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Tournaments help students develop their physical and mental potential. To compete successfully, students must be in top physical fitness and they must perfect their technique, their overall fighting strategy, and their individual fighting tactics. The purpose of competing is to put your skills up against another and maybe win. Nobody enters a tournament to lose. However, not everyone can win so tournaments also help students develop humility and sportsmanship. If you compete for the joy of competing, you will have fun whether you win or lose.

Tournament sparring is conducted between two players. One is designated slong (red) by having a red ribbon tied to the belt. The other player is designated chung (blue) but wears no ribbon.

Protective hand and feet pads, shin guards, elbow protectors, protective helmet, groin protector, and mouth guard are required. Some tournaments also require a chest protector. Usually, only punching and kicking techniques are allowed, no grabs, sweeps, or throws. The front of the body from the clavicle to the belt may be attacked with punches and kicks. Some organizations allow punches and kicks to the head protector, some allow only kicks, and some do not allow kicks or punches. Kicks below the belt or to the back are forbidden.

Different organizations have different competition rules. Your instructor will inform you of all the rules of your organization before you enter a competition.

Criticism of Tournaments

Our art and its patterns were not designed to be showpieces, or for grace and beauty. (So, what does that have to do with not participating in open tournaments? Other styles will be so awed with the skill of your fighters that they will probably want to study it.)

Patterns are useless so we do not perform them. (So, do not compete in patterns, just compete in the sparring.)

Our art is too deadly for use in tournaments. Tournaments have rules to prevent injury, our art has no rules. (Does this mean you have students being seriously injured and even dying while training? I think not.)

If you or your students do not enjoy tournament, then do not go to them, but do not rationalize and make false or misleading statements to justify your not going to tournaments. As I have stated in other topics, if your art is so great, why do not professional fighters use the techniques. The main reason you do not see many of the eclectic arts in tournaments is because their techniques do not work against another skilled fighter. Taekwondo artists can fight in a Karate tournament, using Karate rules, and score, and vice versa. I contend that the reason many arts claim tournament fighting is useless is because their arts are useless in tournaments, mainly because their techniques are based on some pseudo philosophies that are mostly smoke and mirrors and will not hold up to scrutiny in the ring.

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