In the ITF, it can now be said that worldwide, the highest standard of competitors now rests inside Europe.  Unlike before, no longer is Europe dominated by the rest of the world in competition.  

That is what makes this tournament the blue ribbon event on the Tae Kwon-Do calendar and why this tournament should not be missed.  

About the Competition  

All International competitions have individual and team participation events.  Only one competitor from each country can be registered for each event.  That means that only the best competitor from each country can compete.  This essentially makes each round a final, as the standard is so high there are no easy rounds.  

• Pattern
• Sparring
• Power Breaking
• Special Technique  

Only blackbelts of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree status can enter the competitions.  The competitors are further split into male and female categories and senior (18+) and junior (13-17).

Pattern practice is the backbone of the Tae Kwon-Do training structure as the student learns all the fundamental movements from them.  A new pattern or patterns is introduced to the student each time they progress up a grade level. Each pattern gets progressively harder in technical difficulty the higher up the grades the student gets.  In Tae Kwon-Do there are twenty-four patterns.

The pattern event is a technical demonstration of fundamental Tae Kwon-Do attack and defence techniques against an imaginary opponent.  The demonstration of the pattern and it represents all that is Tae Kwon-Do.  

For competition, the patterns are structured similarly to that of sparring, in that it is one against one, with winner going through to the next round. 

The theory is the same as that of the individual competition in that countries are drawn against each other and must demonstrate greater technical proficiency over the other country to win through to the next round.  The main difference is that there is a team of five competitors performing the pattern instead of one individual.  

The difficulty here is the demonstration of technical symmetry between the five competitors.  The team pattern is further made difficult with inclusion of choreography into the pattern.  What this means is that certain individuals can be made to stop and start the progression through the pattern in sequence to create a specific style and rhythm to the pattern.  

Additional points can be made to overall score depending on the degree of difficulty put into the choreography.  

Where pattern was a demonstration of Tae Kwon-Do technique against an imaginary opponent, sparring is a demonstration of certain Tae Kwon-Do techniques against a real opponent.  

To make the system fair to people, competitors are segregated into weight categories.  The competitors spar for two times, two minute rounds with three rounds fought in the final.  Points are awarded for techniques scored to the head and body executed from a standing or flying position. 

To prevent unnecessary injury, competitors were protective equipment that cover the hands and feet.  There is no attacking to the back or back of the head, nor is low kicking allowed.  Therefore, the competitors must train to a high technical standard in order to develop sharpness and accuracy in order to score points.  

The winner of course is the one with the most points.  Warnings and fouls are given to the competitors for illegal movements and techniques.  These result in minus points.  The minus points are deducted from the original points score.  

Team sparring is fought on the same basis as the individual events.  Two countries are drawn together.  There are six competitors in each team and only five can fight.  For each winning bout, there are two points given.  For a drawn bout, one point is given.  

The winning team is the one that has the most bouts won. If the actual contest between the two countries is drawn, each country must put forward their best competitor to win the deciding bout.  If that fails it goes to the first point scored.  

Team sparring is generally the most hotly contested and passionate events at the whole championships.  

The difference between individual and team sparring is that each fight lasts for only one round.  There is no weight classification for this event. 

This event demonstrates the competitors’ power and technique.  Re-usable breaker boards are used and the competitor is given five different techniques, two hand and three foot.  A designate quantity of 1” breaker boards is pre-selected for each technique.  Three points are awarded for each completely broken board and two points for a half-broken or bent board.  The winner is the competitor with most points accumulated over the five techniques.  

Power Breaking (Team)  

This event is has the same criteria as above with exception that the five breaking techniques must be split between the five team members.  

Where power breaking demonstrated the competitors power and technique from attacking techniques on the ground, special technique is a breaking technique with the target at a predetermined height and distance from the competitor.  In this case the competitor has five individual techniques with which to attack targets suspended at height from the floor.  

Four of the techniques will be for a target at height, the remaining one is for a target at distance. Generally the height is around 2.2m with one of the techniques involving the competitor to spin in the air 360° before striking the target.  The evolution of this event is that breaker boards (one) has been replaced with a spring loaded pad as the essence of this event has been on the competitors athletic ability.  Three points are awarded for the board being flipped all the way over and two points awarded for only contact with the board.  

Special Technique (Team)  

The same criteria applies to that of the individual event only in this case the five individual techniques are divided between the five team members.