Welcome to all Cemerlang brothers

Good luck with the coming InterClub competition in December. Feel free to post comments or announcement on this blog.

Simple Sparring Guidelines

Always be kewl
· Watch your opponent at all times – you can’t block a technique if you can’t see it.
· Use techniques in combination – follow up an attack – don’t use one technique and then stop.
· Breathe! Try to relax. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you as you spar.
· Stay calm and focused mentally and physically.
· Guard your head – keep at least one hand up at all times.
· Minimize the targets you present to your opponent – don’t face them straight on.
· Stay light on your feet and move around on angles, not just backwards and forwards.
· Use high techniques to mask a low attack and vice versa.
· Observe other’s sparring habits to discover what techniques might work against them.
· A good KIA can momentarily distract your opponent and adds confidence and power to your attack.

TKD Quick Tips

It depends on the tournament rules,

IF leg sweeps are allowed this is the perfect one. tkd in sports tournaments in general have a tendancy to kick a lot.

So they are perfect targets for a dragons tail sweep or low spinning leg sweep following by any technique after as a strike to score a point.

IF you cannot leg sweep then CATCH their foot in mid air or PUNCH it hard. you can then trip them off balance by grabbing it and tossing them to the side to score a perfect punch to the back of their head, or punch their kick with a good solid punch and this will hurt their foot so much they will limp on it and you will have the match easily.

Number of rules to remember. Always try to get the first point. Once you have it, dont be a hero and go after more, you are in the lead now, so circle the ring and make him come to you under your terms. he will desperately be trying to chase you to catch up the score. Use many defensice techniques and of course as soon as you see a great opening go for it and score another if you can.

Remember you do not have to win by getting all the points, you just have to have the most at the end. so circling once you are ahead and keeping the crowd, ligths and audience in your opponents eyes over your eyes is good too.

Also make sure that the judges may had a hard time to see if your punch really landed or not and if you ACT the part well enough and look so assure you scored it many times they will give it to you by the roars of the crowd and your attitude and they dont wanna be the one who said they missed it, i know it sounds odd but it is true.

So thats a few tips. remember if he is taller than you then he has a smaller target to hit than you do also!

Taekwondo Championships

The following are the big boys Taekwondo competitive events:
World Championship - normally held every two years
World Cup - normally held every year
Olympic Games - every four years
World Games - held every four years
Regional Games (Pan Am, Asian, All Africa, etc) - held every four years in the year before the Olympic year
CISM Championships - as arranged by CISM
FISU Championships - as arranged by FISU

There are other prestige local championship like US Open, Canadian Open and Korean Open which are held yearly.

TKD Competition Weight Classes

Fin Weight
Men < 50 kg
Women < 43 kg
Fly Weight
Men 50 - 54 kg
Women 43 - 47 kg
Bantam Weight
Men 54 - 58 kg
Women 47 - 51 kg
Feather Weight
Men 58 - 64 kg
Women 51 - 55 kg
Light Weight
Men 64 - 70 kg
Women 55 - 60 kg
Welter Weight
Men 70 - 76 kg
Women 60 - 65 kg
Middle Weight
Men 76 - 83 kg
Women 65 - 70 kg
Heavy Weight
Men > 83 kg
Women > 70 kg

Improving your techniques and skills

Speed, Agility, and Explosiveness:

Take short sprints, changing directions within the sprints.
Practice footwork combinations (i.e.: switch feet, stepping/skipping forward/backward, side stepping, etc). Eventually add kicks into the footwork. Begin slowly with a focus on developing proper form, and then gradually increase speed.
Bunjee cord work. (These cords can be ordered from martial arts catalogs.) Attach one end to your ankle and the other to a stable structure (a piece of heavy furniture, perhaps). There should be slight tension on the cord before you begin your technique. From there, practice your basic kicks with the added resistance from the cord. Do at least 15 repetitions, and then take off the cord and practice the same kicks without it.

Power:

Bunjee cord work on kicking bag, focusing on power.
Weight lifting with a concentration on the legs.
Squats, lunges, leg lifts, abdominal work, etc.
Stair climbing.

Range:

Stretch to increase flexibility.
Adapt techniques for long range (i.e.: drop kick, back kick).
Practice "moving in" footwork with long-range kicking combinations.
Force yourself to throw long-range techniques on the kicking bag by standing far away.

Endurance
(Do one of these activities before or after your normal workout):

Take a slow 30 minute round on the bag, picking up the pace when there are two minutes left, and going all out when there are 30 seconds left.
Jog at least a mile (or as far as you can), then do short sprints with a two-minute walk in between for the next 30 minutes.
Jump rope for 5 minutes, then take a 5-minute round on the bag. Repeat the pattern for 30 minutes (with no rest in between).

Sparring Strategy:

Spar.
Watch other people spar.

Basic Sparring Strategy

There is a strategic science to sparring. From the outside, sparring looks like random kicks and punches thrown mercilessly with the objective being to injure. From the inside, however, a sparring match is like a chess game. For example, one could not win a game of chess by mindlessly moving around the pieces anymore than one could win a sparring match by mindlessly throwing techniques. Strategy is prerequisite to chess as well as to sparring.

What is strategy? Strategy goes beyond "What kick should I throw now?" and it answers the question "How can I manipulate the situation to give me the advantage over my opponent?" This strategy comes in two main forms: Overall strategy (macro strategy) and exchange strategy (micro strategy).

Macro Strategy
Macro strategy encompasses overall and generalized aspects about any sparring match that will make you spar one person one way and another person another way. There are several things that will affect your macro strategy:

The setting or main goal of the match. If you are sparring someone who is taking his or her belt exam or if you are sparring in a tournament, your main purpose and strategy for sparring will be different. So before you spar, ask yourself, "What is my goal? What do I wish to accomplish in this match?"
Your own personal strengths and weaknesses. These are very important to how you spar. For example, if you feel really comfortable with turning back kick, and not with turning hook kick, then you should stick with the turning back kick. You will be more likely to score if you use a technique with which you are very comfortable.
You and your partner's differing physical attributes. These will greatly define the way in which you spar your partner. Here is a table of examples, and (in my opinion) the best strategies to use these differences to your advantage:

The Remedies
You're taller----> Keep a far distance from your partner and jam them with push kick and back kick.
You're shorter---> Get in close enough that you're too far in range for your partner to kick. Get in, stay in, and rack up the points.
You're heavier---> You've got a power advantage, so use it wisely. Think "tank".
You're lighter---> You've got a speed advantage, so use it wisely. Think "butterfly".
You're faster----> Get in range, throw a few techniques, and get out A.S.A.P.
You're slower----> Don't get fancy -- stay simple. Make your partner come to you instead of chasing after him or her.

Micro Strategy
Micro strategy is the strategy that we use for dealing with each of the tiny exchanges that make up a sparring match. The rest of this page deals with micro strategy.

Open Stance and Closed Stance:
When two people spar each other, each person is in a particular sparring stance: either left foot lead or right foot lead. When both competitors have the same lead (i.e.: if they both have their left foot forward), this is known as closed stance. If both competitors have different leads (i.e.: if one has left foot forward and the other has right foot forward), this is known as open stance.

Why does this matter? It determines which techniques that you can use against your partner to get a clear shot. The whole idea of sparring is to strike your partner where he or she is open. For example, if you are in open stance, then you are both open to back leg roundhouse kick -- you can do a back leg roundhouse kick and strike your partner clear in the stomach. If you are in closed stance, however, your partner is not open to back leg roundhouse kick. If you try back leg roundhouse anyway, you will end up kicking your partner's elbow.

When attacking or counter-attacking, you must be aware of the stance in which you are fighting. If you ignore the stance, then your attack or counter-attack will be ineffective. For example, a turning side kick counter-attack to your partner's rear end does you no good.

The Attack
If you have seen or sparred in Olympic-style Tae Kwon Do sparring lately, you will have noticed that the competitors' average sparring distance from each other is well out of range for any technique to successfully land on either partner. The whole idea of attacking is to close the distance between you and your partner so that you can become close enough to land a technique.

The attack is a very important part of the sparring match for two reasons: (1) It closes the distance between the competitors in order for some actual exchanges may occur; and (2) When the score is tied at the end of the match, the referee decides the winner on the basis of aggressiveness and most techniques thrown. If you attacked and threw more techniques than your partner did during the match, then you won -- even though the score was technically tied. So, attacking has its advantages.

Attacking, however, also has its disadvantages. When you attack, you leave yourself open and off balance for your partner's counter-attack -- if you kick your partner they will kick back from a closer and more effective range. But this can be easily overcome by simply countering the counter-attack. Sparring is almost like an argument: Each exchange builds up from the former exchanges, each one better than the last, and the best one wins. There is no reason to be afraid to attack if you know how to counter-attack.

Another way to avoid this entire issue of vulnerability is to refrain from an actual attack and throw what your partner perceives to be an actual attack (i.e.: In other words, to fake, or feint, an attack). He or she will react to this threat by beginning a counter-attack, which will give you time to close the distance and land several techniques.

Effective attacking relies heavily upon footwork and faking (feinting), not mere kicks. Here are a few rules to follow about attacking:

Never throw just one technique. This is a big no-no.
Never just walk (or run, you kids) into the correct distance and kick. Another major no-no.
Never throw a technique when you know that you will not be able to land it.
Always use footwork or faking to bring your partner closer to you.
Always plan on your partner having a counter-attack.
Always plan on countering your partner's counter-attack.

The Counter-Attack
Most of all points scored in Tae Kwon Do competition come from counter-attacks. The idea of the counter-attack is to overshadow your partner's attack. In other words, you want your counter-attack to be superior to and more devastating than your partner's attack. If your partner lands a technique on you, it is imperative that it is immediately counter-attacked with several more devastating techniques. In this way, you will be awarded the point.

Of course, you are in no way limited to the chart below -- you have a multitude of different options. This is just a basic idea of how to get started in a counter-attack. Remember that the most effective counter-attack consists of multiple techniques. Each one of the techniques listed in the chart is just an example of the first technique that can be solidly landed. So, practice these techniques with a partner or on a kicking bag, and remember to follow up with additional techniques.

Attack Counter------------------>Attack
Open Stance: Back leg roundhouse---> Turning back kick
Open Stance: Front leg/skipping roundhouse----> Front leg in-to-out drop kick
Open Stance: Turning back kick---> Side step, then back leg roundhouse
Open Stance: Double roundhouses---> Turning back kick/ push kick
Open Stance: Drop kick---> Side step, then turning back kick
Closed Stance: Back leg roundhouse---> Out-to-in drop kick
Closed Stance: Front leg/skipping roundhouse--_> Turning back kick
Closed Stance: Turning back kick---> Side step, then back leg roundhouse
Closed Stance: Double roundhouses---> Turning back kick/push kick
Closed Stance: Drop kick---> Side step, then turning back kick