Match Analysis in a University Taekwondo Championship

doi:10.4236/ape.2012.21005

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Advances in Physical Education

2012. Vol.2, No.1, 28-31

Published Online February 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ape) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ape.2012.21005

Match Analysis in a University Taekwondo Championship

Coral Falco1, Raúl Landeo2, Cristina Menescardi1, José Luis Bermejo3, Isaac Estevan3

1Department of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, Catholic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

2School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia

3Department of Management and Applied Sciences, Catholic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Email: [email protected]

Received December 5th, 2011; revised December 28th, 2011; accepted January 15th, 2012

The aim of this study was to analyze the performance of medallists’ taekwondo athletes in University lev-

el Championship. Kicking actions were grouped into three categories; circular, linear and with a previous

spin kicks. Performance was evaluated based on 1) the type and height of the kicks employed, 2) the at-

tacking and counterattacking nature of the kicking actions and 3) the scoring profiles of these. Forty-five

matches from the four Olympic weight categories were notationally analyzed in male and female popula-

tions. Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed that the reading scores in the four weight categories differed signifi-

cantly in males for linear kicks, and in circular kicks to the chest, attacking kicks and total actions (p <

0.05) for females. A greater number of circular kicks was recorded in male and female taekwondo athletes;

this was followed by linear kicks and those with a previous spin. Kicks to the chest were also more com-

mon than kicks to the head as well as attacking kicks were used more frequently than counterattacking

kicks. Given the new competition rules, coaches are encouraged to induce athletes to increase the fre-

quency of kicks to the head and with a previous spin to maximise the point scoring rate per kicks deliv-

ered.

Keywords: Notational Analysis; Taekwondo; Attack; Counterattack; Kick

Introduction

Over the past few years, notational analysis research has

developed many sport analysis systems to describe in detail the

actions of athletes in competition (Liebermann, Katz, Hughes,

Bartlett, McClements, & Franks, 2002). This method of ana-

lyzing athletic skills is valuable in helping coaches improve their

athletes’ performance and increase the likelihood of success.

Correct interpretation of notational analysis data allows coaches

to provide appropriate feedback, motivate athletes, monitor

improvements throughout the entire season (Byra & Scott, 1983),

and provide valuable insight into the athletes’ strengths and

weaknesses in order to allocate practice time effectively.

Notational analysis has been used extensively to study the tac-

tical aspects of squash (Hong, Robinson, & Chan, 1998; Hughes,

1993; Hughes & Franks, 1993), football (Hughes, 1993), basket-

ball (Miller & Bartlett, 1994), rugby (Hughes & Clarke, 1994),

netball (Palmer, Hughes, & Borrie, 1994) and badminton (Hong &

Tong, 2000). In taekwondo, notational analysis systems has

traditionally been used to analyze injury rates during competition

(see Lystad et al., 2008 for complete review), to observe phy-

siological demands of the match (Bouhlel, Jouini, Gmada, Nefzi,

Abdallah, & Tabka, 2006; Butios & Tasika, 2007) or to describe

athletes’ technical profiles (Kazemi, Waalen, Morgan, & White,

2006). Limited research on different taekwondo styles champi-

onships (i.e., Matsuhigue, Hartmann, & Franchini, 2009) was

found while research on competitive taekwondo as general match,

tactical (i.e., Santos, Franchini, & Lima-Silva, 2011) or technical

indicators (Luk, Hong, & Chu, 2001) is lacking.

Taekwondo is a combat sport where male and female athletes

compete in different weight divisions. Taekwondo matches are

contested in three two minute rounds with one minute rest.

Points are awarded when a successful kick makes contact with

an allowed body region. The location of the kicks determines

their scoring; one point for a valid attack on trunk protector,

two points for a valid spin kick to the trunk protector, three

points for a valid kick to the head and four points for a valid

turning kick to the head . For example 4 penalty points results

in a default of the athlete that scored the penalty points. When a

gap of 12 points is reached at the time of the completion of 2nd

round and/or at any time during the 3rd round the match is

stopped and the winner is declared (WTF, 2011).

Thus the kicking action is the most important component of a

match. Kicking actions in Taekwondo can be classified as being:

circular, targeting the lateral side of an opponent, linear aimed

to the opponent’s anterior end, and rotational which are per-

formed with a previous spin (Serina & Lieu, 1991). Under-

standing the various strategic approaches used in taekwondo

competition as well as the physiological, psychological, tech-

nical and tactical demands of the sport is of importance to

broaden the knowledge of coaches and to train athletes more

effectively for competitive situations. The aim of this study was

to analyze the number of kicking actions of male and female

taekwondo athletes in the semi-final and final contests using the

four Olympic weight divisions in a university level competition,

with emphasis on the type of kick, and height of the kick, in

both attacking and counterattacking actions as well as points

obtained in the match.

Method

Participants

Sixty one, male (n = 30) and female (n = 31), taekwondo

athletes aged from 18 to 33 years (

= 22.26; SD = 3.41)

signed a consent form and participated in the study. Matches

C. FALCO ET AL.

from the Spanish University Championship (May, 2011) were

recorded. This competition counted towards the participation in

the Universiade Championship, Shenzhen, China, 2011.

Following criteria by Matsushigue et al. (2009) and Santos et al.

(2011), for the reporting of results the eight weight divisions

were grouped into the four categories of the Olympic competi-

tion: Fin and Fly; Bantam and Feather; Light and Welter; and

Middle and Heavy. A total of 45 matches from these groups:

male: ≤58 kg (4 semifinals and 2 finals), 58 - 68 kg (3 semifinals

and 2 finals), 68 - 80 kg (4 semifinals and 2 finals), and ≥80 kg

(3 semifinals and 2 finals) and females: ≤49 kg (3 semifinals

and 2 finals), 49 - 57 kg (4 semifinals and 2 finals), 57 - 67 kg

(4 semifinals and 2 finals) and ≥72 kg (4 semifinals and 2 finals).

Three semifinals, two in male (one from 58 - 68 kg and another

one from ≥80 kg) and one in female (one from ≤49 kg), were

not contested because of injuries.

Procedures

A total of nine kicking parameters were defined: total num-

ber of actions, type of action, type of kick, area of kick and

punctuation. Type of action was defined as attacking or coun-

terattacking. The movement of the athlete, who started the se-

quence, was defined as an attacking action. The movement of

the athlete to defend against an opponent’s attack was defined

as a counterattacking action (Luk et al., 2001). Type of kick

was categorized into three variables: linear (i.e., pushing), cir-

cular (i.e., roundhouse) and with a previous spin (i.e., back)

(Serina & Lieu, 1991). The section of kicking was classified

into chest and head, which are the only scoring areas in Taek-

wondo. The official videotapes from all the matches at the

Spanish University Championship in 2011 were recorded onto

DVD and analyzed using the Kinovea Software. Following

standard procedures in combat sports analysis (Kazemi, Waalen,

Morgan, & White, 2006; Matsuhigue, Hartmann, & Franchini,

2009; Salvador, Suay, Martinez-Sanchis, Simon, & Brain, 1999;

Santos et al., 2009), a trained investigator analyzed all videos to

determine the pre-defined parameters. Previous research em-

ploying the same analysis reported reliable measures with an

intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.93 (Salvador et al.,

1999). From a total of 5 randomly selected rounds an ICC =

0.85 was obtained, revealing that the analysis conducted in this study

was highly reliable for all variables investigated, with values

ranging from 0.79 to 0.89 (p < 0.01).

Statistical Analysis

Using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test data were found not nor-

mally distributed, therefore non-parametrical tests, i.e. Kruskal-

Wallis test followed by a Mann-Whitney U test, were used to

assess the nine variable differences between weight divisions.

The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results

The results of this study in the four weight categories rev-

ealed significant differences in males for linear kicks [χ2 (3) =

8.57, p = 0.04] and in females for circular kicks [χ2 (3) = 22.57,

p = 0.01], kicks to the chest [χ2 (3) = 14.99, p = 0.01], attacking

kicks [χ2 (3) = 10.62, p = 0.01] and total actions [χ2 (3) = 14.23,

p = 0.01] in the match.

Linear kicks were performed significantly less by male fly-

weight compared to heavyweight (U = 18.0, p = 0.01), and to

welterweight (U = 18.0, p = 0.02) divisions. Results are

presented in Table 1.

The number of attacking kicks performed by female heavy-

weight athletes was significantly higher than that of feather-

weight (U = 21.5, p = 0.01) and flyweight (U = 29.5, p = 0.04)

divisions, while the number of attacking kicks of featherweight

was significantly higher than that of welterweight (U = 36.5, p

= 0.04). Athletes of the female heavyweight division used sig-

nificantly more circular kicks than athletes of the welterweight

(U = 26.5, p = 0.01), featherweight (U = 1.0, p = 0.01) and

flyweight (U = 8.5, p = 0.01) divisions, while the number of

circular kicks executed in the welterweight category was sig-

nificantly higher than that in the featherweight (U = 31.0, p =

0.02). The occurrence of kicks to the trunk of heavyweight was

significantly higher than that in the welterweight (U = 31.5, p =

0.02), featherweight (U = 15.5, p = 0.01), and flyweight (U =

14.5, p = 0.01) divisions. There were in total significantly more

kicks executed by athletes of the heavyweight division com-

pared to the welterweight (U = 37.0, p = 0.04), featherweight

(U = 13.5, p = 0.01) and flyweight (U = 19.5, p = 0.01). These

esults are presented in Table 2. r

Table 1.

Descriptive Mean (

) and Standard Deviation (SD) of the male taekwondo athletes: total of actions, type of action (attacking or

counterattacking), area of kick (chest or head), type of kick (circular, lineal or spin) and obtained points.

Fly

≤58 kg Feather

58 - 68 kg

Welter

68 - 80 kg Heavy

≥80 kg

(n = 8) (n = 7) (n = 8) (n = 7)

Total 32.00 5.51 31.00 5.099 34.25 11.08 28.40 7.73

Points 4.67 2.31 3.80 2.044 4.33 3.14 5.00 3.33

Attack 24.83 6.75 23.70 5.143 25.75 10.22 20.40 7.07

Counterattack 7.17 4.37 7.30 2.908 8.50 5.04 8.00 5.64

Chest 28.25 6.08 27.30 5.618 31.00 9.95 26.30 7.12

Head 4.08 2.54 3.90 2.685 3.42 2.78 2.90 3.70

Circular 17.67 6.26 21.20 6.730 25.17 8.45 21.80 6.46

Linear 12.08 6.05 a, b 7.50 5.622 6.67 4.91 a5.30 3.20 b

Spin 2.17 2.69 1.30 1.947 1.67 2.06 0.90 1.10

Note: The letters “a” and “b” show differences between weight categories for each of the notational variables of the study (p < 0.05).

C. FALCO ET AL.

Table 2.

Descriptive Mean (

) and Standard Deviation (SD) of the female taekwondo athletes: total of actions, type of action (attacking or counterattacking),

area of kick (chest or head), type of kick (circular, lineal or spin) and obtained points.

Fly

≤49 kg Feather

49 - 57 kg Welter

57 - 67 kg Heavy

≥67 kg

(n = 7) (n = 8) (n = 8) (n = 8)

Total 30.50 11.33 a 26.50 13.30 b 36.25 10.42 c 45.17 8.35 a, b, c

Points 4.60 3.81 3.50 2.51 3.13 3.68 6.33 3.65

Attack 23.40 10.00 a 18.58 10.91 b, c 27.58 8.76 c 32.42 10.16 a, b

Counterattack 7.10 3.90 7.92 6.42 8.67 4.87 12.75 6.34

Chest 27.30 9.29 a 24.00 12.17 b 32.58 9.33 c 41.75 8.14 a, b, c

Head 3.60 2.88 2.67 2.35 4.00 3.77 3.75 3.89

Circular 23.50 8.13 a 17.08 9.09 b, d 27.67 9.27 c, d 37.25 6.86 a, b, c

Linear 4.70 2.54 6.67 5.37 7.50 4.62 7.00 3.10

Spin 2.50 3.06 3.50 2.71 1.83 2.13 1.25 1.22

Note: The letters “a”, “b” and “c” show differences between weight categories for each of the notational variables of the study (p < 0.05).

Discussion

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the perform-

ance of medallists’ taekwondo athletes in a University Champi-

onship among the four Olympic weight divisions in semi-final

and final contests. The performance indicators have been ana-

lyzed for male and female taekwondo athletes according to the

total of actions, type of action, type of kick, area of kick as well

as points obtained in the match. To that end, 45 taekwondo

matches were analyzed. On average male taekwondo athletes

performed thirty actions meanwhile obtained four points per

match. This suggests that the efficiency of the kicks in terms of

scoring points is rather low. Moreover, the number of total ac-

tions performed (attacking and counterattacking) is higher than

what was found in previous studies. For example, Santos et al.

(2011) reported that the flyweight division performed in average

8.6 kicks (SD = 2.7), feather performed 6.6 kicks (SD = 1.9),

welterweight 7.5 kicks (SD = 2.7), while heavyweight per-

formed 6.8 kicks (SD = 3.1) per match, meanwhile Matsuhique

et al. (2009) reported that the number of kicks per athlete per

match was found to be 27 (SD = 13). This discrepancy in find-

ings can be attributed to lower tactical awareness and reflexive

behaviour in university level athletes from the present study

compared to athletes in open competitions.

From the total actions performed, and in line with previous

studies (Matsuhique et al., 2009; Santos et al., 2011), male

taekwondo athletes used more attacking than counterattacking

kicks in order to win the match. This suggests that to win the

match, the performance of the taekwondo athletes must be mo-

tivated by attacking rather than counterattacking. However,

results from the present study cannot be related to how points

were obtained from specific kicks. Future studies should iden-

tify which types of kicks are used to obtain points and further

address whether the attacking performance is motivated by the

macth condition; winning or loosing a match.

It was previously also reported that male athletes from heav-

ier weight divisions show typically slower fighting rhythm than

lighter competitors (Butios & Tasika, 2007). This was attrib-

uted to the higher energy expenditure of heavier athletes com-

pared to lighter weight divisions (Santos et al., 2011) during a

fighting bout. The available evidence however is indicative of

homogeneity in performance between all male weight divisions.

No differences in movement patterns and choice of kicking

actions between heavier and lighter divisions were found, with

the exception of the use of linear kicks. The use of linear kicks,

in the flyweight division, was significantly higher than that of

heavyweight and welterweight. Although no data on the power

profiles of these kicks are available in this study it may be sug-

gested that the power posed by linear kicks suffice to score

points in lower weight divisions.

Despite of the action performed; attacking or counterattacking,

and in line with previous studies (Luk et al., 2001; Matsuhique et al.,

2009), it was also found that male taekwondo athletes prefer to

use circular kicks followed by linear kicks and kicks with an

initial spin. Research on kicks to the chest (Serina & Lieu, 1991)

has determined that circular kicks are faster than linear kicks,

with the roundhouse kick being identified as the fastest kicking

technique of all (Pieter & Pieter, 1995) which may explain the

preference for using circular kicks in competition.

Data from this study also revealed that taekwondo athletes

preferred to use kicks to the chest more than to the head. That is,

while athletes are more inclined to target the chest ahead of the

head while performing a circular kick, kicks delivered to the

head may pose higher injury risks for the receiving athletes. The

concussion rate in taekwondo matches arising from roundhouse

kicks (Koh et al., 2004) may partially be explained by this pref-

erence. No data on the fighting conditions that facilitate the

execution of circular kicks are available in this study. It seems

however that there are no timing differences in execution of a

roundhouse kick to the chest or the head (i.e., Estevan, Molina-

Garcia, Falco, & Alvarez, 2010; Falco, Estevan, Menescardi, &

Ruiz, 2011; O’Sullivan et al., 2009) or the timing of between

roundhouse kicks and kicks with a previous spin (i.e., Falco,

Estevan, & Vieten, 2011). Factors such as athlete position within

the fighting area and relative to the opponent, scoring situation

and their influences on triggering the execution of a given kick

are yet to be explored. In light of the preference for lower kicks

found in this study and given that the new competition rules

reward kicks to the head and kicks initiated by a spinning mo-

tion, coaches are encouraged to guide athletes to increase the

frequency of kicks directed to the head and those with an initial

spin to maximise the action to scoring ratio.

The review of the current literature suggests that this is the

first study that analyzes female taekwondo athletes; therefore,

data on female athletes cannot be compared to other studies. It

C. FALCO ET AL.

can be observed that female taekwondo athletes also used more

attacking than counterattacking kicks and further more circular

than linear kicks or kicks with an initial spin. Moreover, kicks to

the chest were more common than kicks to the head. However,

the four weight categories differed significantly from each other

in; circular kicks, kicks to the chest, attacking kicks and total

kicks performed in the match. That is, the female heavyweight

category also preformed a higher number of actions compared to

their lighter weight counterparts. Moreover, the heavy and wel-

terweight categories developed a higher number of attacking

kicks than their counterparts of the featherweight category.

Similarly, the welterweight category performed a higher number

of attacking kicks than their counterparts of featherweight cate-

gory. The heavier weight divisions performed higher number of

circular kicks, kicks to the chest, than their lighter counterparts.

This is in contrast to what was observed in the male divisions,

where athletes’ behaviour and choice of kicking techniques

seem to be independent of weight categories.

These data reveal that the technical and tactical characteris-

tics of male and female competition are vastly different. These

findings implicate that male and female competitors should

train differently, at least during the tactical phase of training.

On the other hand it may also be suggested that female compe-

tition is to some extent predictable, as the choice of kicking

actions was observed to be highly dependent on weight division.

This level of predictability, from the tactical point of view

represents a disadvantage as the opponent can capitalize on that

information. It is suggested that coaches of female competitors

work on equipping their athletes with greater kicking repertoire

to reduce the predictability of their actions.

Although in many university level competition world class as

well as Olympic level athletes are competing, gathering data

from a Spanish University level competition represent a limita-

tion to the study. Limiting the population to those competing at

university level, limits the generalizability of the study. Another

limitation of the study is that player displacements were not

analyzed, nor the match conditions when a particular kick was

executed. It is still believed that these data can provide an in-

sight into the tactical traits of Taekwondo matches and consti-

tute a basis for future research.

In conclusion, male and female taekwondo athletes used

more circular kicks, followed by linear and with a previous spin,

and kicks to the chest were more used than kicks to the head as

well as attacking kicks were used more than counterattacking

kicks. It may be that in international high-level taekwondo

competitions and national contests (Heller et al., 1998; Santos

et al., 2011), effort is often interrupted by low-intensity move-

ments or inactivity. Therefore, athletes in these competitions

spend more time studying, approaching, and preparing a new

attack on their opponents than on executing attacks. More re-

search is warranted to better understand the dynamics of taek-

wondo matches across different countries as well as within

different levels of competition. Also, it is of importance to

study the type of attacking and counterattacking actions per-

formed in order to know the quality of the kicks developed and

how they relate to the tactical consideration based on when in

the match they are performed.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Catholic University of

Valencia (2011-007-002).

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