Taekwondo Sparring

Taekwondo Sparring Techniques & Tips

This page provides you with information regarding Taekwondo sparring techniques and strategies. Taekwondo sparring is a great way for kids & adults to gain confidence, utilize their Taekwondo skills in a “real world” environment (versus just hitting pads or static practice dummies) and lose their fear being hit. Practice these moves at home so you can surprise & defeat your Taekwondo sparring opponents!

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Sparring Attacks – Here are some basic sparring techniques to use when you are the sparring aggressor. If you need to learn the proper techniques for any of these kicks, please visit our Taekwondo kicking section.

Combination Kicks – A variety of combination kicks that you can use in order to be the aggressor in Taekwondo sparring.

  • Sparring combination kicks – These videos show a wide variety of sparring combination kicks such as a push kick with a jumping double roundhouse kick, jumping double roundhouse with a tornado kick and a high roundhouse with a back kick.

Sparring Counter Attacks – How to score a point when you are on defense in sparring.

Miscellaneous Sparring Techniques & Info

Taekwondo Sparring Strategy

  • Move from side to side!! Don’t just move forward and backwards. Moving to the side (when an opponent attacks) allows you to score easily. For example, when an opponent throws a back kick, you should shift to his open side (versus just moving backwards to escape the kick). This will allow you to avoid the kick, be close enough to throw an effective roundhouse kick and catch him/her in a position where it is hard to block your kick. In this example, if the opponent throws a right leg back kick, you would shift to the right (the opponent’s left) in order to score a point.
  • Excerpts from TurtlePress.com Sparring Strategies:
    1. Counterattacking has a better chance of scoring than attacking for advanced competitors.
    2. The most frequently used attacks are roundhouse kick, back kick and axe kick.
    3. Successful competitors can effectively counter these kicks.
    4. The side kick and front kick are rarely used in competition any more and are highly unlikely to score points.

Olympic Sparring Rules for Taekwondo

  • According to the sparring regulations from the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), you get one point for a valid attack on the trunk protector, two points for a valid turning kick to the trunk protector, three points for a valid kick to the head and four points for a valid turning kick to the head.
  • Match score shall be the sum of points of the three rounds.
  • IMO – Fancy techniques give you more points but they also can leave you vulnerable and obviously are more difficult than simple (and more reliable) techniques. Olympic organizers are trying to make Taekwondo sparring more exciting and thus they are encouraging spectacular head kicks. Stick with the basics during sparring matches until you have completely mastered and practiced more advanced techniques during your sparring training.