Author: Sampo Pajulampi

Starting a hobby

In taekwondo athletes, everyone starts in basic groups, from which coaches guide them forward. Already experienced competitors who continue their previous hobby in Taekwondo athletes move directly to competition groups. You can move from the basic groups to a try-out amateur match after only a few weeks of practicing. Basic skills are practiced in basic groups, which provide a good foundation for competitive hobbies and sports in the future.

Amateur competition groups

After just a short hobby, the hobbyist can move to hobbyist racing groups. Their purpose is to familiarize the enthusiast with competitive taekwondo and the basic skills of sports. The threshold for the groups is low and participation in them is included in the basic hobby fee. In taekwondo, you compete both in a match and in movement series, and both have their own groups. In the beginning, it is possible and absolutely useful to familiarize yourself with both forms of competition.

Indoor competitions

You can participate in indoor competitions if you have practiced for about half a year in basic groups or have participated in amateur competition groups. Absolute beginners can also participate, but mastering the basic skills gives a better basis to benefit from indoor competitions. If the enthusiast does not yet want to try fighting or performing a set of moves, just coming and watching the event gives a good starting point for participating next time.

The idea of indoor competitions is to provide a way to get to know competitions in a familiar indoor environment. The rules are applied according to the experience level of the participants. At the beginning of the event, we warm up and go over the basics of the rules. The intricacies of the rules are clarified and how to act in a competitive situation is reviewed as the event progresses.

Competitions in children's and hobbyists' series

In the actual competition events, the athletes are divided into different series according to their experience level, and in the match, they are also divided into weight classes. The rules are applied to be suitable for beginners, e.g. head contact is not used in the beginner's series. At the competition event, the coaches help and support the enthusiast, trying to make the competition experience a positive one. Everyone is nervous about their first performances, but overcoming the tension and doing your own performance gives you the confidence to participate in more challenging tournaments.

Racing groups

After the athlete has tried his wings in amateur competition groups, indoor competitions and possibly also in real competitions, he can move on to competition groups. Commitment and training volumes increase as the hobbyist develops towards an athlete's lifestyle. Competition groups offer more and more training opportunities and the training fee is slightly higher. In addition, the members of the competition group have at their disposal e.g. free training sessions for independent training, support from a physio and occupational therapist and a gym at reduced prices.

Coaches support training and, especially for younger people, parental support becomes more and more important.

Competing in ranking series at home and tournaments abroad

Once the start has been reached, the athlete has an open path all the way to the World Championships (match and movement series) and the Olympics (match). However, success requires perseverance and success at the top is behind hard work. Competing at the top national and international level is rewarding, however, and the acquired experiences carry far into later civilian life!

Taekwondo carries with it many traditions and customs. It would be easy to write down platitudes about various connections between sports and spiritual growth and the role of the teacher in the growth of the student.

Modern competitive sports require appropriate thinking.

The athlete's experience is central

The athlete must feel that the sport is meaningful. It is only possible if the athlete is enthusiastic about the things he does. Sometimes sport is hard and in that case the enthusiasm for doing it yourself carries better than, for example, gathering strength from the results.

Enthusiasm is protected by confidence. Trust has two dimensions. The first is trust in the community and especially in its central players. The second is partly born from the first and partly overlaps with learning and success, namely the athlete's confidence that he is doing the right things.

Succeeding and learning as an everyday experience is a more important factor in terms of career success than achieving individual big goals, although they also have their own value.

The coach feeds the athlete's experiences

The coach must strive in his work to help the athlete to be at his best. However, it is reasonable to limit what to do and focus on the experiences that have been found to be central.

The coach inspires the athlete. The key is to understand the drivers of enthusiasm in different age periods. A child and a peak adult can have very different reasons for playing sports. However, there is no reason to value different reasons too much over others, but to feed them and give opportunities to find new ones.

The coach is present in the everyday life and celebration of the athlete's sport and, of course, as a support when the athlete faces difficulties and disappointments. With his presence, the coach creates a safe environment. An athlete can succeed and fail safely when he knows that support is available in all situations and conditions. The coach also takes care of the conditions in which they work together with the athlete.

The coach guides the athlete to do the right things. This leads to experiences of learning and success. Often, traditional coaching education focuses only on developing the physique and teaching the skill, but since the athlete is not a machine, simply tuning the performance is not enough. The coach must help the athlete utilize his mental resources and provide a comprehensive toolkit for working in the field of sports.

A coach needs to develop and develop

A coach must be enthusiastic about his work. He also shares his enthusiasm around him, not only to the athlete, but also to the entire surrounding community. Enthusiasm is a key condition for a coach to continuously develop and, on the other hand, cope with daily work.

The coach must be reliable so that the athlete can commit to doing things together. It is also easy for the surrounding community to commit to supporting the athlete, when the coach is able to give guarantees of continuity and the credibility of the task system.

A coach must know how, but it is even more important to learn constantly. All coaches are bad at first, but only those who have a strong aspiration to learn and develop as a coach can become top coaches.