Tournament Rules

Poomsae (Forms) Judging

Judges and referee will award scores on the basis of the following merits:

Correct and orderly execution of each movement;
Degree of proficiency which will be judged on the basis of:

Beginning and ending the Poomsae at the same spot
Executing powerful and speedy techniques by tensing and relaxing muscles at the proper moment
Mental concentration
Focused eye and head movements
Accurate targets
Inhaling and exhaling at the proper moment
Balance
Rhythm
Synchronization of entire body movements
Competition manner

Sparring Rules

There are 4 division levels at ECTC competitions: A-Team (Advanced), B-Team (Intermediate), C-Team (Beginner), and D-Team (First-Time).

Procedures Before the Beginning and After the End of the Contest:

The contestants shall bow to their own coach before entering the ring.
The contestants shall face each other and make a standing bow at the referee’s command of “Char-yeot” (attention) and “ Kyeong-rye” (bow).
The referee shall start the contest by commanding “Joon-bi” (ready), and “Shi-jak” (start).
After each rest period, the contestants shall bow to their coach before entering the ring again.
After the end of the last round, the contestants shall stand at their respective positions facing each other and exchange a standing bow at the referee’s command of “Charyeot” and “Kyeong-rye,” and shake the opponent’s hand.
Remain standing in position until the referee’s declaration of the decision.
The referee shall declare the winner by raising his/her own hand to the winner’s side.
The contestants shall go shake the opposing coach’s hand.
Retirement of the contestants.

Legal scoring areas:

Trunk: The whole part of the protector except the spine (vertical center of the back).
Face: The whole part of the face, from the collarbone up, including both ears except the back of the head. When any part of the foot touches the opponent’s face, it will be regarded as a valid point.

Note: For "D-Team" and "C-Team" divisions, no head contact is permitted. Kicks to the head will be penalized in the same manner as punches to the head. For all other divisions, head contact follows standard WTF rules.

Penalties:

Penalties shall be declared by the referee for any prohibited acts.
Penalties are divided into “Kyong-go” (warning penalty) and “Gam-jeom” (deduction penalty).
Two “Kyong-gos” shall be counted as deduction of one (1) point. However, the odd “Kyong-go” shall not be counted in the grand total.
A “Gam-jeom” shall be counted as minus one (-1) point.

Prohibited acts:

The following acts shall be classified as prohibited acts, and “Kyong-go” (warning) shall be declared.

Crossing the Boundary Line
Evading by turning the back to the opponent
Falling down
Avoiding the match
Grabbing, holding or pushing the opponent
Attacking below the waist
Pretending injury
Butting or attacking with knee
Hitting the opponent’s face with the hand
Uttering undesirable remarks or any misconduct on the part of a contestant or a coach

The following acts shall be classified as prohibited acts, and “Gam-jeom” (deduction) shall be declared.

Attacking the opponent after “Kal-yeo”
Attacking the fallen opponent
Throwing down the opponent by grappling the opponent’s attacking foot in the air with the arm or by pushing the opponent with the hand
Intentionally attacking the opponent’s face with the hand
Interrupting the progress of the match on the part of a contestant or a coach.
Violent or extreme remarks or behavior on the part of a contestant or a coach

Match Length: Sparring matches in the ECTC are two rounds long, lengths varying according to the level of competition as described below.

Duration of Rounds for Sparring (Kyorugi)
Division	Time of Sparring
A-Team Kyorugi	2 rounds of 2 minutes with a 30 second rest
B-Team Kyorugi	2 rounds of 90 seconds with a 30 second rest
C-Team Kyorugi	2 rounds of 60 seconds with a 30 second rest
D-Team Kyorugi	2 rounds of 60 seconds with a 30 second rest

* Taken from the competition rules book for USAT and the ECTC website