Refereeing is a necessary evil in every major sport, and even more so in sport Taekwondo. At least, that’s what we referees assume the players think.

Although the majority of Taekwondo competitors’ experiences are positive, disagreements are inevitable in sport so I would like to clear up some misconceptions once and for all. First of all referees are not evil, corrupt, or have problems with who what and where the players are from. Why does someone step up to the plate and referee in the first place? Is it for the glory? No! Is it for the money? I wish! Is it for the spotlight? No thanks! From a personal perspective, I started refereeing because of the love of the martial sport, the desire to give something back and hopefully make a difference. Very noble causes indeed but I think most referees share the same ideals and desires. Otherwise, why would we do it?

Now let me give you a little insight into the art of refereeing and what it’s like from a referee’s perspective. We are just as nervous, if not more so, than the players. We have to be. It’s our job to protect both players and ensure the competition rules are followed. Stepping on the competition floor is stepping into the unknown. We prepare for and expect the worse – such as will it be a clean fight, will players follow the rules, will one be injured, will I be injured, and will I make the right decisions? And just like in the real world the worse rarely happens, but knowing that it could keeps us on a heightened sense of readiness and anticipation. As referees, we desire to be part of the game but not placed in a position to decide the outcome. We know we have done our job well when we are but a ghost in the ring, only appearing to start and end the match and remind the players of the rules, this is the ideal of a good referee.

Corner judging is an art of its own. The only responsibility that a judge has is to score points; sounds easy enough but it also has its challenges. Once the game starts the judge has to be on a heightened state of focus and concentration in anticipation for a scoring technique. This is where it gets tricky: what constitutes a point? Is it the sound, the body displacement or the “trembling” power? I personally think it’s a combination of all three in varying degrees. The referee chairman of the WTF once said: “Don’t look for the point, the point will look for you”. If you have to think about it, it’s not a point.

Corner judging also has its limitations; it takes 3 out of 4 judges to confirm a point within 1.5 seconds of the first judge to score. This takes synchronization and the same ideals for point criteria. Some of the problems that can affect this synchronization are if there is a lapse in the constant state of readiness, if the judge is tired or daydreams, if the game is boring and the players lull the judges to sleep with inactivity, if the center referee blocks the view of one judge and takes them out of the equation, or if the players are at a bad angle. Now that 1.5 second synchronization seems an impossibility.

Refereeing and judging is not an exact science or perfect, just like Taekwondo is not a perfect sport. When you include the human element into the game anything can happen.

Players: if you want to give yourself the best chance for success other than ending the fight with a K.O., play by the rules and if you’re not sure of them take a referee course and read the rule book. Keep your techniques clean and with power and always keep yourself in a position so that 3 judges can confirm your point.

Master Tim Bell

International Taekwondo Referee

Bell’s Taekwondo, Halifax Nova Scotia.

This article was published on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.