to compete as a dan grade. Though, I have read there have been some efforts to find ways to allow ITF competitors to take part, in an effort to re-unify TKD, but I don't know the details on that. I know that KKW does offer a transfer test where ITF dan grade students can test directly for an equivalent KKW dan grade, but I'm not sure if that's required for competing in events or not.

 

[andyjeffries]

If the organization says you can do it, you can do it. Are you so arrogant to think you know the rules of the organization better than the people that run it? Are you seriously going to argue with them when this can benefit you?

He's absolutely right though, you officially can't. Kukkiwon has minimum requirements for 1st Dan. The way this happens though is at the lower levels Kukkiwon doesn't actually check any of the candidates, so if any particular national association wants to break those rules in not enforcing those minimum requirements, there's no real oversight. Doesn't make it right though...

Kukkiwon has changed that this year for 6th and 7th dan tests at least, video of the test must be sent to Kukkiwon. That's a good step!

 

[Acronym]

He's absolutely right though, you officially can't. Kukkiwon has minimum requirements for 1st Dan. The way this happens though is at the lower levels Kukkiwon doesn't actually check any of the candidates, so if any particular national association wants to break those rules in not enforcing those minimum requirements, there's no real oversight. Doesn't make it right though...

Kukkiwon has changed that this year for 6th and 7th dan tests at least, video of the test must be sent to Kukkiwon. That's a good step!

So what is the deal here Andy? I thought that black belts from ITF were transferable up until 4th Dan and vice versa.

 

[andyjeffries]

So what is the deal here Andy? I thought that black belts from ITF were transferable up until 4th Dan and vice versa.

As I understand it, the rank is transferable but they still have to complete the grading within the required standard. So an ITF 3rd Dan can test for Kukkiwon 3rd Dan and transfer the rank over, without having to re-apply for 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd. They shouldn't just be given the same rank without knowing the syllabus and having the required standard.

However, the GB team has taken kickboxers and they don't follow under the Kukkiwon's "it's all Taekwondo" transfer rule.

 

[Acronym]

There's a WT tournament running live. I can safely say that WT and ITF sparring has never been as close to each other as it is today. You rarely saw WT players throw lead side kicks before.

 

[isshinryuronin]

I would like to see more unification in my own style, especially in regards to rank (that ship has long sailed, I think.) However, no disrespect to my Korean style friends, but is there such a thing as TOO much organization? What do you guys think about this?

I understand the reasons for my style's branches of lineages, but I'd like to better know the history of TKD's (does this term refer to your overall style as an umbrella term?) I figure there are 2 or 3 (more?) main Korean styles, even more organizations, and some sport governing bodies. I know some of these have been absorbed into others, or just were dropped over the years.

Could someone well versed in this (I know there's a few out there) sort this out for me? This may be a challenge even for the experts. Beyond knowing about Gen. Choi, I know just enough of this to be confused, so this is a large gap in my MA understanding. I'm sure there are non-expert Korean practitioners that may benefit from this as well. Thanks.

 

[Acronym]

I would like to see more unification in my own style, especially in regards to rank (that ship has long sailed, I think.) However, no disrespect to my Korean style friends, but is there such a thing as TOO much organization? What do you guys think about this?

I understand the reasons for my style's branches of lineages, but I'd like to better know the history of TKD's (does this term refer to your overall style as an umbrella term?) I figure there are 2 or 3 (more?) main Korean styles, even more organizations, and some sport governing bodies. I know some of these have been absorbed into others, or just were dropped over the years.

Could someone well versed in this (I know there's a few out there) sort this out for me? This may be a challenge even for the experts. Beyond knowing about Gen. Choi, I know just enough of this to be confused, so this is a large gap in my MA understanding. I'm sure there are non-expert Korean practitioners that may benefit from this as well. Thanks.

You would have to narrow down your question.