Important Dates
Register by this date and get the Board Breaking Competition for FREE!
Place your order for the Tournament T-Shirt by Friday, September 1st when you register for the tournament!
Registration ends on Monday, September 11th at 11:59 PM! No late registrations will be allowed.
Our Board Breaking Competition will take place on Friday, September 15th at the TKD school starting at 7:00 PM!
We will be closed on Thursday, September 21st and Friday, September 22nd for tournament events.
Check out the best of the best in Taekwondo America during the High Rank Testing where students attempt to earn their 3rd Degree Black Belt & above. Then check out their competitions that night (4th Degree & Up). Between the testing and competitions we’ll have our Opening Ceremonies where we’ll be presenting Master and Grandmaster Ranks!
On Saturday will be the majority of the competitions from 8:30am – 2:00pm. All Lil’ Dragons and White – 3rd Degree Black Belts will be competing during this time. Following competitions for the day we will then have our closing ceremonies at 3:00pm followed by a Pizza Party with all of our students later that evening in the hotel!
What is a Tournament and Why Should You Participate?
Taekwondo America Tournaments are exciting events where students have the chance to showcase their TKD skills in a competitive yet safe environment. Participants are grouped based on age, rank, and size, performing the same curriculum they’ve learned in their training. This unique experience challenges them to push their limits and strive for excellence.
Participating in a tournaments offer a rare opportunity for growth and camaraderie. Unlike sports with weekly games, Taekwondo tournaments occur only a few times a year, making them special occasions to measure progress. Beyond medals, these events foster discipline, determination, and teamwork, motivating students to elevate their focus and work ethic. Additionally, Taekwondo America works diligently to ensure fairness and excitement, offering various competitions that enhance skills and provide a platform for artistic expression. Taking part in a tournament is a chance to celebrate the journey of Taekwondo while connecting with a larger community that shares the same passion.
We cannot wait for you to embark on an experience that goes beyond just competition; where you can showcase your hard-earned skills, forge unforgettable connections, and revel in the thrill of healthy competition!
Regional Tournaments
These tournaments consist of Taekwondo America schools located throughout Texas and will typically take place in either Dallas, Austin, or Houston.
National Tournaments
These tournaments consist of Taekwondo America schools throughout the country! These tournaments rotate around the country in a variety of destinations.
How to Register
When registering for the tournament via the link below, you’ll be required to select the Standard Competition before adding in additional competitions.
Standard Competition – This includes forms and sparring/combo competition registrations. To participate in the additional competitions, select them as “Add-Ons” when checking out. To help families with multiple competitors, we provide a 50% discount on the 3rd+ competitors registered.
Board Breaking – Open to students of all ranks and ages. The Board Breaking Only option is limited to Out-of-State National Tournaments and does not count towards the tournament requirement for Black Belt.
Team Sparring – Open to Green Belts & Up ages 12 & older. Create a team with 2 other people your same age to spar in an “open” tournament bracket of all ranks!
Synchronized Forms – Open to all ranks and ages. Grab a buddy and perform any TA form together!
Extreme Forms – Create your own form with music, tricks, flips, and weapons (weapons and additional equipment are not provided to competitor).
Tournament T-Shirt – A unique, Limited-Edition shirt that commemorates your participation in such a phenomenal event!
Forms Competition
- Perform your form in front of a panel of judges as they score you based on your stances, power, focus, and correctness! Here are the rules:
- Each competitor will be scored when they complete their form
- The judging panel is made up of a Ring Supervisor who is calling competitors’ names, announcing scores, and recording results in an online app, and 3 judges, who are school owners and/or instructors from TA schools who are evaluating the forms and also scoring the one-steps and sparring
- The judges are evaluating each competitor’s form based on a combination of correctness of technique, snap & power, good stances, proper kick height, correct loading of moves, snapping the hand techniques into place at the same time the foot lands, and a consistent pace throughout the form
- When judges are conferring, it is about whether or not mistakes were made that require the form to be done again, not about what scores they will give; each judge scores independently of the others
- Judges scores typically fall within 1 point variances of each other; the actual scores are less important than that each judge gives their highest score to the person they feel did the best and so on
- When judges ask a competitor to do their form a 2nd time it means a mistake was made that would lower their scores significantly; those mistakes include leaving out a move, adding a move or doing moves in the wrong order
- When a competitor does their form a 2nd time, the judges score as if the first attempt never happened and one point is deducted from the total of the 3 judges scores (if all 3 judges give the form an 8, that is a total of 24; after 1 point is deducted for the 2nd try the score is 23)
- If there is a tie: the competitors who tied will have one chance to do their form again; there are 2 scores each judge may use for a tie-breaker based on what place medal the tie is for, and they give the higher of the 2 scores to the form they think was the best; (for example if tie is for the 3rd place medal and the judges are using a 7 and an 8, they will each give the 8 score to the person they feel did the best form in the tie-breaker and the 7 score to the other competitor; even if the competitors’ forms are better or worse than a 7 or 8)
- If there are more than 2 competitors tied for the same medal, the Ring Supervisor will explain how the scoring will take place
Sparring Competition
White Belts – Sr Orange Belts will do their one-steps/combos with partners • Orange Belts – Black Belts wear sparring gear
- Judges will call out 2 participants at a time (preferably from different schools) and designate one as “red” (who will wear red arm bands)
- Each of the 3 judges has 2 clickers to keep track of the points scored by each of the competitors in each match
- After each match at least 2 judges must agree on who is the winner
- This continues until 1st – 4th place winners have been declared
More about Free Sparring:
- Sparring is modified-double-elimination so every competitor spar at least 2 times • A sparring round is 1 minute and judges award points continuously • When “break” is called, the timer stops during the “break”
- Competitors must make contact (and to legal target areas) to earn points legal contact areas: kicks or punches above the belt to front of the torso; kicks or punches to the headgear except the top; (leg checks are allowed in Black Belt rings, but no points) – Punch or basic kick to the front of torso or punch to the headgear= 1 point – Spin or Jump kick to front of torso or basic kick to headgear = 2 points
- Jump-spin or 360 to front of torso; jump or spin to headgear = 3 points
- Jump-spin or 360 to headgear = 4 points
- If a foot is out of the ring the other must be on the ground inside the ring to score Each ring has a 5 mat by 5 mat section that is considered “in the ring”
- The different color border around that 5 x 5 section is considered “out of the ring”
- Excessive contact or contact to a non-legal target area is a warning – At least 2 judges must agree for a warning to be issued
- First warning = 1 point for competitor (a double warning = 2 warnings & 3 points for competitor) – Second warning = 2 additional points for competitor
- Third warning or injury drawing blood = disqualification from this round
- Poor sportsmanship can result in removal from the tournament
- Judges only call warnings or score points for contact that they see for example, if a competitor moves in such a way that a judge cannot see the foot or hand make contact, even if they can see the arm or leg extended toward that direction, they cannot call a warning or award points
- If there is a tie, competitors will spar in 15-second rounds until a winner is declared; warnings carry over, but points on the judges’ clickers reset to zero
- Cheering (positive language and good sportsmanship) is what we want, but not “sideline coaching” or harsh comments; sparring is to demonstrate the competitor’s skill to defend him or herself, not how well they are able to perform with someone calling out to them what techniques to use during the sparring round; after all, we won’t be there to coach them if they are confronted by a bully
- Once your ring is finished and your competition group has been awarded medals, you may head home or stay until after the closing ceremonies.
Board Breaking Competition
Test your skills with 5 different board breaking techniques to try and win a Gold Medal!
- Each participant has 5 board breaking stations that they get 3 attempts to break
- The techniques vary depending by rank
- The board color difficulty varies by age & rank
- Students will setup their stations to the desired height and position
- They can opt to practice before the breaking attempt
- The competitor will signal to the station manager when they are ready for their attempt in order to bow-in
- Once a student has bowed-in, they can no longer practice and must try to break the board. Any movement toward or touching of the board will count as an attempt.
- After the competitor attempts all 5 stations, they will earn a medal depending on their completed breaks:
- 3/5 Breaks earns a Bronze Medal
- 4/5 Breaks earns a Silver Medal
- 5/5 Breaks earns a Gold Medal
- Medals can be picked up at the main competition or will be handed out in class after all competitions are completed
Team Sparring
Join up with two other teammates as you compete against other teams of three to become the Team Sparring Champions!
Get your friends together and build your team! Compete head-to-head against other teams in this special sparring event. Both teams will meet in the center of the ring, the Center Judge and Corner Judges will pair off competitors according to size and skill. Each member will face-off against a member from the opposing team, and after all 3 rounds, the team with the most cumulative points wins!
Team Members
- Each team must have 3 members
- Members must be green belt or higher
- Members may be from different Taekwondo schools
- Students may not compete on multiple sparring teams
Uniform
- Taekwondo T-shirt
- Uniform pants
- Uniform top/jacket (optional)
- Taekwondo belt (optional)
Sparring Gear
- Each student must have a complete set of Taekwondo America co-branded sparring gear in good repair.
Team Sparring Rules
- Standard continuous sparring rules apply, Including point values, legal/illegal target areas, with the following exceptions:
- All matches are 30 seconds long.
- Time stops for “Breaks” as called by the Center Judge.
- At the end of each round, clickers are NOT reset “zeroed out”. Scores are cumulative across all three matches.
- Winners are NOT announced between rounds.
- Scores and warnings are carried over from round to round.
- There is a 5 warning limit per team per match.
- If any one team member receives 3 warnings they are disqualified. A
disqualification is worth 3 points. - At the end of the 3 rounds, both teams are brought to the middle and the winner is announced.
- In the event of a tie, each team picks their “champion” to spar for 30 more seconds. If it’s tied again, then each team picks a different member to spar. This is repeated until one team wins.
Extreme Freestyle Forms Competition
Take the Freestyle Forms Competition to the next level by introducing your choice of weapons, acrobatics, uniform attire, and music! Here are the rules:
- Same rules as Traditional Freestyle Forms Competition with some exceptions:
- Weapons are allowed. Limited to bo, nunchuk, sai, kama, or sword.
- Weapons must be handled in a safe way. No throwing into crowd.
- Any gymnastics move is allowed. To include, but not limited to, flips, cartwheels, round offs, etc.
- Spin kicks greater than 360 degrees is allowed.
- Regular scoring (See Traditional Freestyle Forms) with the following deductions (agreed to by 2 of 3 judges)
- Unsafe use of weapon(s)
- Leaving the ring (1 point for each instance)
- Exceeding the 90 second time limit
- Starting and stopping form.
- Crowd-friendly music is allowed with the competitors own device and small Bluetooth speaker. Taekwondo America will not help with music set up.
- Alternate uniforms are allowed
Maximize the Tournament Experience
Commemorate your competition by getting the unique Tournament T-Shirt. Each tournament has its own limited edition t-shirt, so make sure to get yours to show-off in class!
Download the tournament app to your smartphone to get competition times and locations, live scoring, and to see how your fellow students did in their competitions!
Download