Like the new pic by the way,  We don't do the WTF sparring, usually no contact point sparring is our trade.  Sparring on happens on day a week at my school and only for a few moments, we focus mostly on movements and forms. 

My school's grand master Woo Jin Jung wrote FreeStyle Sparring which I have seen WTF people quote often on other forums.  If the merger between ITF and WTF ever happen it will be interesting to see what will happen with sparring.

IMO if you just train to spar then you really are only doing part of the MA experince.

Merger will be very interesting if it happens.  I only hope that it is a true merger and not the WTF eating the ITF.

Daniel

it's been 2 years since i started teaching at university tkd, and we've had only 1 student competing in WTF tournament.  karate tournaments (same rule as ITF sparring) on the other hands, most of the adults went to the tournament last year. 

there were some people coming to university tkd club expecting olympic sparring just because we do kukkiwon curriculum, but then leave when they find out we use boxing gloves and no chest protector. 

outside of tkd, i gathered some of the university students and started training mma.  everybody in the group brings their own styles.  we have a boxer, wrestler, grappler, kickboxer, and couple of pro mma fighters.  we don't mix both ground fight and stand up fight in one round, but we do both.  we do two types separately, because it's kinda hard to do ground fight with boxing gloves on, and we feel that it's kinda stupid to wear mma gloves and punch each other for daily sparring. 

now, for the "you fight like you train", i got no problem punching, kicking, and grappling when training, but the area that i have problem is low kicks.  just can't seem to start kicking low on my own unless i got kicked on my legs few times first. 

We train WTF, sparring is litlle or no contact.  We study Muay Thai and get all of the contact we can stand.  Since Coach Ruiz knows that my son and I are TKDist at heart he always takes the time to explain if a technique can cross over into the TKD (sport side) realm how it would best be utilized.  As far as self defnse goes, except for one step sparring which I have never believed in, I think that the boxing and strong kicks of Muay Thai and the training rcvd from TKD (speed, control, avoidance, blocks, and counters) all come into play.  I do lack ground skills except for how to utilize the hands and elbows but as they say that 67% of all fights go to the ground but 100% of them start as stand up fights.  Sitiuational awareness is probably the most under used self defense weapon there is.

@OG - u guys WTF and light/no-contact sparring?! I duno but we just go full force if we have our protectors on, if not, just control, but definitely not no-contact.

My school, or rather, club, has been 7-time overall champion in Singapore, and the reign broke this year, leaving us to be 1st runner-up, so we train almost completely for Olympic style sparring and for poomsae tournaments, as well as demonstration for the demo team[duh].

But as for myself, although I absolutely love WTF sparring, if I get into a real-life situation, I'll probably be using my arms to defend then get in close and try to use my body [i'm overweight, 100kg for a 1.69m] to knock opponent off balance and call the police. If tt guy has a knife when I'll probably kick to disarm, or get in close from the outside [eg if hes wielding a knife in his right, ill move outside of his right arm while blocking his strike at his elbow], then disarm.

So I would say, it is an addition, but definitely not an exclusive style. Honestly speaking, even though I practice WTF, or rather Kukkiwon-style, I find the syllabus in Singapore incomplete, although I heard for Dan gradings they do test self defence moves against armed and unarmed depending on grade.

I personally did not begin training with the sole purpose of competing.

Our style is traditional and we are neither ITF or WTF.

Self defense, health and well being are the goals of most of our students but our Chief Instructor over the years always encouraged us to enter a tournament even if it was just one to see what it's like.

His thinking was that preparing for a tournament iwould be a an excuse to hone in on your skills and improve. Also you get the opportunity to check out other students and be on the receiving end of some new or different techniques that you may want to try out yourself.

Sport TKD was founded on rules.If there's one underlying rule in the martial arts, it's that there are no rules.

Winning a point-match has absolutely nothing to do with how you'll prevail in a real altercation.

Same here.  I use the WTF style sparring as a means to better develop my kicks.  Kind of like in kendo when I'll partner up and tell my partner that I'm only going for this or that specific target to develop a particular technique.

I will be entering my first WTF style tournament next month and intend to do some open tournaments as well.  Since it is a part of the style, I feel that I should learn it and do some competition since I intend to teach taekwondo.  Mainly from the perspective of being able to offer something to those students who wish to compete and are just new.

Otherwise, I train for SD.  Old Guy mentioned situational awareness, something that I agree is very undertaught.  I have a very good grasp of it and that has steered me clear of more danger than any other self defense technique.  Also, in the fights I have been in, I fight defensively and to end the fight quickly and get out. 

While tournament fighting does train you to kind of do the opposite, I do feel that it is a valuable SD tool.  It will develope your sense of distance and timing, and WTF sparring is generally full speed and full contact, so it will develope those things in real time.

Daniel

I agree with you on tournement fighting being a tool.  Being able to establish were you are and have a sense of your surounding can be valuable in a real fight.