World Championships USA

[terryl965]

Well for the firsat time in forty years USA Tae Kwo Do failed to recieve atleast one medal. We have been blanked, who is to blame for this and why? Surely the athletes did all they could do, where they properly prepared for international competition? Did they have enough experience? Maybe just maybe it was notin the cards, all I know we got a big goose egg and that hasnever happen before are we going backward compared to all other countries?

 

[Archtkd]

Well for the firsat time in forty years USA Tae Kwo Do failed to recieve atleast one medal. We have been blanked, who is to blame for this and why? Surely the athletes did all they could do, where they properly prepared for international competition? Did they have enough experience? Maybe just maybe it was notin the cards, all I know we got a big goose egg and that hasnever happen before are we going backward compared to all other countries?

Ask Mr. Askinas. It's a shame given the big role the U.S played in making Taekwondo an international sport. On a side note Korea, the motherland, had major problems too. Korea only got two golds from the men's team marking the firs time that the country failed to retain the men's overall title in the history of the championships.

 

[Poomsaeguy]

Or maybe....just maybe, the other fighters on that day were just better. That is why they call it compatition.

 

[miguksaram]

Or maybe....just maybe, the other fighters on that day were just better. That is why they call it compatition.

I think the question is why was USA not better? What made the other teams stronger? Is it the training Team USA is receiving? Is the coaching not up to speed? Are the field of the Athletes chosen to represent not preparing better or not really the best of the best that we have to offer? (Please note that these are just questions and I am in no way saying our athletes suck or the coaching sucks. Just trying to figure out why the drop in medals.)

 

[Tez3]

Well you'd better sort it I've bought tickets for the Olympic TKD and am expecting to meet some of you guys!

 

[ATC]

No national support for out athletes. Other conuntries support their athletes, we make ours foot their own way or hope that some private donations or sponcerships happen. By doing this we lose a great many possible hopefuls. I am sure there are some great athletes and fighters out there better than the ones we sent but when you can't get the oppertunities due to financial woes then you lose those people. The sad thing is that you don't even know what you lost.

Not to mention the crazy politics in play with our NGB.

 

[terryl965]

Or maybe....just maybe, the other fighters on that day were just better. That is why they call it compatition.

That is one way of looking at it, I was just curios since this is the first year we failed to madal. I believe our athletes did they very best they could but where they prepared for this competition?

 

[puunui]

What I was told was that the LaJust electronic protectors had a large part in this year's results. Korea had the poorest showing ever as well. Perhaps that will help to wake people up on how bad Lajust is. I was watching some footage and the impression I got was that legitimate and valid roundhouse kicks scored 10% of the time. Electronic scoring simply does not work. If I were an active competitor or coach, I would be highly discouraged and frankly depressed by the state of affairs in national and international competition.

I keep thinking that we hit rock bottom, that we cannot fall any further, but I am continuously proved wrong by the latest fiasco. It is almost turning out to be a perfect storm scenario, where seemingly unrelated events are coming together for a bad bad result on the horizon. You have David Askinas, President Kang, President Choue, Secretary General Yang, LaJust, and an IOC that hates Taekwondo. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict the results of all of that.

And Steven Lopez is getting old, Mark and Diana's feet are half way out the door, Jean and Juan have their own personal dramas going on, prices at USAT keep rising while membership and participation continue to drop, and the list goes on and on.

 

[ATC]

What I was told was that the LaJust electronic protectors had a large part in this year's results. Korea had the poorest showing ever as well. Perhaps that will help to wake people up on how bad Lajust is. I was watching some footage and the impression I got was that legitimate and valid roundhouse kicks scored 10% of the time. Electronic scoring simply does not work. If I were an active competitor or coach, I would be highly discouraged and frankly depressed by the state of affairs in national and international competition.

I keep thinking that we hit rock bottom, that we cannot fall any further, but I am continuously proved wrong by the latest fiasco. It is almost turning out to be a perfect storm scenario, where seemingly unrelated events are coming together for a bad bad result on the horizon. You have David Askinas, President Kang, President Choue, Secretary General Yang, LaJust, and an IOC that hates Taekwondo. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict the results of all of that.

And Steven Lopez is getting old, Mark and Diana's feet are half way out the door, Jean and Juan have their own personal dramas going on, prices at USAT keep rising while membership and participation continue to drop, and the list goes on and on.

I don't thing LaJust had anything to do with it. Anyone can watch many of the matches online for free at http://www.dartfish.tv/. There is no way only 10% of so called valid kicks scored. Watch the matches for yourself. Many of the so called valid kicks are blocked and never touch a valid scoring area. Kick right with good power and proper techniques and you will score, simple as that.

Everyone uses the same system so how can a weaker fighter score less than a better fighter with the same so called poor system. They way many talk on here about the system they make it seem like the system is only bad for the so called good fighters. If the system is bad it is bad for all.

Now is the system perfect? No but it is not perfect for all, not some.

 

[ATC]

Here is one exciting match from the WC 2011
http://www.dartfish.tv/Presenter.as...FR1VMIFNlcnZldAABAQ9wMWMyNTQ2NG00NjE4MTcAAAA=

Servet (in red) from Turkey (gold medalist) is just a beast. And you won't see 90% of his valid kicks not score.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

How did the aussies go? Are there any good australian fighters I should keep an eye out for?

 

[MSUTKD]

I will not sit here and armchair the Taekwondo world or my fellow teammates with, could'ah, would'ah, should'ah. I am proud of them, many my personal friends, and I know that they fought hard. I know a lot of hours were spent in preparation for this event. I know a lot of sacrifices were made and I know that many hearts are on the floor after a tough event. When you have participated at a real world event as a competitor, then you will understand.
I, for one, am proud of Team USA!

Welcome to world competition!

 

[terryl965]

Master Southwick I am too proud of the team, they trained hard and fought hard. I saw the live streaming of fights. I know so many of them on a personal level as well and even sit and break bread with them.

I am just bringing to light that this is the first orld Championship we did not medal in and if there was anything as a whole we should be doing for our athletes like yourself and the poomsae team.

Maybe we need funding so the team can get extra training time with our coaches, maybe our players need there personal coaches there to coach them. I do not have any answer for what happen and surely do not but blame on anybody but we need a better pipeline for getting them together with our selective coaches so they can blend together. We need better funding for all of the athletes both sparing and poomsae.

I do not buy into the lajust thing mainly because it is unfair to all competitors out there so it is a level ground in that regards. Would you agree we need better funding for our athletes? Would you agree we need more time with our coaches to find that trust in each other? Would you agree we need coaches that have only one purpose and that is training and fielding the best team possible?

I believe coaches should be fulltime at the Olympic training center developing a better training regiment and getting that material out there for our up and coming fighters.

I am sorry if you feel people are bashing the athletes, I see it as questioning what can be done to improve and learn from this.W eneed better support from our NGB.:asian:

 

[Tez3]

For the UK's Sarah Stevenson it's her third World title, the first being ten years ago so I don't think electronic judging can make so much of a difference.

The UK team did well and I think money may well have a lot to do with it, along with other Olympic sports here they have been receiving money from the National Lottery. It's not everything though, the UK boxing team did before the Beijing Olympics, they had boxers training fulltime in professional training facilities but the team did poorly overall.
This may be of interest as the Director talks money ,training etc.

http://www.martialedge.net/articles...mance-director-for-the-british-olympic-team-/

 

[andyjeffries]

What I was told was that the LaJust electronic protectors had a large part in this year's results. Korea had the poorest showing ever as well. Perhaps that will help to wake people up on how bad Lajust is. I was watching some footage and the impression I got was that legitimate and valid roundhouse kicks scored 10% of the time.

Maybe the Americans and the Koreans just don't kick as hard as us Europeans ;-)

 

[andyjeffries]

Well you'd better sort it I've bought tickets for the Olympic TKD and am expecting to meet some of you guys!

Likewise! I've put in for some tickets (for the early rounds rather than finals - they are generally better fights with the finals being cagier in general)...

Hoping to meet quite a few people from here on there...

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

The issue with the US performance is laid solely to blame at the top of Tae Kwon Do in the United States. Specifically the people in charge and the coaches. The small group at the top have been for quite a while serving their own interests and not putting our best Tae Kwon Do practitioners forward to compete. They are solely to blame for this and hopefully there will be major changes soon!

 

[puunui]

I don't thing LaJust had anything to do with it.

Then you disagree with pretty much everyone out there, including the KTA, who are strongly against LaJust. I don't know how to respond to someone who doesn't acknowledge that LaJust is having a tremendous impact on matches. And it started at nationals and team trials, where lajust was used.

There is no way only 10% of so called valid kicks scored.

Valid "roundhouse" kicks, not valid kicks. Big difference. The game is now cut kick, push kick, and pot kick, not roundhouse kick.

Watch the matches for yourself.

I watched some. I got tired and stopped.

Many of the so called valid kicks are blocked and never touch a valid scoring area. Kick right with good power and proper techniques and you will score, simple as that.

Everyone uses the same system so how can a weaker fighter score less than a better fighter with the same so called poor system.

Ask the four or five time finweight world champion from Korea who didn't make team this year because of LaJust.

They way many talk on here about the system they make it seem like the system is only bad for the so called good fighters. If the system is bad it is bad for all.

It's bad if you have a roundhouse kick game.

Now is the system perfect? No but it is not perfect for all, not some.

The fact that it is bad for all doesn't make it good.

 

[puunui]

The issue with the US performance is laid solely to blame at the top of Tae Kwon Do in the United States. Specifically the people in charge and the coaches. The small group at the top have been for quite a while serving their own interests and not putting our best Tae Kwon Do practitioners forward to compete. They are solely to blame for this and hopefully there will be major changes soon!

I'm no fan of the leadership at USAT, but we can't blame them for everything. They are in part responsible because David Askinas did take the LaJust money and made LaJust mandatory at our selection events. So there is that. But the larger problem is LaJust. It simply doesn't work the way it is supposed to.

 

[armortkd]

USAT Leadership has little impact on US Team performance at Worlds!!! As for our National Team Coaches, they're responsible game-planning at the camps and coaching our athletes to make adjustments at Worlds. Some of our team members have coach/instructors that has LaJust at their schools. Also, they get plenty of time at the team camps with LaJust. Here are my observations on why we didn't medal:

PACE. I was troubled while I was videoing our athletes at Nationals and watching Dartfish for Team Trials. Yes, I agree that LaJust isn't a great system. I got very bored watching at times, but it's about SCORING not STYLE. Looking at the World medalists from Iran, Turkey, Thailand, and Afganistan...they were scoring round kicks and pushing the action throughout. Everyone is covering their hogu due to LaJust!!!!

We have a young, relatively inexperienced at the senior international level. Steven & Diana Lopez are focusing on World Qualifiers and Danielle Pelham lost at Team Trials. TJ Curry is new blood who will eventually do great internationally.

US Men's Team.
Luis Reyes: He has never medalled internationally & we need some new blood.
James Howe: Performed very well!!! Loss to Gabriel because of Pace.
Bernard Posey: Sad that he broke his leg! Has a great future ahead of him.
Terrance Jennings: That referee did a HORRIBLE job! Italy fell down & went out of bounds many times yet called it on TJ.
Mark Lopez: His first Worlds that he didn't medalled at =(
Luke Ford: HE BEAT AARON COOK!!! Sad that he had his teammate Rufus next fight.
Jason Neville: Didn't have a chance to watch his fights but his division was stacked!!!
Stephen Lambdin: Lost to eventual World Champion from Korea. He was a great future ahead.