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ectc competition rules last updated 4 march 2011 changes since the 2 november 2010 revision are highlighted in yellow competitor qualifications full-time student status competitors must be full-time students of a participating school at the time of competition if a student s full-time status is in doubt the student may be asked to produce documentation proving his full-time status each competitor must bring a copy of his/her student university or college identification card to each ectc competition and show it at the time of registration medical insurance all competitors must be covered by a medical insurance policy and must have their medical insurance coverage information present with them at the tournament equipment uniforms all competitors must wear v-neck taekwondo doboks uniforms only black belts should wear uniforms with black trim around the collar brown/purple/orange belts are permitted the following are not permitted eyeglasses goggles necklaces rings bracelets earrings piercings hairpins hair beads hard casts/braces and any similar items sparring equipment all sparring competitors must wear the following equipment -trunk protector for all competitors must be a wtf-style hogu with shoulder/back protection -helmet must be white or match the hogu color ­ black is permitted but not recommended -mouth guard can be any color -forearm guard worn inside uniform and can be any color -shin guards worn inside uniform and can be any color -instep guards must be white or match the hogu color ­ black is permitted but not recommended -groin protector required for men worn inside uniform wtf-style gloves and socks are allowed but not required the color of these protectors must be white or match the color of the hogu being worn tournament entry fees and league membership competitor entry fees for members tournament entry fees are $30 for competitors from member clubs and $40 for competitors of non-member clubs an additional $10 late fee will be assessed for every competitor who registers after the registration deadline of the tournament typically on the thursday before the tournament at 10 pm club/college membership annual membership for a collegiate club costs $100 membership gives the club the rate of $30 for its members at tournaments allows it to be considered in the year-end

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rankings for trophy consideration and gives it a profile and link on the ectc website sparring kyorugi rules general modified wtf rules with certain exceptions current world taekwondo federation rules are in effect including head kicks a and b-team only no head contact for c and d-teams 3 points spinning kicks to the body defined as a continuous 360 motion or a back kick dwi chagi 2 points non-spinning kicks and punches to the body 1 point exceptions to the wtf sparring rules include but are not limited to the following sudden death if a match ends with a tie score at the end of the second round then the match proceeds to a sudden death round where the match is decided by either the 1st player to score or the 1st player to receive a one-point deduction if the tie is not broken by the end of the first sudden death round then a second third etc sudden death round will be contested until the tie is broken at the beginning of each sudden death round all penalties will be cleared instep protection as in usa taekwondo competitions instep protection is required for all competitors see equipment above point gap a 10-point gap shall be used to compensate for the more liberal scoring that comes with 3 judges if 4 judges are used in a ring then a 7 point gap shall be used weight divisions weight divisions are modified as described below in the team sparring rules section length of matches matches are 2 rounds long with a 30 second break in between the length of the round is different for each division advanced divisions spar with rounds of 2 minutes intermediate divisions with rounds of 90 seconds and beginner divisions with rounds of 60 seconds see the team sparring rules section for more information head contact for the beginner or 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 with the exception that 4-point turning head kicks are not yet in effect all head kicks are 3 points in b and a team sparring allowed kicks for d-team or first-timer division sparring only competitors shall use their right leg during the first round and their left leg during the second round kicks with the wrong leg will be penalized as an illegal technique team sparring divisions and team sparring rules team composition the main draws of ectc tournaments consist of teams of 3 competitors plus up to 2 alternates each team will consist of one lightweight competitor one middleweight competitor,

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and one heavyweight competitor the alternates may be of any weight division the weight divisions are defined as follows weight class light middle heavy men 0-145.0 lbs 145.1-172.0 lbs over 172.0 lbs women 0-117.0 lbs 117.1-137.0 lbs over 137.0 lbs a competitor may spar up a maximum of one weight division at his/her coach s discretion for example middleweight may spar in the heavyweight slot but a lightweight may never spar in the heavyweight slot competitors may not spar in a lighter weight class than the one they weigh in as sparring divisions there are 4 skill levels at ectc competitions a-team advanced b-team intermediate c-team beginner and d-team first-time for both men and women thus there are a total of eight divisions sparring divisions size of team rank black/red/brown/purple/blue 3 women 2 alternates belts black/red/brown/purple/blue 3 men 2 alternates belts 3 women 2 alternates red belts and below 3 men 2 alternates red belts and below 3 women 2 alternates green belts and below 3 men 2 alternates green belts and below yellow belts and below 3 women 2 alternates first tournament yellow belts and below 3 men 2 alternates first tournament division women s a-team men s a-team women s b-team men s b-team women s c-team men s c-team women s d-team men s d-team d-team division rules the purpose of this division is to provide first-time sparring competitors with a positive experience against other competitors with limited taekwondo sparring experience all competitors in the d-team division must in addition to being full-time students must be 1 white or yellow belt in rank yellow belt with green stripe or orange belt acceptable 2 must have never participated in a martial arts tournament sparring match before during the first round d-team competitors may only use their right leg to spar in the second round team competitors may only use their left leg to spar the reason for this rule is to reduce the frequency of injuries in the competitors.

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d teams will earn no points for their teams once a competitor has competed in the d-team division he/she may not compete again in the d-team division at future tournaments match length sparring matches are two rounds long lengths varying according to the level of competition as described below duration of rounds for sparring kyorugi time of sparring 2 rounds of 2 minutes with a 30 second rest 2 rounds of 90 seconds with a 30 second rest 2 rounds of 60 seconds with a 30 second rest 2 rounds of 60 seconds with a 30 second rest division a-team kyorugi b-team kyorugi c-team kyorugi d-team kyorugi point awards for team sparring for each division all teams within that division will be entered into a single elimination bracket one 1st place one 2nd place and two 3rd places will be given all divisions no points are awarded for d-team sparring sparring point awards 2 3rd 3rd 5th 0 0 0 0 32 16 16 8 48 24 24 12 64 32 32 16 nd d-team c-team b-team a-team 1st 0 64 96 128 5th 0 8 12 16 5th 0 8 12 16 5th 0 8 12 16 also one school may not earn points for more than 2 teams per division in a single men s or women s division for example if mit places 1st 2nd and 3rd in men s b-team sparring then they will only receive points for the 1st and 2nd place teams but not for the 3rd place team this rule is intended to make sure that large teams do not have too much of an advantage over smaller ones seeding seeds will be awarded based on the total number of team points scored by each team i.e mit a1 cornell a2 nyu c2 at the last 3 tournaments i.e if tufts men s c2 earned a bronze medal at the previous tournament a silver medal at the tournament before and no tournament at the season before then they would earn 40 points towards their seed in the current tournament number of teams each school may enter as many teams as desired per division however no more than two teams from any one school may score points in a single division lining teams up for a team vs team match competitor match-ups will be decided on the initial team lineup of two teams before any sparring begins alternates must line up behind the person for whom they may substitute for that match no competitor may spar two positions within the same team.

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because a competitor may qualify for more than one weight division it is possible for there to be more than one legal lineup for a given team thus a competitor cannot change his/her placement after the initial lineups have been decided until after all 3 matches have been contested in the event that both teams have flexibility in their lineup and cannot agree then they shall each write their chosen team down on a sheet of paper to be submitted to the referee who will then reveal both teams simultaneously after a team has advanced to the next round they are not required to keep the same lineup that they used in the last match determining the winner of two teams because schools may not have enough competitors to fill a complete team different combinations of competitors are possible the winner between two teams will be decided as follows criteria for advancement for a 3 person vs 3 person team the winner is determined by the team that wins two or more matches criteria for advancement for a 3 person vs 2 person team the 2 person team must win both matches to advance otherwise the 3 person team advances criteria for advancement for a 2 person vs 2 person team in the same weight classes the winner is determined by the team that wins two matches if after two matches each team has won one match then the winner is determined by the team that scored the most number of points across both matches i.e if match 1 was won by red 7:3 and match 2 was won by blue 3:5 then the total score across both matches is 10:8 in favor of red and red advances if after both matches each team has won one match and the cumulative score is also tied then the winner is decided by the referee on the basis of cumulative superiority across both matches thus the center referee must be aware of this possibility and track the superiority of the players across both matches superiority is defined as the player who showed more initiative during the match criteria for advancement for a 2 person vs 2 person team which share only one weight class in common if for example red has only a middleweight and a heavyweight on its team and blue has only a light weight and a middleweight on their team then the winner is determined by the winner of a single middleweight vs middleweight match criteria for advancement for a 2 person vs 1 person team a 2 person team always advances over a 1 person team however the 2 person team must spar out the match in good faith against the 1 person team or risk disqualification for the rest of the division criteria for advancement for a 1 person vs 1 person team the team to win the single match advances in the bracket.

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lame duck rule all competitors must compete even if his/her team has already qualified to advance to the next round unless the competitor is severely injured and cannot compete there will be no voluntary forfeits if the competitor withdraws either before or during a match due to injury then he/she may not compete in any other matches in that sparring division i.e a b c even if his/her team advances however he/she may return later in the day to spar in a different division the only exception to this rule is if an alternate is substituted in his/her place in that event then the player who was substituted out may later spar in another match within the same division this rule is designed to enrich the experience of all competitors whether they win or lose and to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to compete example in the semifinals mit men s a1 meets rpi men s a1 with 3 players on either side neither team has any alternates rpi a1 wins the light and middleweight matches rpi a1 s heavyweight may not withdraw and save himself for the finals he must spar the match to completion if he does decide to withdraw due to injury or if he does not complete the match then he may not compete in the ateam finals however if the rpi a1 heavyweight is entered in the men s b-team competition as well he may compete in that division regardless of any withdrawl in the a-team division alternates 2 alternates per team are allowed alternates are to be used as substitute players for a team in the event that a player for that team is injured or wishes to withdraw from competition alternates may only substitute for a player of the same weight class alternates may be on the team list for a maximum of two teams within a division but cannot actually compete for i.e spar or force a forfeit for more than one team within a division once an alternate has competed for one team he/she may not compete for another team within the same sparring division a b c weigh-ins weigh-in shall be conducted in uniform with a 2 pound allowance weigh-in shall be made once however one more weigh-in is granted within the time limits for official weigh-in to the contestants who did not qualify the first time weight divisions are enforced for all sparring divisions sparring on multiple teams within a division a competitor cannot spar or compete for more than one team within his/her division i.e men s a-team within a tournament thus if a competitor is an alternate on two teams he/she is ineligible to compete for any other teams in that division once he/she has competed for i.e sparred or forced a forfeit for a particular team example 1 john is an alternate for both mit men s a1 and mit men s a2 he is substituted in on mit men s a2 to spar one match he may not compete for mit men s a1 for the rest of the tournament although he may continue to spar with mit men s a2 example 2 betty a middleweight at 130 lbs is an alternate for both cornell women s b2 and cornell women s b3 cornell women s b3 has only two players in addition to betty a light and a middle weight they are matched up against nyu b1 which has only 2 competitors a light and a middle weight with no alternates betty is asked to line up with cornell b3 as their heavyweight to force a

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forfeit of the heavyweight match by nyu betty may not then later spar for or force a forfeit for cornell women s b2 sparring in more than one division a blue/purple/brown/red color belt competitor who is entered in a b-team division may also compete on an a-team this rule is aimed at the individual who may not be the rank of a black belt but can compete at the level of a black belt likewise a competitor who is entered in the c-team division may also compete in the b-team division green belts and below may not compete on a-team also any competitor entered in the dteam competition may not spar in any other divisions for that tournament once a competitor has been entered in the a-team division he/she may not spar in the c-team division at any future ectc tournaments this rule now applies only to green belts and below who competed on an a-team during the first two tournaments of the 2010-2011 season and prior events those competitors are limited to b-team until reaching the rank of blue belt 30-day rule contestants who are unable to continue a match as the result of a head impact cannot participate in ectc sparring competition for 30 days the referee makes the determination of whether the competitor is fit to continue the match within either 8 or 60 seconds depending on the nature of the impact this includes all legal illegal and accidental head impacts the intent of this rule is to prevent competition for a minimum of 30 days when traumatic brain injury tbi more commonly referred to as a concussion is a possibility the condition of the contestant must be evaluated immediately following the match by the tournament medical staff the 30-day restriction may be waived if the medical staff decides that tbi is not a concern and they do not recommend an immediate er visit or follow-up exam with a physician for the purpose of evaluating tbi an example of such a waiver might occur after a kick/punch to the throat or a kick that only grazes the nose another example might be a misjudgment on the part of a referee regarding the contestant s condition the evaluation of medical regarding potential tbi must be communicated directly and in person to the referee chair or an ectc board member if a waiver of the 30-day restriction is sought by the contestant s coach in no case will the 30-days be waived unless the contestant is cleared by medical at the tournament doctor s notes after the tournament confirming the health of the contestant are appreciated but will not be accepted within 30 days for purposes of a waiver the ectc reserves the right to require a contestant to obtain a medical checkup and doctor s note in order to return to sparring competition even if the contestant was cleared by medical at the tournament some examples where the 30-day rule would be initially applied pending consideration by medical 1 the referee counts a contestant out after a head kick this is considered a knockout even if the contestant remains conscious and standing the 8-count is for safety reasons and may be applied whether the kick was scored or not 2 the contestant receives a punch to the face and is not capable of continuing within 1 minute the referee may decide not to continue the match for reason of safety even if the contestant indicates they are ready 3 the contestant falls and hits their head on the floor and is not capable of continuing within 1

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minute the referee may decide not to continue the match for reason of safety even if the contestant indicates they are ready contestants who have a 30-day break from sparring competition are still eligible to support their school and the ectc by competing in forms by coaching by corner judging and as a computer operator or tournament staff volunteer they may not serve as a center referee due to the possibility of accidental head injury during a match poomsae forms competition divisions there are ten poomsae divisions including both men and women defined as follows poomsae forms divisions ­ separate men s and women s division white/yellow taegeuk 1 or 2 the competitor chooses which form to do green taegeuk 3 or 4 the competitor chooses which form to do blue taegeuk 5 or 6 the competitor chooses which form to do red/brown taegeuk 7 or 8 the competitor chooses which form to do black 1st tournament taegeuk 8 top eight advance to final round koryo 2nd tournament koryo top eight advance to final round keumgang 3rd tournament keumgang top eight advance to final round taebaek 4th tournament taebaek top eight advance to final round pyongwon 5th tournament pyongwon top eight advance to final round shipjin competitors must perform the forms appropriate for their rank as described above or they will be disqualified for the black belt divisions all competitors will be judged under a modified version of the wtf scoring methodology see poomsae scoring and tie-break procedures ­ black belt each competitor will be judged one at a time and will receive separate scores for accuracy and presentation the combination of these scores makes the total score for the preliminary round competitors with the top 8 scores will advance to the final round their preliminary scores are then disregarded going into the final which is scored like the preliminary the top 4 competitors in the final round place in the division and earn league points because it will take longer to process these black belt divisions each school will be restricted to entering 2 male and 2 female competitors in the black belt forms divisions there are no restrictions on the number of color belt competitors that schools may enter in each division color belts will still be judged two at a time while the full wtf scoring system may not be used forms should still be performed according the current wtf standard large divisions if a color belt division has 30 or more competitors the group may be split into two

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equally sized divisions after one round then the top 5 competitors will be chosen from each group and run off in a final group of 10 to determine the overall medalists for the division accepted poomsae athletes must perform the forms appropriate for their belt level as described above failure to perform the correct form will result in disqualification point awards for poomsae one 1st place one 2nd place and one 3rd place award will be given for each of the 10 poomsae divisions points will be awarded to the school of the competitor in the following amounts poomsae forms point awards 1st 2nd 10 8 12 10 15 12 20 16 35 28 white-yellow green blue red-brown black 3rd 6 8 9 12 21 4th 4 5 6 8 14 poomsae scoring and tie-break procedures ­ colored belts for colored belt poomsae the ectc uses a 3 or 5-judge system only one poomsae is performed with competitors performing two at a time competitors receive a single score that represents all aspects of their performance scoring procedure 1 if there are 3 judges take the sum of the three judge scores as the competitor s overall score if there are 5 judges first drop the high and low scores and then take the sum of the remaining three judge scores as the competitor s overall score 2 when all competitors have been scored review the top four positions if there are no ties the division is complete if there is a tie for any of the top four positions continue with the tiebreak procedure below colored belt tie-break poomsae procedure a each competitor in the tie will individually perform the same or another rankappropriate poomsae as a tie-break and that poomsae will be scored normally as in step 1 above if there is still a tie repeat step a until resolved example a green belt could choose to perform either taegeuk 3 or 4 scoring example 5 judges scores 7.0 6.8 7.0 7.2 7.4 drop high/low 7.0 7.0 7.2 21.2

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poomsae scoring and tie-break procedures ­ black belts for black belt poomsae the ectc uses a 5-judge system if necessary a 3-judge system may be used only one poomsae is performed in each of two rounds preliminary and final the top eight competitors from the preliminary round advance to the final round the top four competitors in the final round will place in the division and earn league points aspects of competition not specified here should be handled as described in the poomsae rulebook on the wtf website see http www.wtf.org/wtf_eng/site/rules/poomsae.html scoring procedure 5 judges note 3-judge scoring is the same except no scores are dropped 1 the high and low scores for accuracy are dropped the sum of the three middle scores is divided by 3 and then rounded at the hundredth position 1 2 the high and low scores for presentation are dropped the sum of the three middle scores is divided by 3 and then rounded at the hundredth position 3 the total score is calculated as the sum of the three middle scores for accuracy with the three middle scores for presentation divided by three and then rounded at the hundredth position preliminary round when all competitors in the round have been scored check for a tie that effects who is in the top 8 having a 2-way tie for 2nd is ok since both will advance to the final round but a 2-way tie for 8th must be broken if a 3-way tie for 7th occurred that would need to be broken too to see who is 9th and does not advance if a tie-break is necessary to identify the top 8 competitors then proceed to step a of the tie-break procedure below once the top 8 have been identified they advance to the final round final round the final is scored in the same way all ties effecting the top 4 positions must be broken as described below ties for 5th-7th will not be broken there cannot be a tie for 8th in the final once ties in the top 4 have been resolved and the order of the top 4 positions has been established the competition is complete tie-break poomsae procedure a the tie is broken using the presentation scores of the competitors specifically this is the presentation score calculated in step 2 above if the presentation scores are tied continue with step b b the competitors will perform the poomsae selected for the final round as a tie-break and that form will be scored normally steps 1-3 above if there is still a tie proceed to step c unless only 3judges are used in that case return to step a instead c re-calculate the tie-break poomsae using all five scores specifically take the sum of all five accuracy scores with all five presentation scores and divide the total by 5 and round at the hundredth position if there is still a tie repeat steps b c until resolved 2

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scoring example accuracy scores 3.0 2.3 3.0 3.4 3.4 drop high/low 3.0 3.0 3.4 3 3.1333 and round at the hundredth position 3.13 presentation scores 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.4 drop high/low 3.4 3.4 3.5 3 =3.4333 and round at the hundredth position 3.43 total score 3.0 3.0 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.5 3 6.5666 and round at the hundredth position 6.57 you might think the score should be the sum of 3.13 3.43 6.56 that would be the sum of two rounded numbers however which can produce an error of 0.01 in the score the reason 6.57 is correct if you extended these two totals by a couple of additional decimal places you d have 3.1333 3.4333 6.5666 rounded up or not the result is the same the wtf software rounds at the thousandth position 6.5666 6.567 and then displays it to the hundredth position 6.567 6.57 but that cannot produce a different result from just rounding at the hundredth position initially 1 rounding at the hundredth position the wtf rules do not specify the number of digits to maintain after the decimal point wtf approved electronic scoring systems display two decimal places using standard rounding with 5 rounding up and <5 rounding down for instance 5.6666 becomes 5.67 2 repeating steps b/c if needed to resolve the tie is implied by the wtf rules but not specifically stated weigh-in procedures no weigh-in may occur with representatives of only one school present preferably an ectc league representative who is not a member of the host school team designated by the board shall be present in addition to a host school representative in the absence of a league representative an officer team captain or instructor from at least 2 ectc-registered schools must be present at the time of weigh-ins this means that the host schools may not solely weigh in their own competitors athletes must make the exact weight specified on the ectc website for their weight division unless they are wearing a complete uniform top bottom and belt if they are wearing a complete uniform two 2.0 pounds leeway may be given to the athlete a complete record of each athlete s weigh-in must be kept on an official ectc weigh-in sheet each athlete weighed in must be signed off on a record sheet by representatives of at least two schools and the time of weigh-in shall also be recorded whenever possible the host school shall use scales provided by the ectc for weigh-ins the host team must conduct weigh-ins on the morning of the tournament night-before weigh-in procedures the host team may host weigh-ins the night before the tournament day the weigh-ins must follow the above regulations in addition:

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night-before weigh-ins must take place after 6 pm and must last for at least 2 hours within reason the school should make an effort to accommodate the travel schedules of participating schools the time duration date and location of the night-before weigh-ins must be announced at least 2 weeks in advance of the tournament date via the ectc mailing list referees and judges red belts may serve as referees and judges for white and yellow belt competition c/d team sparring and white/yellow belt forms otherwise referees and judges should always be black belts.

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