viernes, 9 de febrero de 2007

Taekwondo


Taekwondo

Taekwondo (also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do) is a martial art originating in Korea. Having become the most widely practiced martial art in the world, it is the national sport of Korea as well as an Olympic sporting event.
In
Korean, derived from hanja, tae means "foot"; kwon means "fist"; and do means "way". Hence, taekwondo is loosely translated as "the way of the hand and foot" or more loosely, "the art of kicking and punching". Taekwondo's popularity has resulted in the divergent evolution of the martial art. As with many other martial arts, taekwondo is a combination of combat technique, self-defense, sport, exercise, entertainment, and philosophy.
Although there are great
doctrinal and technical differences among public and private taekwondo organizations, the art in general emphasizes kicks thrown from a mobile stance, using the leg's greater reach and power to disable the opponent from a distance. In sparring, turning (roundhouse), 45 degree, front, axe, reverse turning and side kicks are most often used; advanced kicks include jump, spin, and skip kicks, often in combination. Taekwondo training also includes a comprehensive system of hand strikes and blocks, but generally does not emphasize grappling.

Ranks, belts, and promotion

Like many martial arts, taekwondo has ten student ranks (called a gup, also
romanized as geup or kup) and nine or ten black belt ranks (dan) or (degree). New students begin at 10th gup (white belt) and advance down in number to 1st gup. At many schools, students then advance into an intermediate rank called cho dan bo or dan bo, meaning "black belt candidate". After some prescribed amount of time has passed, the student takes a dan test, after which the student becomes a 1st dan.
Dan ranks then increase to a maximum of either 9th dan (
ITF) or 10th dan (Kukkiwon). The Kukkiwon does not allow students under 15 to attain dan ranks. Instead they earn poom ranks, or "junior black belt". Underage students may earn up to 4th Poom, and all poom ranks convert automatically to dan ranks when the student comes of age and passes his or her next promotion.
The grading in taekwondo consists mainly of patterns, techniques and theory. The patterns are a display of punching and kicking techniques, and may also contain others such as breathing and stances. Theory is displayed verbally and expresses information on Korean words, vital information (such as vital points and rules) and a general understanding and knowledge of taekwondo.

Gup ranks and belt colors
The colored belt system is an artifact of Japanese influence on Korea during the occupation, and thus ultimately from Jigaro Kano, the founder of judo. Some organizations' leaders, like General Choi Hong Hi, assigned meanings to the various colors of the ranks,[6] representing the progression of a student from white, the innocence of a beginner, into the maturity of the black belt, who is impervious to darkness and fear. The interpretation of the colors of the belt vary from school to school, and are sometimes omitted from instruction, as they did not have meaning when they were originally chosen. Neither the World Taekwondo Federation nor the Kukkiwon assign official meanings to the colors.
The correspondence of belt color to Gup varies drastically from school to school, and can even change within the same school over time. Belt colors are most useful in allowing students and instructors within a school to quickly determine rank. The traditional and most common rank-color correspondence found in both Kukkiwon and ITF schools
are:

10th White Belt
9th White with Yellow Stripe
8th Yellow Belt
7th Yellow with Green Stripe
6th Green Belt
5th Green with Blue Stripe
4th Blue Belt
3rd Blue with Red Stripe
2nd Red Belt
1st Red with Black stripe

Olympic competition rules

The sparring regulations of the WTF, adopted by the International Olympic Committee, emphasize full contact blows, allow knockout and other logistics of the Olympic sports. These rules are different from taekwondo sparring based on poomsae technique, grabbing self-defense. There are over 18 different types of taekwondo sparring.

Rachel Marcial of the US Armed Forces team (blue) competing in a taekwondo match.
The official, current WTF competition rules can be found at the WTF website.
[12] These rules govern many aspects of tournament sparring, summarized below:
The competition area measures 10m x 10m.
The contestant shall wear the trunk protector (hogu), head protector, groin guard, forearm guards, shin guards, and a mouthpiece.
The duration of the contest is non-stop three rounds of two minutes each, with a one-minute rest period between rounds. In case of a tie score after the completion of the 3rd round, a 4th round of two minutes will be conducted as the sudden death overtime round.
Permitted and prohibited techniques:
Fist techniques are only allowed with a closed hand, and only with the leading part of the hand (no backhand or hammer techniques).
Foot techniques are only allowed by using the parts of the foot below the ankle bone (no shin or knee techniques).
Permitted areas
Trunk: Full force attack by fist and foot techniques on the areas covered by the trunk protector are permitted. Attacks on the part of the back not covered by the trunk protector are permitted so long as they are not direct hits to the spine.
Head: Full force, knock out attack to the head is only allowed by foot techniques. Attack to the back of the head is prohibited, as are all hand techniques to the head.
Points are awarded when permitted techniques deliver full force, abrupt displacement and trembling shock to the legal scoring areas of the body. Points may be awarded by judges for a successful technique as follows:
One point for attack on trunk protector.
Two points for attack on the head.
One point if a punch is thrown and stops the opponent in their tracks.
One additional point if the opponent is knocked down and the referee counts.
Declared winner if knock-out of the opponent with foot kicking to the legal area of head and face.
Deduction of points. Two types of penalties may be assigned for prohibited acts, "kyonggo" (warning penalty) and "gamjom" (deduction penalty). Two "kyonggo" deduct one point, rounded down (an odd "kyonggo" is not counted in the grand total), and a "gamjom" deducts one full point. When a contestant has been deducted four points, the referee shall declare him/her loser by penalties.
"Kyonggo" penalties include: evading by turning the back to the opponent; falling down; avoiding/stalling the match; grabbing, holding, or pushing; attacking below the waist; pretending injury; butting or attacking with knee; hitting the opponent’s face with the hand.
"Gamjom" penalties include: attacking the opponent when the round is stopped; attacking a fallen opponent; intentionally attacking the opponent’s face with the hand.
In the event of a tied score after the sudden death round, the judging officials decide the match based on the initiative shown during the final round.

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