TAE-KWON-DO

TAE-KWON-DO

Brief history and explanation

Simple rules

Photos

What is TaeKwonDo?

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and combat sport.

Taekwondo is the national sport of South Korea.

In Korean, tae means feet or kicking; kwon means hands or striking; and do means art, path, way, or method.

Taekwondo is an Olympic sporting event.

The History of TaeKwonDo

• The oldest Korean martial art was a combination of unarmed combat styles developed by three rival

Korean kingdoms. Young men were trained in unarmed combat

techniques to develop strength, speed, and survival skills. Subak was one of these techniques and

taekkyeon was the most popular of the segments of subak.

The History of TaeKwonDo• The sport’s official name nowadays,

Taekwondo, was announced in 1955.• The first championships were held 1956.• The Korean Taekwondo Federation was

founded in 1965.• The World Taekwondo Federation was

founded in 1973. The first World Championship took place in 1973

. • In recent years, taekwondo has become a

modern amateur sport yet taekwondo has maintained its tradition and spirit of martial science. Today, taekwondo is one of the most popular international sports being practised in 157 countries with its population of more than 50 million throughout the world.

The History of TaeKwonDo Olympic History

In 1980 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) acknowledged Taekwondo as an Olympic sport.

It was included as a display event in two successive Olympic Games: in Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992).

Taekwondo was included on the Olympic Games competition schedule for the first time at the Sydney Games in 2000.

TaeKwonDo in Greece

Tae Kwon Do made its first appearance in Greece at the end of the 1960's. Stamatis Kassis from Athens and Yiorgos Stylianidis from Thessaloniki played an important part in bringing the sport in Greece. They first learned their skills in what was then West Germany and achieved recognition as masters there, before bringing the sport over here.

TaeKwonDo Rules

• The aim of taekwondo is to land as many kicks and blows as you can on your opponent in the allowed target areas.

• A taekwondo contest comprises three rounds of two minutes each – with a one-minute break between each round.

• The whole contest area is a ten-metre square mat.

• Victory can be achieved by knockout, by scoring the most points, or by default if the opponent is disqualified.

Penalties

• Penalties are awarded for offences such as grabbing, holding, pushing, and turning one's back on an opponent.

• The most serious offence is ‘Gam-jeom’. Examples of ‘Gam-jeom’ include throwing an opponent, deliberately stepping over the boundary line, pulling an opponent to the ground, and attacking the face with anything but the feet.

• If an opponent is knocked to the ground then the referee begins a ten-second count. A knockdown occurs if any part of a contestant's body touches the floor apart from the foot. There is a mandatory eight-second count before the referee decides whether the bout should continue.

Penalties

• A knockdown becomes a knockout if a competitor cannot regain his or her feet by the count of ten seconds or if the referee decides he or she is unfit to continue at the end of an eight count.

• If a contest ends with the competitors level on points, then the contestant with the most points before penalties were deducted is the winner. If the scores are still level after this, then the referee awards the contest to the fighter he believes to have been the most willing to attack. The only exception to these rules occurs in the final of a competition, when a tied contest will go to an extra ‘sudden death’ round where the first to score a point wins. If no result is achieved during this round then the final decision once again lies with the referee.

Scoring

• One point is scored for each legitimate strike on the body, and two points are given for kicks to the face. Competitors get an additional point for a knockdown.

• Kicks to the head and body are only awarded points if they are landed with parts of the foot below the ankle.

• Blows to the body must be with the front of the index and middle finger knuckles of a tightly clenched fist if they are to be awarded points. Fighters are not allowed to punch to the head.

Techniques

Front Kick (ap chagi)right

Back Kick (dwi chagi) &

Side Kick (yeop chagi)downhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxHcmW9g7pE&feature=related

Taekwondo clothes

Protection !!!

To protect themselves from injuries the Taekwondo athletes should use:

head guards, gloves and arm protection,knee guards, leg protection, gumshields!!!!

Taekwondo on the Web

To watch a short video of a Taekwondo game go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxHcmW9g7pE&feature=related

Photos

• A Taekwondo coach, Mr Zinelis visited our school on February 9th and talked to us about the sport. We were really impressed.

• The writing group with the Taekwondo coach

• Handing a little gift as a memento of the visit