Will WTF sparring change after these Olympics?

[slingblade01]

I think it's honorable that Korea took an interest in trying to spread TKD as a way to seperate itself from the Japenese culture. But, honestly, I don't think that everything is a result of having pride in the country. I think it all stems from money. It may have started as pride, but greed is, in my opinion, a stronger emotion. I think that if money had not come into play, then we wouldn't be in this mess. The only thing that I have to back this up is what a poster said earlier, either in this thread or one of the related Olympic threads, that the board members don't hold any rank in TKD at all.

You started off good here until you got to the part about the BOD. About 2/3 of the BOD are TKD folks. The other 1/3 is left over from the reformation from the USOC in 2004.

 

[slingblade01]

I guess that's one of my points. In a way, TKD was never about us (non-Koreans), but we've become a part of it. The people in charge at the highest levels got there because 1) they were/are Korean and 2)the new someone. Personally, I've got not problem with that....but then again I'm not looking ot be anything more than a humble practitioner. Things will go the way they go and I will continue to train hard and will do so as long as I get something out of it. When I no longer benefiot from TKD practice...I'll go do something else.

However, for the vast majority of TKDists 9regardles of organizational affiliation) to have some say...nationalism has to be separated from TKD...I just don't see that happening.

Peace,
Erik

Another excellent post!

Everything is correct except point 2. (it's that bad)
Point 1 is slow being dealt with.
Basically it comes down to two words: nationalism and greed.

Good job Erik

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

E-hogus will make this more objective.

Here's the simplified look at the problem with e-hogus.

Adjust too low, lots of punchs and light kicks get scored.
Adjust too high, few punchs (but more objective) and few power kicks.

The ease of scoring from extremely light touches is my biggest gripe with electric scoring in fencing: a genuinely sharp sword requires a moderate level of force to do any real injury. That and the participants being teathered. TKD hogu isn't teathered (good), but should it be adopted as mandatory equipment, the settings will be geared towards what is the WTF sees as the most conducive to audience appeal, rather than by what amount of force would be effective in a strike, be it a punch or a kick.

In addition, if mandatory, it will be another monetary burden on the participants. Admitedly, at the olympic level, money is no object, but for those who don't have sponsorship or are well to do, it is just another expense.

Personally, I am in favor of it, provided that it isn't hideously expensive or prone to frequent failure. Mainly because as you say, it would make the scoring more objective.

Daniel

 

[YoungMan]

Slingblade,

Let me educate you about a few things.

Fact 1. Un Yong Kim, the former head of the WTF, held no rank in Tae Kwon Do. The President of the WTF, Kukkiwon, and KTA did not practice the art he represented. Fortunately Mr. Uhm, Chung Do Kwan head who holds 9th Dan is President now.

Fact 2. Un Yong Kim was arrested and jailed for massive corruption. His example filtered down to organizations like the USTU before it became USAT. The USTU had to be reorganized or lose IOC validation. Why? Massive corruption.

So before you lecture us about great and wonderful the USAT and WTF are, keep those things in mind.

 

[slingblade01]

The ease of scoring from extremely light touches is my biggest gripe with electric scoring in fencing: a genuinely sharp sword requires a moderate level of force to do any real injury. That and the participants being teathered. TKD hogu isn't teathered (good), but should it be adopted as mandatory equipment, the settings will be geared towards what is the WTF sees as the most conducive to audience appeal, rather than by what amount of force would be effective in a strike, be it a punch or a kick.

This was the problem at the German Open this year

In addition, if mandatory, it will be another monetary burden on the participants. Admitedly, at the olympic level, money is no object, but for those who don't have sponsorship or are well to do, it is just another expense.

Sad but true.

Personally, I am in favor of it, provided that it isn't hideously expensive or prone to frequent failure. Mainly because as you say, it would make the scoring more objective.

I have mixed emotions. We did not exhausted all measures first such as true referee reform and going ot 2/4 judges instead of 3/4. The original intent in the last major rules ammendments called for 2/4.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I have mixed emotions. We did not exhausted all measures first such as true referee reform and going ot 2/4 judges instead of 3/4. The original intent in the last major rules ammendments called for 2/4.

Aint that the truth! Those measures would likely yield nearly equally results without the need for costly equipment. Electric scoring does solve a lot of problems, but it also comes with its own set of headaches as well.

Daniel

 

[slingblade01]

Slingblade,

Let me educate you about a few things.

Fact 1. Un Yong Kim, the former head of the WTF, held no rank in Tae Kwon Do. The President of the WTF, Kukkiwon, and KTA did not practice the art he represented. Fortunately Mr. Uhm, Chung Do Kwan head who holds 9th Dan is President now.

congratulations, you know one thing.
But I thought the context of the discussion concerned the USAT. Go back and re-read.

The USAT can start by changing the rules so that fighters who are not Ji Do Kwan are equal to those that are. The USAT is a Ji Do Kwan organization. If you are not JDK, good luck.
Twin Fist, you are being much too harsh. Olympic sparring in itself is not bad. It is certainly more fun to watch than many other combat styles (-cough cough-UFC-cough cough-)

What is GM UHM Woon-Kyu the president(s) of, or do you know?

Fact 2. Un Yong Kim was arrested and jailed for massive corruption. His example filtered down to organizations like the USTU before it became USAT. The USTU had to be reorganized or lose IOC validation. Why? Massive corruption.

The USOC was after GM LEE Sang-Chul (USTU) long before KIM Un-Yong was on the radar.

So before you lecture us about great and wonderful the USAT and WTF are, keep those things in mind.

Then start educating yourself and stop spreading mis-information.

PS You still have yet to list the names of all the JiDoKwan people that run the USAT????

 

[slingblade01]

Aint that the truth! Those measures would likely yield nearly equally results without the need for costly equipment. Electric scoring does solve a lot of problems, but it also comes with its own set of headaches as well.

Daniel

Very true. The big problem now is how to globally calibrate the equipment.

Take a guess as to who owns the officially recognized e-hogus???

We haven't fixed one problem and now we're inviting more.

 

[Kwanjang]

I don't think the public is paying too much attention. Seriously, The only people that care somuich about TKD are us. Thegeneral public knows very littel about TKD, or karate or Kung fu...couldn't tell them apart if they wanted to.

To the general public, we're a bunch of goofs who like to go out and play in our pajamas. Or we're a bunch of MMA wannabees who like to get sweaty and roll around on the floor with each other...or we're Bruce lee wannabees who can kill with a touch.

What abunch of old Korean guys decide the rules for this or that federation are going to be couldn't further rom the minds of Joe Q. Public. Don't seat what they think...because we're just not thaat improtant to be on their radar.

let me illustrate with a sotry (yes, I hear the groans but this is my message ). One of my hobbies is woodworking. I luvs me some power tools and I get excited by the prospect of going to pick ou tlumber for a new project. My wife enjoys making and selling her own jewelry. She's recently gotten into firing her own glass beads. My wife gets happy when i finish up with a project and present it to her as a gift. She'll politely ask "how I did it" at which point I can easily go into great detail about how I hand carved the dovetail joints and bookmatche the grain on the cherry top and finished with a nice tongu oil finich to make the grain pop. her eyes glaze over...she was just asking to be polite. She doesn't care about woodworking.

Similarly, I often come home to my wife and she'll hand me a small pile of glass beads she fired up that day. They look a lot like the ones she fired the day before. I try to find tings I think improved becasue it makes her smile (and her smile makes me a happy man). however, when she starts talking about the various techniques she's practicing or when she asks my opinion on what she caqn do to ge better...I'm at a loss. I don't care about beading and jewelry making.

In the end, we do our thing, it makes us happy...what the other thinks doesn't really bear too much on how or what we do. They don't hav eot be all into it like me (us).

Bottom line, let the public think what they want...chances are they'll get it wrong anyway.

Peace,
Erik

Spot on Erik

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Very true. The big problem now is how to globally calibrate the equipment.

Take a guess as to who owns the officially recognized e-hogus???

We haven't fixed one problem and now we're inviting more.

Kind of reminds me of how the cat in the hat tried to clean up the bathtub ring, with each solution making things worse and worse, until the whole house was wrecked.

Daniel