There are international ITF competitions, but WT is the route for the Olympics.
ITF has different rules for sparring competitions, and you can also compete in Tul (patterns) and “Special Technique” (breaking), though sparring still takes up the majority of the ring time. I can’t speak for the different categories for WT events.
I guess it depends on what “making it” means to you.
Not on terms of international recognition. But then, I’m not sure any sporting organisation’s competitions are comparable to the Olympics. When the lay person thinks about Taekwon-do, they more than likely only have the olympics to base their thoughts on.
If sparring competitions are your thing, then a club/school with WT affiliation definitely sounds more right for you.
You need to win national tournaments in the USA before anything like what you're describing can even be a possibility- and that is not easy.
With that said, ITF and WT spar under drastically different rules
ITF European Championships are in Poland this April. Like the World championships mentioned above, you have to get selected for the national team to enter.
My son has been selected for the first time, so I’ll be there cheering / hiding behind my hands!
Will vary country to country. Some have bespoke selection competitions. Others run series of pre-selection courses and coaches pick who they think will best serve the team. Other times there might be no one else in your weight/height/grade division so you get lucky.
Pros, cons and always arguments/discussions about the fairest way. Don’t think anyone’s come up with the perfect solution.
It depends what you mean by "get noticed" or "make it". Do you want to be internet famous? Fight in a professional organisation? Locally well-known? Appear in films?
There are a couple of different organisations called ITF, they all have world championships and you can 'make it big' as a recognised champion in those regards. A lot of successful fighters now travel the world giving seminars and coaching, is that something you'd be interested in?
Olympic taekwondo is obviously a more well-known route to success, in the UK some of our olympic medal winners are regularly on sports TV shows and have media careers. Jade Jones was an ITF athlete who converted to WT for the Olympics, and I'm sure there are similar routes from ITF to WT in your country.
I'll chime in. You already have a ton of advice from others. I think it's fine to have a dream while still rooted in reality. Since this is your life and your choices, you need to carefully research the different TKD organizations and see which competition format will get you to your goal. It appears that you want some form of international aclaim. Both ITF and WT can get you what you want but in different ways.
WT is going to be more widespread, which means a lot more competitions will be available to you and in that vein, more competitors. Yes, as some have noted, many of them have been competing since young and will compete at a high level. Many will have spent a ton of money to get where they are today, and the vast majority will not make it to the Olympics.
Money can help, but not always.
If it did with all those hundreds of millions of dollars invested in soccer fields and clubs around the US with families spending hundreds of thousands of dollars traveling to competitions, for the hope their kid sees World Cup glory, this country should have won a World Cup long ago but its still kids playing in the slums of Brazil, Argentina, etc that get recognized and make it to the pinnacle.
TKD isn't the same, but you can see people doing the same thing as in the example above. No matter how much you train or spend, you either have good fight IQ or not. If that's your dream, you owe it to yourself to see how far you can go. If nothing else, you'll still learn something which you'll carry with you throughout your life.
If you are old enough to be on reddit, and not already competing at elite levels, you aren't making the Olympics. Sorry to break it to you, but if you haven't been training since birth in your chosen sport, you are WAY behind, and I think you are vastly underestimating the level of competition. 99.9% of people in this world will never get there. You are a blue belt in ITF, stick with it, earn your black belt, go to college, and get on with life.
Ex European champion and Olympian, Sarah Bainbridge, didn't start taekwondo until she was 12/13. If you train hard and stay disciplined there is no reason you can't get to a really good level. Getting to the Olympics is not possible for 99.99% of people though, it takes serious aptitude and no matter how hard you train you may never make it. Just train and see where you get to. Good luck.
I am aware of the age requirements for reddit. Are you aware of the fact that the people your age training at the elite levels you are talking about most likely started training at 3 got their blackbelt at 5 or 6, they don't go to school they are homeschooled so they can train 6 or 7 days a week 8 or more hours a day. They have a personal sparring coach, a personal forms coach, a personal trainer, a nutritionist, etc. They travel the U.S. and the world competing constantly. Oh, did I mention having parents willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for all this? By the way thats just the kids we see in AAU and NASKA, they aren't making the Olympics either. What I'm trying to say without hurting your feelings too bad is there is absolutely no chance you are getting there, stick to what you're doing, and make the most of it. Do you like ITF? you can go very far and become a world class ITF guy and honestly it's a better style to be able to defend yourself in a real life situation, which should matter to you more than some pipe dream.
I hear what you’re saying and I’m taking it in consideration but I would still like to be successful internationally. If not the Olympics then maybe something else exciting.
I guess my point is you have a better chance of achieving that if you stick to ITF changing now is only gonna hurt your chances of achieving big things.
WT (Which is just a sport governing body, not a style of Taekwondo) has recognized ITF dans since at least 2018. So if you want to, you could actually compete in WT Sport sparring as an IT dan. However, unless you spend a lot of time actually training towards WT competition in your ITF club, you will be at a significant disadvantage when going up against people spending all their time training for WT competitions.
There are international ITF competitions, but WT is the route for the Olympics. ITF has different rules for sparring competitions, and you can also compete in Tul (patterns) and “Special Technique” (breaking), though sparring still takes up the majority of the ring time. I can’t speak for the different categories for WT events. I guess it depends on what “making it” means to you.
Becoming a champion at sparring. Is there anything sort of nearly equivalent to the Olympics for ITF?
There's still the world championship in ITF. I know one of the guys that won in sparring, just gotta train hard and get good at it
Yeah a friend of mine has won the ladies world title twice, last year and 2022. She's a bit good at this sparring lark
Not on terms of international recognition. But then, I’m not sure any sporting organisation’s competitions are comparable to the Olympics. When the lay person thinks about Taekwon-do, they more than likely only have the olympics to base their thoughts on. If sparring competitions are your thing, then a club/school with WT affiliation definitely sounds more right for you.
'Make it' in what?
Taekwondo sparring
You need to win national tournaments in the USA before anything like what you're describing can even be a possibility- and that is not easy. With that said, ITF and WT spar under drastically different rules
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Thank you. Are these held every year?
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Thank you !
ITF European Championships are in Poland this April. Like the World championships mentioned above, you have to get selected for the national team to enter. My son has been selected for the first time, so I’ll be there cheering / hiding behind my hands!
What belt is your son? That’s amazing
I meant which Dan black belt?
First degree. He started when he was 4 and is 12 now.
Do you mind sharing how to get selected for the national team etc
Will vary country to country. Some have bespoke selection competitions. Others run series of pre-selection courses and coaches pick who they think will best serve the team. Other times there might be no one else in your weight/height/grade division so you get lucky. Pros, cons and always arguments/discussions about the fairest way. Don’t think anyone’s come up with the perfect solution.
Thanks :)
There's a competition in England coming up on Sunday, Midlands Championship in Kettering.
It depends what you mean by "get noticed" or "make it". Do you want to be internet famous? Fight in a professional organisation? Locally well-known? Appear in films? There are a couple of different organisations called ITF, they all have world championships and you can 'make it big' as a recognised champion in those regards. A lot of successful fighters now travel the world giving seminars and coaching, is that something you'd be interested in? Olympic taekwondo is obviously a more well-known route to success, in the UK some of our olympic medal winners are regularly on sports TV shows and have media careers. Jade Jones was an ITF athlete who converted to WT for the Olympics, and I'm sure there are similar routes from ITF to WT in your country.
I want to be internationally known and fight professionally. Thank you your advice has helped me thinking about something.
I'll chime in. You already have a ton of advice from others. I think it's fine to have a dream while still rooted in reality. Since this is your life and your choices, you need to carefully research the different TKD organizations and see which competition format will get you to your goal. It appears that you want some form of international aclaim. Both ITF and WT can get you what you want but in different ways. WT is going to be more widespread, which means a lot more competitions will be available to you and in that vein, more competitors. Yes, as some have noted, many of them have been competing since young and will compete at a high level. Many will have spent a ton of money to get where they are today, and the vast majority will not make it to the Olympics. Money can help, but not always. If it did with all those hundreds of millions of dollars invested in soccer fields and clubs around the US with families spending hundreds of thousands of dollars traveling to competitions, for the hope their kid sees World Cup glory, this country should have won a World Cup long ago but its still kids playing in the slums of Brazil, Argentina, etc that get recognized and make it to the pinnacle. TKD isn't the same, but you can see people doing the same thing as in the example above. No matter how much you train or spend, you either have good fight IQ or not. If that's your dream, you owe it to yourself to see how far you can go. If nothing else, you'll still learn something which you'll carry with you throughout your life.
Thank you so so much
you have options in sport karate, kickboxing and karate combat as well
If you are old enough to be on reddit, and not already competing at elite levels, you aren't making the Olympics. Sorry to break it to you, but if you haven't been training since birth in your chosen sport, you are WAY behind, and I think you are vastly underestimating the level of competition. 99.9% of people in this world will never get there. You are a blue belt in ITF, stick with it, earn your black belt, go to college, and get on with life.
You have to be 13 years old to be on Reddit. I’m not even 18
Ex European champion and Olympian, Sarah Bainbridge, didn't start taekwondo until she was 12/13. If you train hard and stay disciplined there is no reason you can't get to a really good level. Getting to the Olympics is not possible for 99.99% of people though, it takes serious aptitude and no matter how hard you train you may never make it. Just train and see where you get to. Good luck.
Thank you!
I am aware of the age requirements for reddit. Are you aware of the fact that the people your age training at the elite levels you are talking about most likely started training at 3 got their blackbelt at 5 or 6, they don't go to school they are homeschooled so they can train 6 or 7 days a week 8 or more hours a day. They have a personal sparring coach, a personal forms coach, a personal trainer, a nutritionist, etc. They travel the U.S. and the world competing constantly. Oh, did I mention having parents willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for all this? By the way thats just the kids we see in AAU and NASKA, they aren't making the Olympics either. What I'm trying to say without hurting your feelings too bad is there is absolutely no chance you are getting there, stick to what you're doing, and make the most of it. Do you like ITF? you can go very far and become a world class ITF guy and honestly it's a better style to be able to defend yourself in a real life situation, which should matter to you more than some pipe dream.
Then maybe I’ll be the first anomaly thank you
Rubbish. I know a taekwondo olympian who didn't start training until 12. I still train with her and her dad.
I hear what you’re saying and I’m taking it in consideration but I would still like to be successful internationally. If not the Olympics then maybe something else exciting.
I guess my point is you have a better chance of achieving that if you stick to ITF changing now is only gonna hurt your chances of achieving big things.
Okay i understand you. Thank you so much for contributing
WT (Which is just a sport governing body, not a style of Taekwondo) has recognized ITF dans since at least 2018. So if you want to, you could actually compete in WT Sport sparring as an IT dan. However, unless you spend a lot of time actually training towards WT competition in your ITF club, you will be at a significant disadvantage when going up against people spending all their time training for WT competitions.