The purpose of this study was to investigate the strategy used in the Taekwondo competition. A total of 21 matches, consisting of 1598 offensive and defensive events, were video taped. Competition strategy, based on frame-by-frame video analysis, was employed to classify the athlete’s motion. Offensive and defensive kicking technique, in order of priority, was roundhouse kick (72.7%), double roundhouse kick (11.0%), back kick (8.0%), cut down kick (3.3%), pushing kick (2.2%), spinning hook kick (1.9%), side kick (0.8%), and hook kick (0.2%). The methodology employed in this study and the data reported may be useful to coaches and athletes interested in gaining insight on the strategy of patterns used in Taekwondo competition

Chu, D.

Hong, Y.

Luk, T.

English

ISBS (International Society of Biomechanics in Sports): Conference Proceedings Archive

Biomechanics Symposia 2001 / University of San Francisco166ANALYSIS OF STRATEGY USED IN TAEKWONDO COMPETITIONTze Chung Luk, Youlian Hong and Danny P. K. ChuDepartment of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong KongThe purpose of this study was to investigate the strategy used in the Taekwondo competition. Atotal of 21 matches, consisting of 1598 offensive and defensive events, were video taped.Competition strategy, based on frame-by-frame video analysis, was employed to classify theathlete’s motion. Offensive and defensive kicking technique, in order of priority, wasroundhouse kick (72.7%), double roundhouse kick (11.0%), back kick (8.0%), cut down kick(3.3%), pushing kick (2.2%), spinning hook kick (1.9%), side kick (0.8%), and hook kick (0.2%).The methodology employed in this study and the data reported may be useful to coaches andathletes interested in gaining insight on the strategy of patterns used in Taekwondocompetition.KEY WORDS: kicking, strategy, Taekwondo, game analysisINTRODUCTION: Taekwondo was originally developed in Korea as a martial art and was basedon a defensive strategy. It is now a highly regarded contemporary sport practised by people allover the world. For the purposes of competition, Taekwondo can be described as a combatsport consisting of sharp, strong angular moves and free-flowing circular movements in whichan athlete uses bare hands and feet to repel an opponent. Since the successful use of kicking,both offensively and defensively, will score the athlete points, it is the most important objectivein a Taekwondo competition. At the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, Taekwondo appeared only as a demonstration sport.However, at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, it finally gained recognition as an official sport. Taekwondo competition took place in an 8m × 8m area. It was officiated by one referee andthree judges. There were eight different weight divisions, Fin (male not exceeding 54kg, femalenot exceeding 47kg), Fly (male 54kg – 58kg, female 47kg – 51kg), Bantam (male 58kg – 62kg,female 51kg – 55kg), Feather (male 62kg – 67 kg, female 55kg – 59kg), Light (male 67kg –72kg, female 59kg – 63kg), Welter (male 72kg – 78kg, female 63kg – 67kg), Middle (male 78kg– 84kg, female 67kg – 72kg) and Heavy (male over 84 kg, female over 72 kg). The duration ofthe contests were three rounds of three minutes with one minute of rest between rounds. Thelegal scoring areas were mid-section of the trunk and face and valid points were given forattacks to the legal scoring areas if the competitors using the parts of the foot below the anklebone and the front parts of the fist.Game strategy analysis has been used extensively on tactics used in squash (Hong, Robinson,& Chan, 1998; Hughes, 1993; Hughes, & Franks, 1993), football (Hughes, 1993), basketball(Miller & Bartlett, 1994), rugby (Hughes & Clarke, 1994), netball (Palmer, Hughes & Borrie,1994) and badminton (Hong & Tong, 2000).  However, to the authors knowledge, a systematicanalysis of the strategy involved in Taekwondo is still lacking.  Information on game strategy in Taekwondo can broaden the knowledge of coaches on patternsused in this sport. It is anticipated that this will also help the Taekwondo coaches to train theirathletes more effectively in the use of pertinent tactics in competitive situations.  METHODS: In the (1999) Asian level Taekwondo competition 24 male athletes (9 Fly, 8 Featherand 7 Bantam) participated in 21 matches from which 1598 offensive and defensive motionswere selected for analysis. The competitions were recorded on a video camera (CCD-TRV46EPAL, SONY, Japan) placed at the stage at a relatively high position in order to view the wholeactivity area. Notational analysis, which is based on frame-by-frame video analysis, wasemployed to categorize the athlete’s motion.The athlete’s movements and strategy employed in the competition were divided into several ofcomponents in the notational analysis. Each movement was decomposed and classified intoBiomechanics Symposia 2001 / University of San Francisco167pre-defined parameters to document the frequency or their occurrence. The pre-definedparameters included action, kicking technique, section of attacking, and effectiveness of theaction.Action: Action was defined as the athlete’s movement and subdivided into categories ofoffensive, defensive, or no reaction. The movement of the athlete who started the sequencewas defined as offensive action. The opponent was defined as defensive action if he starts todefence the opponent’s attack. Otherwise, the movement was defined as no reaction (i.e., nodefensive reaction of movement in response to the attack).Kicking technique: Offensive kicking was defined as a continuous movement in which the legwas used to attack an opponent. On the other hand, continuous movement of the leg inresponse to an opponent’s attack was defined as defensive kicking. Kicking technique wasanalysed into two variables: preferred leg (front or back), and type of kicking technique. Eightdifferent types of kicks were employed: roundhouse, double roundhouse, back, cut down,pushing, spinning hook, side, and hook.Section of attack: The section of attack was classified into trunk and head. These are the onlyareas that can be legally attacked in Taekwondo.Effectiveness of the action: The effectiveness of the action was classified into effective,ineffective and missing. The effective action was defined as the attack to the legal scoring areasin which parts with using the parts of the foot below the ankle bone or front parts of the fist wasused. Otherwise, kicking was designated as ineffective action (i.e., unable to attack to the legalarea or attacking the legal area without using the proper parts of the foot or fist). Missing wasassigned when the kicking did not touch the opponent.  The percentage distribution of action,kicking technique, section of attacking, and effectiveness of the action were calculated. RESULTS: From the 21 matches and 63 rounds 1598 movements were analyzed. Thedistribution of offensive and defensive movements are shown in Figure 1. The predominance inthe use of back kicking is presented in Figure 2. From Figure 3 it is evident that the trunk wasthe area that received that greatest percentage of attacks. Figure 4 includes a distribution oftypes of kicks. It is evident that the roundhouse kick was used in nearly three of four kicks.DISCUSSION: The results indicated that the relatively high percentage of back leg kicking(75.9%) was employed in both offensive and defensive action. Kong, Luk and Hong (2000)found that the movement time for front leg roundhouse kick was shorter than the back legroundhouse kick. However, the back leg roundhouse could produce the larger linear velocity. Inother words, larger momentum could be produced by the back leg roundhouse kick than by thefront leg roundhouse kick. In Taekwondo competition, the large kicking momentum may beuseful in repelling an opponent or attacking the legal striking area in order to score points.It was found that athlete prefer to kick the opponents’ trunk section rather than the head section.Luk & Hong (2000) found that significantly higher muscle activity in gastrocnemius, sartorius,tensor fascias latae and vastus lateralis was required to perform the roundhouse kick to thelevel of the eye. Therefore, greater employment of kicking to the trunk section may reduce thedegree of fatigue throughout the competition in order to maintain relatively high exerciseperformance levels over a long period.Roundhouse kick was the major kicking technique (72.7%) in the Taekwondo competition. Incomparison to the side kick and spinning back kick, competitors were able to generated thegreater final velocity in roundhouse kick (Pieter & Pieter, 1995). The frequent selection of theroundhouse kick in Taekwondo competition may be explained by the relatively high momentumthat could be produced with this kick.Biomechanics Symposia 2001 / University of San Francisco168Figure 1 – The distribution of “action” in the 21 matches involving 1598 events.Figure 2 – The distribution of use of preferred led in both offensive and defensive        kicking.Figure 3 – Targeting of the trunk and head in kicking in both offensive and defensive        kicking.Figure 4 – The percentage distribution of “kicking technique” employed in both offensive       and defensive kicking action.Side0.8%Spinning hook1.9%Hook0.2%Back8.0%Pushing2.2%Dow nw ard3.3%Double roundhouse11.0%Roundhouse72.7%Offence55.8%Deffence42.8%No reaction1.4%Front24.1%Back75.9%Trunk91.4%Heak8.6%Biomechanics Symposia 2001 / University of San Francisco169CONCLUSION: In Taekwondo competition, a high percentage of back leg and roundhousekicking was found. These kicks produced a relatively high velocity of the kicking foot. Kicking tothe trunk was the dominant target. It is conjectured that this was the frequent target becauseless leg muscle activity was required in comparison to targeting the head. The informationderived from this study may be helpful to coaches and athletes in planning a training programand strategy for Taekwondo competition.REFERENCES:Hong, Y., Robinson, P. D., & Chan, W. K. (1998). Game strategy used by the world's top femalesquash players in international competitions - A notational analysis. Women in Sport andPhysical Activity Journal, 7(1), 27-44.Hughes, M. (1993). Computerised notation of racket sports. In T. Reilly (Ed.), World Congressof Science and Racket Sports (pp. 249-256). Runcorn, England.Hughes, M. (1993). Notation analysis in football. In T. Reilly (Ed.), World Congress of Scienceand Football (pp. 151-159). Eindhoven, Netherlands.Hughes, M., & Clarke, A. (1994). Computerized notation analysis of rugby union to examine theeffects of law changes upon the patterns of play by the international tennis. Journal of SportsSciences, 12(2), 180.Hughes, M., & Clarke, A. (1994). A computerized notational analysis of the effects of the 1992back-pass of patterns of play in English soccer. Journal of Sports Sciences, 12(2), 180.Hughes, M., & Knight, I. (1993). A comparison of playing patterns of elite squash players, usingEnglish scoring to point-per-rally scoring. In T. Relly (Ed.), World Congress of Science andRacket Sports . Runcorn, England.Hughes, M., & Tillin, P. (1995). An analysis of the attacking strategies in female elite tennisplayers at Wimbledon. Journal of Sports Science, 13(1), 86.Kong, P. W., Luk, T. C., & Hong, Y. (2000). Difference between Taekwondo roundhouse kickexecuted by the front and back leg - a biomechanical study. In Y. Hong & D. P. Johns (Eds.),Proceedings of XVIII International Symposium on Biomechanics in Sports (Vol. I, pp. 268-272).Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.Luk, T. C., & Hong, Y. (2000). Comparison of electromyography activity between different typesof Taekwondo round-house kick. In Y. Hong & D. P. Johns (Eds.), Proceedings of XVIIIInternational Symposium on Biomechanics in Sports (Vol. II, pp. 920-924). Hong Kong: TheChinese University of Hong Kong.McGarry, T., & Franks, I. M. (1993). Winning squash: predicting championship performancefrom a priori observation. In T. Reilly (Ed.), World Congress of Science and Racket Sports (pp.260-265). Runcorn, England.Miller, S. A., & Bartlett, R. M. (1994). Notational analysis of the physical demands of basketball.Journal of Sports Science, 12(2), 181.Pieter, F., & Pieter, W. (1995). Speed and force in selected taekwondo techniques. Biology ofsport, 12(4), 257-266.

ANALYSIS OF STRATEGY USED IN TAEKWONDO COMPETITION

https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/download/3803/3523

ANALYSIS OF STRATEGY USED IN TAEKWONDO COMPETITION

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

ISBS (International Society of Biomechanics in Sports): Conference Proceedings Archive