The Ring

The Ring in taekwondo is similar to other martial art sparring rings. The whole ring is 8 metres by 8 metres long but its seperated into 2 parts; the danger zone and the safety zone, The safety zone is 7 metres by 7 metres andis blue in color whereas the danger zone is surrounding the safety zone and is usually red in color,but it sometimes can be in black. from the name, you can probably tell what the 2 zones are used for. When sparring if you happen to find yourself in the danger zone, chances are that you will either get knocked out of the ring(costing you 2 point), or you will be forced to defend and look for a way back to the safety zone while your opponent throws combinations after combinations after you. However, if you manage to trap your opponent in the danger zone be sure to throw in as many combinations as you can or if your opponent is trying force their way back in, a slight push while they are kicking is enough to knock them out of the arena.

Control points

In the Paragraph above, we have discussed the likely consequences of being forced into the danger zone and the benefitsthat come when you are in the safety zone. However, there are 8 other points on the ring that are crucial to know and can turn the game around if you utilise these points. These points are known as control points. As you can see 4 of the eight control points are in the danger zone but fret not, at those control points it is extremely difficult to the person standing out of the ring as there are 2 ways of escape back to the safety zone as compared to standing at other parts of the danger zone. The other 4 control pointsare the points you want to be at while trying to force an opponent out. At those control points you reduce the chances of the opponents coming back into the safety zone.