Venezuela IR Seminar trains Western Hemisphere Refs

By Kim Sol, WTF International Referee and Vice Chairman, USTU Committee on Technical, Contest Rules and Referee Certification.

Fifteen referees were selected from the United States to attend the training session held for the Western Hemisphere in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela February 3-6, although nineteen attended. Hosted by the Venezuela Taekwondo Federation, the site was the Hotel Melia, a five star hotel in the resort (and oil) city of Puerto La Cruz. Instructors included Sang Kuen Song, Deputy Secretary General, WTF, Hong Ki Kim, Vice-Chairman, WTF Games Committee, Yong Jun Yoon, Professor at Yonsei University, and Jin Bang Yang, Professor, Yong-in University.

New published textbooks of rules interpretations were distributed, and Professor Yang lectured extensively about revised methods of rules of interpretation, and particularly how these revisions fit with idealized Taekwondo competition and development.

Classes extended from approximately nine a.m. each day, to eight p.m. or so each evening. Overall, seventy elite referees from the Western Hemisphere attended. Other IR Refresher courses offered for these special training purposes are in Seoul and Athens. A full day of thorough examinations concluded the seminars, and included written tests, vision testing, hearing testing, and scoring testing using both videotape and live action scoring courtesy of the Venezuela National Taekwondo Team.

The Venezuela Taekwondo Association did a wonderful job of hosting and organizing the event. At the conclusion of the seminar, participants enjoyed an orchestral version of Menudo, in the form of the Venezuela Children's Orchestra, which played several classical selections very well.

Rule Changes

This is a brief summary of the highlights and is not meant to be thorough recitation.

Some rules have been modified somewhat, but it is safe to say that there are no major changes. Rather, the WTF is attempting, again, to emphasize the manner and method of implementation of some of the rules. The goal of Taekwondo competition is "the perfect match," in which the contestants show perfect technique, continuous technical exchange, resulting in a more productive match (points) and resulting in an understandable match. To facilitate this goal IR's are encouraged to score points, and one rule of thumb, particularly applicable for three-corner judging now in effect, is to follow the rule, "when in doubt, score." In addition, with the exception of the "pushing" penalty, penalties should otherwise be strictly called. Only in this fashion, can the ideal match be encouraged. This comports with the idea that the prohibited acts are not only designed to protect the competitors, ensure fair competition management, and to encourage ideal techniques (official written version), but to compensate the other competitor for his or her lost opportunity to score (Dr. Yang's verbal consideration).

For those competitors who stall in the last few seconds of a match to preserve a score differential, it is permitted for the referee to call shigan (time out) to call the penalty, so that the clock does not run against the competitor who is unfairly being prevented from scoring, while the penalty is being assessed against the perpetrator. The WTF will be formally resuming the idea of a "jury" probably under some other title, to supervise and monitor the matches and the computer operators. The new wrap-around hogul does not change the scoring areas or the "extended scoring areas" (Dr. Yang's new name for permitted areas). The new "wrap" part is merely a connector or added protection. The old definition of "hogul" for the purpose of defining an illegal, intentional kick or strike to the back remains unchanged. Those competitors who have the technical habit of kicking and then falling down will receive a "pre-warning" on the first such act, and then strict call of the falling penalty thereafter. The referee will strictly enforce the penalty and the invalidation of the point, so this particular habit will be severely penalized by the deduction of the point scored as well as the deduction assessed. The current rules re-insert the older Decision of Superiority hierarchy of references, which was inadvertently left out of last year's WTF rules publication, ie, superiority is based on initiative shown, by 1) technical dominance, 2) greater number of techniques executed, 3) more advanced techniques, and 4) better competition manner.

The one-minute medical timeout procedure has been modified. No longer can the referee resume the match and suspend it, a second or third time, while the injured competitor may be receiving routine first aid; rather, this additional necessary time is achieved under a new version of the rule by suspending the medical time out with the call of shigan. Sort of a time-out to the time-out. This does eliminate what appeared to the spectators as a confusing procedure which involved successive but unnecessary starting and stopping of the time clock. Now, if the referee sees that the competitor can fight but simply needs the additional time for the medics to finish a treatment, he can simply suspend the medical time out until such treatment is finished.

Some other minor changes in rarely used rules were also made In suspending the match because of illegal attack or other reason, if both contestants are incapacitated prior to the end of the first round of a match; the match shall be refought later. If a match is suspended for technical reasons (power failure, etc) unrelated to the contestants' behaviors, if suspension occurs prior to the conclusion of the second round, a rematch shall be held. If suspension occurs after the completion of the second round, the match shall be determined by the match score at the time of suspension.

Personal Observations

From Montana, the trip to Venezuela on Delta Airlines, through Salt Lake City and Atlanta, is about 18 hours to Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. Venezuela is primarily an oil exporter, and with oil prices in the dumpster, it is clear that the country is suffering terribly as a result of the bad prices. A late evening drive through Caracas showed only a few neighborhoods of relative prosperity. Most was an endless succession of depression and poverty. An early morning flight to Barcelona, Venezuela, the airport that also serves Puerto La Cruz, showed that the country was also in its dry season, with leaves off of most of the trees. We were told it rains eight months, and is dry four months. The weather was very pleasant and warm. The country had just elected a new president, and so even though we were staying at a premier resort during the height of Venezuelan tourism, the Melia Hotel was almost vacant. We were told that political instability and threats of violence are so close to the surface during elections, that no one ventures out on holidays. Army units were stationed at key intersections in Caracas, and during the referee seminars, armed guards wearing Kevlar vests were constantly watching over us.

The currency of Venezuela is the "Bolivar," named after the famous liberator Simon Bolivar. For $400, you get 197,000 Bolivars, which makes you feel pretty flush. My first experience in Venezuela was losing about 30,000 of these Bolivars to bandits in theairport. The morning of my departure from Caracas to Barcelona, I wandered into the local flight portion of the terminal, was grabbed by a friendly looking, concerned fellow, who asked where I needed to go. When I told him, he informed me that flight had been canceled, but he would seek to schedule me on an alternate flight. Since nothing was in English in this part of the airport, and since very, very few people spoke any English, I found to my surprise, I pretty much went along with the story. Soon I was shuffled into a ticket line that would "reschedule" me onto another flight. This "service" cost me 30,000 Bolivars. As soon as I was on the plane, I realized it was the flight I was originally scheduled on. So, I was robbed. Oh well.

The trip from the airport, through Barcelona, to Puerto La Cruz was eye-opening. Barcelona is a poor, poor city, with all of the stereotypes of poor housing, workers going to work piled in the backs of rusty old Chevy trucks, and dirt and chickens everywhere. Over the hill, its sister city of Puerto La Cruz is clean, with modern buildings and Ford Explorers and Toyotas everywhere. Puerto La Cruz was built from oil money, with large tank "farms" and oil tankers dock and load there. In addition, it built an extensive reputation as a resort city, with beautiful hotels and beaches, and even more elaborate facilities and scuba diving on several off-shore islands. Unfortunately, because of oil pollution or whatever, the beaches were closed to swimming. But the offshore islands apparently don't have the problem, and coral reefs, and beautiful beaches manage to attract a considerable tourism, between elections, anyway.

Most of the tourism appears to be Latin American. As near as I could tell, English is just not the common language. I had been fluent in Spanish a few decades ago, and it seemed like I was picking it back up pretty rapidly, but then recalling Mark Twain's experience in France, I was finding that very few of these people seemed to understand their own language. Finally, I gave up. Almost no one at our hotel spoke any English whatsoever, so getting around or ordering food was a little experimental. However, everyone was uniformly nice, especially after I stopped speaking in their native tongue. It was enjoyable, under any circumstances, to be with old referee friends from both continents, and to meet new ones. US Referees in attendance were myself, Barbara Wakefield, Kyu Young Chai, Koang Woon Kim, Ji Ho Choi, William Sullivan, Chang Myun Kim, Valerie Long, Summory Alpha, Stephen Dring, Bruce Harris, Sun Heesup Lee, Bernard Robinson, Kakala Falau, James Evans, Jae Young Kim, Sung Bok Nam, Yong Sup Kil and several other of the United States' well-known International Referees.

The seminar itself was more theoretical in content than most such seminars. As Dr. Yang pointed out, Taekwondo is one of the most difficult of sports to referee and assess points and penalties. A thorough understanding of the principles is necessary to properly administer a Taekwondo match. We spent several extra hours of overtime discussing many aspects of Taekwondo competition.

It was an intense three days, compounded by the immersion in a completely different culture. As usual, the earnest dedication of the seminar instructors, coupled with the high experience level of the participants made it a worthwhile experience for all concerned, in a beautiful part of the world.