Sorry I took so long to reply.
That's to be expected in a tournament. I've never been to one, but even at my school we were told to use kicks and use your arms and hands to block when we go to the tournaments. The reason being is because kicks make a louder slap than punches against the protective pads they wear. The often it is hard for judges to tell when someone has actually been hit or not. The loud slap is what confirms an actual hit. So when your fighting for points your going to want to make sure that your strikes count because you only have so much energy and time and you dont want to waste them on taps. In olympic/tournament training, we definitely used our hands because the punches were set-ups for kicks.
But as to the actual style of Taekwondo, there are a lot of hand strikes and punches in the forms and techniques. Taekwondo is actually translated as "punch-&-kick-style". But there is a great emphasis on the use of ones legs and footwork because the legs are the persons first line of defense (because they are longer), the second is their fists.
I cant speak for the style of any dojang let alone my own , but at my dojang (though I havent attended it for nearly 3 years, Im still considered a member there), the Master and assistant instructers, and most of the students were VERY serious about actual self defense despite the fact we were "supposed to be having fun"... getting our butt's kicked. :boxer: :nunchaku: :nunchaku: :nunchaku: :boxer:
Topic: Samurai (Read 1277 times)