International Taekwon-Do Federation
The International Taekwon- Do Federation (ITF ) is a Taekwondo Association, the General Choi Hong Hi ( Kor. 최홍희 ) in Seoul, South Korea was established on 22 March 1966. The ITF is the promotion and dissemination of the Korean martial art. Main tasks are the coordination and certification of competitions and training courses, standardization of techniques, teaching and examination content ( form running, sparring, breaking test ), cooperation with national member organizations as well as the authentication of Dan - makers.
National Associations
The ITF affiliated associations, which decreased and at the national level to organizational issues, examination regulations and take care of competitions. In Germany, the ITF is represented for example by the International Taekwon- Do Federation Germany eV (ITF -D), in Austria by the ITF Austria and Switzerland by the ITF Switzerland Taekwon- Do Federation.
There are also Continental Federations, such as the All Europe Taekwon- Do Federation ( AETF ) in Lublin, Poland, in the 33 European national associations are organized. Also, this association aims to develop Taekwondo and spread. In addition, aspects of European cooperation and coordination are laid down in the statutes.
Molding
Forms or Teul in Korean ( 틀, also: Tul ), originally Hyeong ( 형 ) called, are an important aspect of taekwondo training. They are similar to the kata of karate. All forms (with exceptions of Yul - Gok, Eul- Ji and Tong - Il ) start with a defense technique, which is intended to emphasize the defensive nature of Taekwondo. The movements begin and end at the same point.
In the official ITF syllabus includes 24 shapes - similar to the 24 hours of a day. The names typically refer either to events in Korean history or historically significant Koreans. Such a relation exists partly also to other characteristics of the forms, such as the number of movements, the step chart or the latest technology.
The forms were developed by General Choi Hong Hi and in the " Encyclopedia of Taekwon- Do" ( engl. The Encyclopedia of Taekwon- Do) documented in 15 volumes, the latest edition is from 1999. Volumes 8-15 of the extensive work describing the 24 forms and show possible applications of some movements.
Free fight
Find competitions in a 9 × 9 meters (optional 8 × 8 feet ) large ring instead, which is characterized by colored mats or floor markings and unlike in boxing or kickboxing is not limited by ropes. The rules prohibit, for example, leaving the contest area, ground contact with another body part than an opponent lying on the ground feet, foot sweep, unsportsmanlike conduct, or attacking with knee, elbow or forehead and hard contact. Referee with scores on the difficulty of the techniques shown; for warnings or infractions points will be deducted.
The official rules for ITF sparring are available on the ITF website. The ITF -D Competition Rules can also be found on their website.
Belt and graduation
Graduations in the ITF are colored belt in the colors white, yellow, green, blue, red and black in:
The fact that the highest degree of Master 9 (and not 10 ) Dan is located in the number nine as the highest single-digit number and the product 3 × 3 In East Asia, the Three is a lucky number, so the nine promises three times lucky. The Chinese character for three shows three superimposed standing horizontal lines (三), which represent the earth, the mortal and the sky ( from bottom to top ). It was believed that someone who could unite these three realms in itself, is born a king again.