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Originally Posted by Joemoplata  My point was simply that TKD has TOO MANY rules for sport competition, it's not practical for a striking art to only allow punching to the body and stil realize it's self defense capabilities. |
It is worse than having too many rules, the rules are too irregularly enforced which leads to all sorts of strange (and usually negative) behaviors in TKDists.
Two of the biggest of these negatives are:
The destruction of the turning/roundhouse kick
The removal of blocks
Simply put, kicking with the instep is a bad idea. (Here is where breaking a board is a useful demonstration as you will severely injure you foot if you try to break with the instep.) Taking a shot with the side of your body and/or blocking it in a way that any normal person could withstand all day is often awarded a point in sparring. These encourage behaviors which are harmful to self-defense and combat.
And that is even granting the recent addition of continuous sparring rules to some competitions...
Yeah, I will be the first one to stand up and say that sport TKD is NOT traditional Tae Kwon Do. (Which is why I don't agree with the TMA label, certainly BJJ has a non-sport/traditional aspect to it also.) A properly trained TKDist should at least stand a chance in a no rule situation.