REFEREE NEWS

International Tae Kwon Do Referee Selection Camp for Beijing Olympics 29 July-August 4th 2007 Cheon Ju, Republic of Korea

At the call of the President, 187 invited referees aged from 25 to 67 years young from fifty-seven countries assembled in central Korea for a week of intensive training conceived by the vision of WTF Chairman Chungwon Choue and personally directed throughout by the dynamic new Secretary General Jang Jin Suk and a distinguished 8 member selection panel. The selection camp was held at Woosuk University and the Woosuk University Tae Kwon Do team made an important contribution to the success of the camp.

Man A So Pan Gap Simnida!!

Saturday July 28th: Referees assembled at the legendary Kukkiwon Headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul, where they were taken in two separate bus parties to Chon Ju. Secretary General Jang personally met the buses and welcomed all to the university.

The Beginning: Committed to Excellence

Sunday July 29th: The first day of training began with opening addresses in the main auditorium. Referees made new acquaintances and renewed many old ones. The VIPs present who comprised the eight man selection committee during the opening ceremonies included Secretary General Jang, Jin Suk; Technical Committee Chairman Ko Oei Min; Mr Rene Bundelli Technical Cte Member; Mr Hong Ki Kim, Referee Chairman; Lee Kyung Min; Choi Man Shik, Deputy SG; Shim Yong Gu, KTA Technical Chairman and Senior Referee Instructor; Chon I Gee, VChair; Dr. Steven Capener, SA; and Dr. Song of Woosuk University.

The SG in his remarks emphasized that the Chairman and he were unanimous in their commitment to developing and selecting the best officials in the world. He emphasized that the selection would be challenging, fair, and would demand a 100% effort from the referees during a series of tests including a physical, written, English language, and practical tests. The purpose of this was to ensure that the best athletes in the world were recognized as champions and did not lose due to ignorance or error by officials. This was emphasized by the leadership as being crucial to the future success and Olympic status of Tae Kwon Do as a core sport. Everyone felt the heavy responsibility of referees for their part in the future success of Tae Kwon Do and focussed their efforts on high performance in the camp. Soon after a hand signals session was held with Shim YG, the venerable and highly respected referee icon, who gave his lecture noting common errors based on careful study of recent international events.

Training People to Become Good People

After lunch, SG Jang gave a stirring lecture on ethics and the recent history and status of Tae Kwon Do and the Olympic movement. A passionate speaker, SG Jang draws upon a lifetime of achievement, as a law enforcement official, counsellor, and Mayor of a large American city. He noted that TKD had been upgraded recently from E category to a D Category sport, but that intense efforts were still required to preserve Olympic core sport status, within the International Summer Olympics Federation. SG Jang and Professor Kim explained the scientific process behind the physical fitness tests; the broad jump, fifty-metre dash, and longer distance run that was cancelled due to the very high temperatures in a heat wave. Dr. Steve Capener, a former US TKD Champion and completely fluent in Korean, explained the written test format and the first day of training was over. Some referees were still adjusting to long distance travel and time differences, but many were able to explore the local town for Korean culture and technical meetings.

The Second Day: Dynamic Action Training--The Real Thing!

Quickly moving into dynamic training, the morning was spent perfecting and calibrating hand signals with Shim Yong Gu. The afternoon was fantastic: Woosuk university TKD Team members fought live matches and in a sophisticated scoring system, four sets of corner judges were simultaneously able to score the match and everyone could watch the scores. This revealed some discrepancies in assessing points that were observed and corrected. The overall reluctance to score punches was one salient observation. A very practical and rewarding day, thanks to the excellent technical preparation and the enthusiasm and efforts of the Woosuk TKD Team. In the evening, a memorable pickup basketball game was held, with Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Canada, USA, and Jordan referees making great friendships through sport.

The Third Day: Say Ahhhhh

The morning was spent conducting vision, hearing, blood pressure, tests and finding out the 1200 m run was cancelled due to the above 40 degrees weather. In the afternoon, in groups the 50 metre dash and the broad jump was held. The broad jump standards were 2.10 m and the 50 m standard 8.5 (men) and 10.5 (women), based on scientific studies of 35-40 year old non-athletic populations, but the standards were high and not everyone was able to reach them.

A very interesting discussion started by Dr. Capener in the auditorium ensued about some of the recent developments in international competition and their impact on TKD popularity. A desire to return to the more exciting and complex techniques of the 80s and 90's was expressed with some potential rule changes for the future to make matches more dynamic and encourage fighters to fight desirable and necessary to maintain and increase TKD popularity. The dynamic session engaged referees voicing their opinions and the interchange of ideas in the international environment was very educational. Not everyone agreed on everything, but everyone was united in their desire to improve TKD and officiating standards.

The Fourth Day (Wed 30 July): A few Sore Muscles!

The discussion on competition rules carried on with stress on scoring punches, the negative effects of kicking to the back on the excitement and flow of the game, ways to overcome fighters’ passive styles and increase the actual time spent fighting rather than bouncing. During the Q and A, it was agreed that the key to consistency and calibration was to have judges from many countries react in the same way to the same situation and agree on the levels of accuracy and power required to score a point all in under a second. No small task! For many the Q and A session was a highlight of the camp. A video session was also held in which key international events were analyzed in slow motion to show how some movements were shielded and to ensure standardization of kyong go and ring management.

The President Himself Speaks to the Referees

WTF President Choue himself then gave a passionate speech to the referees. The highlights included his welcome and thanks to the referees who gave up their time and for many paid their own way. He personally articulated his vision to produce the best referees possible, a desire heightened by some of the negative experiences in Athens and Ho Chi Min City. He stressed that the quality of officiating would directly influence the success of TKD in the Olympic sport status and how committed he was to the development of the referee education and training efforts. He wished the team well and thanked them again for their work. After a group photo and lunch, the referees went back to work and after hand signals practise rehearsed the team entry and exit procedures to the ring. This paid great dividends in Manchester where the referee entry and exits were very professional. SG Jang gave another motivational address, and then a new WTF publication, The Book of Teaching and Learning Tae Kwon Do, by the education committee was put on sale and immediately sold out to eager referees. The official tailor dropped by for referees to get the new blue uniform in case they had not already. Another evening came and a few more basketballs were thrown and technical meetings held.

The Fifth Day; More Video and Analysis: “Don't be a rose in a garden of tulips"

The morning was spent with Professor Chun reviewing international matches and the afternoon with Referee Chairman Hong Ki Kim calibrating through video scoring practise. Hong Ki Kim gave an end of day lecture and outlined his thoughts on how to unify criteria and achieve consistency, whereby in similar situations different referees will take similar situations. The Referee Chairman summarized his remarks by noting that the best referees work for years in dedicated practise, blending technical knowledge with experience, thoroughly understanding the rules and making quick, accurate, and consistent decisions. Effective referees review their performance and study their own strengths and weaknesses in order to improve. Immediately following Hong Ki Kim's lecture, the entire group quickly changed into formal clothes and went as a group to a reception at the Cheon Ju cultural centre that included authentic and delicious Korean traditional food followed by a Pan So Ri (Korean traditional singing style), Farmer's Dance, and interpretive ballet performance. On the way back to the university, the Middle Eastern referees sang with gusto traditional songs.

The Sixth Day: Hand Signals and The Scoring Test Day—Game On!

There was some tension in the air as referees lined up for the hand signals testing. Five at a time in front of the entire selection committee with video cameras on as they had been for most of the testing. The referees went through hand signals which by this time had become a sort of Referee poomse. After lunch—and a welcome ice cream snack for a hot humid day-the Woosuk TKD Team put their heart and soul into providing matches all afternoon that were judged by four corner judges at a time. The judges timing, decision-making, and consistency were all assessed. While waiting, I learned that we had three married couples in the camp, from Malaysia, Cyprus, and Australia. Making refereeing a family affair!

The Seventh Day: The Written Test and Closing Ceremonies
The final day of the camp consisted of an interview and English testing, the written test, farewells and closing ceremonies in which the stellar efforts of the support staff and hard work of the referees was recognized. The referees all received a number of gifts to take home with them, and the next major event would be to wait and find out which 54 referees were selected for Manchester!

Manchester: The Olympic Team Trial Success Story

Fifty-four referees were invited individually to assemble in Manchester and I was lucky enough to be among them. There were two days of training and three days of competition. There were no protests and the senior leadership was delighted with the results in which the athletes decided the outcome in a fair and safe environment. More specialization was used as certain referees were used for centre and others for the corner, inspection, and weigh ins. Morale was very high and the outstanding results were certainly directly related to the investment of time and effort in holding a referee camp and the continued efforts of the President, Secretary General, Referee Chairman and other key leaders. The organizing committee did a super job of hosting the referees who especially enjoyed the banquet at a local Greek-Turkish restaurant.

Citius Altius Fortius: The Road to the Olympics and the Way Ahead

The road to Beijing now has five key events in Tripoli, Ho Chi Min City, New Caledonia, Cali, and Istanbul before the Olympic test event next year and finally, the Great Days of August when the Olympic Games will be held in Beijing. Selected referees will be invited to these events and the selection committee will make final decisions before a list is submitted to the IOC in February. The final 29 will do the test event in Beijing, (May) and then the games themselves!