Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze the performance of medallists’ taekwondo athletes in University level 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 attacking 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 populations. Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed that the reading scores in the four weight categories differed significantly 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 common 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 frequency of kicks to the head and with a previous spin to maximise the point scoring rate per kicks delivered.
Highlights
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)
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
Athletes of the female heavyweight division used significantly 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 significantly higher than that in the featherweight (U = 31.0, p = 0.02)
Summary
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 analyzing athletic skills is valuable in helping coaches improve their athletes’ performance and increase the likelihood of success. Notational analysis systems has traditionally been used to analyze injury rates during competition (see Lystad et al, 2008 for complete review), to observe physiological 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 championships (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
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