All About ITF Taekwondo

International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) is a taekwondoGeneral Choi Hong Hi (최홍희) in Seoul, South Korea.^[1] The ITF exists to promote and encourage the growth of the Korean martial art of taekwondo. Its main functions are to coordinate and approve tournaments and seminars, set standards for teaching (patterns, sparring, destruction), collaborate with affiliated member organizations, and service members in regards to rank and certifications.

Ranks

The ITF ranking system consists of six solid color belts; white, yellow, green, blue, red, and black.^[3] Coloured belt ranks are defined as follows (from lowest to highest rank):

	Grade Level	Description
	10th gup	White - Signifies innocence, as that of the beginning student who has no previous knowledge of Taekwon-Do.
	9th gup	White with yellow tag
	8th gup	Yellow - Signifies the earth from which a plant sprouts and takes root as the foundation of Taekwon-Do is being laid.
	7th gup	Yellow with green tag
	6th gup	Green - Signifies the plant's growth as Taekwon-Do skills begin to develop.
	5th gup	Green with blue tag
	4th gup	Blue - Signifies the Heaven towards which the plant matures into a towering tree as training in Taekwon-Do progresses.
	3rd gup	Blue with red tag
	2nd gup	Red - Signifies Danger, cautioning the student to exercise control and warning the opponent to stay away.
	1st gup	Red with black tag
	1st dan	Black - Opposite of white, therefore signifying maturity and proficiency in Taekwon-Do; also indicates the wearer's imperviousness to darkness and fear.
	2nd dan	Assistant Instructor (must remain at this rank at least 2 years)
	3rd dan	Assistant Instructor (must remain at this rank at least 3 years)
	4th dan	Instructor (must remain at this rank at least 4 years). At this point, a person may become a "SaBum-Nim"
	5th dan	Instructor (must remain at this rank at least 5 years)
	6th dan	Instructor (must remain at this rank at least 6 years)
	7th dan	Master Instructor (must remain at this rank at least 7 years)
	8th dan	Master Instructor (must remain at this rank at least 8 years)
	9th dan	Grand Master

Sparring

ITF competition sparring rounds are 2 minutes and in national and international levels of competition they hold two rounds each 2 minutes with a one minutes rest in between. Certain rules are no strikes below the belt, no elbow strikes, brawling, no falling down, no going outside of the ring, hit to the groin and knee strike are not allowed. The ring is a 9 metre by 9 metre (8 x 8 metre optional) ring marked by square mats or tape instead of a traditional style kickboxing rings with ropes. It has no sides allowing the fighter to move out of bounds. Whenever a fighter creates an infraction of the rules the centre referee will issue a warning to the fighter who created the infraction. 3 warnings equals a minus point. If a fighter uses excessive contact, he or she will be given a foul, which is an automatic minus point ; three fouls in a bout results in disqualification. ITF taekwon-do is fought in continuous point sparring. Four judges score the fights in each of the corners in the square ring. After the fight, a judge votes for which ever fighter has the most points and a winner is declared. In the case of a draw the fighters go to a one minute overtime round. If there is another draw the fighters go to a sudden death round where the fighter who scores first is declared the winner. The official rules for ITF sparring competition are available at the ITF website

Patterns

Main article: Hyeong

Patterns, or teul (틀) in Korean, originally called hyeong (형), form an important aspect of training in Taekwon-Do. They are equivalent to the kata in karate. The majority of the patterns (except Yul-Gok, Ul-Ji and Tong-Il) start with a defensive move, which emphasizes taekwon-do's defensive nature. All of the patterns start and end at the same location. This ensures that the practitioners' stances are the correct length, width, and in the proper direction.^{[citation needed]} There are 24 patterns in the official ITF syllabus; this is symbolic of the 24 hours in a day. The names of these patterns typically refer either to events in Korean history or to important people in Korean history. Elements of the patterns may also be historical references, such as the number of moves, the diagram, the way the pattern ends, and so on. Patterns (teul) are performed in accordance with "The Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do" in 15 volumes written by General Choi Hong Hi, the latest edition being from 1999. This comprehensive work contains 15 volumes with volumes 8 through 15 dedicated to the 24 patterns and containing descriptions of the pattern movements as well as pictures showing possible applications of some of the movements. There is also the book entitled "The Korean Art of Self Defense" (the 1999 edition, the latest used by ITF under Grandmaster Tran Trieu Quan and ITF under Grandmaster Choi, or the 2004 edition, the latest used by ITF under Chang Ung), also known as the Condensed Encyclopedia, written by General Choi Hong Hi. This is a single condensed encyclopedia of approximately 770 pages with a section dedicated to the 24 patterns.