What makes a successful sparing Taekwondo athlete?

Taekwondo (TKD), a Korean striking martial art, has become one of the most popular martial arts since its inclusion in 2000 Olympic Games. Having practiced TKD as an athlete and provided care as a health professional for decades, I investigated a series of features of the Olympic TKD athlete including: profile, injury rate and distribution, weight cycling/cutting and each of their relationships to success in terms of gaining a medal. My studies (Kazemi et al. 2006; Kazemi, Perri and Casella, 2009; Kazemi et al. 2010; Kazemi et al. 2013; Kazemi et al. 2014; Kazemi et al. 2015; Kazemi and Pieter 2004; Pieter and Kazemi 2007; Kazemi, Chudolinski et al. 2009; Kazemi 2012; Kazemi et al. 2005; Kazemi and Shearer 2007; and Kazemi et al. 2011) have demonstrated that an athlete who avoids injury during competition (especially severe injury), practices systematic and gradual weight management and utilizes a more aggressive strategy with no fear of receiving Kyong-Gos, whilst avoiding receiving Gam-Jeoms is more likely to win. These investigations were published and presented at various seminars around the world. This portfolio depicts my contributions to these areas of knowledge as well as further critical analysis of my previous works giving birth to new concepts such as utilization of height categories instead of weight categories to eliminate the ill-effects of weight cutting; sparring Injury Report Form; and effect of rule changes on profile and injuries to name a few. Conducting this thesis has helped me to reflect on the shortcomings of my previous investigations and realize the future directions of research in these areas.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctoral Thesis

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Student thesis

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Kazemi, Mohsen

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• McCarthy, Peter

• Tae kwon do
• Training

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/bbc5deb0-c4ec-4c6b-9a53-9a31dcdd41c1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/bbc5deb0-c4ec-4c6b-9a53-9a31dcdd41c1