WTF fighters are “Sloppy”, “Lack control”, “Fight with their hands down”, “Focus too much on the sport”, “Never punch”, “Unrealistic”, etc, etc, etc.
The ITF isn’t practiced as much as the WTF, thus not giving it the same exposure.
I currently own 2 dojangs and they are WTF. I will reveal later why our school has chosen to be affiliated with the World Taekwondo Federation over the International Taekwondo Federation.
If you’re a WTF practitioner, chances are, you’ve never heard of him.
Korea adopted a new system of Taekwondo after Gen. Hong Hi Choi was excommunicated from the country which is why we have two large federations today- WTF & ITF. Interestingly enough, Gen. Choi is not mentioned by the WTF. WTF or not, Gen. Choi is the father of Taekwondo and is responsible for helping coin the name Taekwondo, and should always be remembered for that.
Most of the techniques that were created by Gen. Choi are practiced in all Taekwondo, whether it’s WTF, ITF, or even ATA. World Taekwondo Federation practitioners evolved into a mutated version, as I stated earlier.
It’s important to understand that the WTF did not create what you see today.
Punching… well, that’s just plain frustrating to a lot of people, WTF or ITF. I’ll get back to that.
WTF practitioners can cover several meters in a split second, in any direction.
If you think about it, the ring in an official WTF match is 12 meters square.
The WTF roundhouse kick has several variations to be more effective.
In the WTF, we throw many “Fast Kicks” or “Quick Kicks”.
Note- the WTF double is with alternating legs in a continuous fashion.
I’ve been studying martial arts for over 30 years now and I’m to the point where I don’t need to pretend or convince myself or others that WTF competition is a great self defense practice.
In WTF competition, we don’t punch, and it’s not because we don’t know how.
In ITF & WTF, a sparring match is nothing more than a game of tag, with kicks and punches.
The WTF practitioners learns to feel what a devastating blow is like.
All competition stuff aside, the WTF and ITF are wonderful systems.
The WTF is the most practiced style in the world you’re going to find flaws in the character of athletes just from the sheer number of people competing.
Why are we WTF and not ITF? Years ago, I became heavily involved in competition.
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