Many people training in Taekwondo for the first time are unaware there is a different style of Taekwondo and usually end up asking the committee/instructors – so to solve this problem we have created a page dedicated to this long ended question…
What is the difference?
The main difference you encounter as a student training in Taekwondo for the first time will be negligible. Please bare in mind that WTF and ITF are merely organisations under which instruction is organised: WTF standing for ‘World Taekwondo Federation' and ITF standing for ‘International Taekwondo Federation'. These are two organisations or groups that diverged long ago at the inception of Taekwondo for many political reasons.
As a student, none of the politics will concern you. The only differences you will encounter will be slight differences in training and emphasis, which mainly results from different rules of sparring at competitions.
The BASIC (and crude) rule that we have found to explain to new students is that ITF Taekwondo is more akin to what people would expect of Kickboxing, simply with better kicking thrown in. ITF Taekwondo allows punches to the head/face whereas WTF does not. The reason for this basic divergence is a difference in philosophy and application:
Whereas ITF Taekwondo hopes to make an all round fighter out of a practitioner at once, practicing all strikes and attacks from the very beginning, WTF hopes to preserve the ancient Korean belief that the foot is the more powerful striking weapon of the body. So in WTF Taekwondo all other attacks are discouraged in order to encourage the practitioner to become extremely proficient in kicking ability alone. For close fighting and hand combinations, many practitioners of WTF Taekwondo also study ‘Hapkido' – another Korean martial art that is often considered Taekwondo's sister art (and vice versa). Also past black belt WTF emphasises hand techniques and rivals most arts in its proficiency – that Taekwondo doesn't use hands is an erroneous belief coming from many students who gave up before, or failed to reach black belt or above.
As a result Sparring between the styles looks completely different, even down to the protection worn. ITF tends to wear head-guard, gloves, feet/shin pads and groin guard. WTF on the other hand wears one large chest guard and forearm protectors along with head-guard and groin guard.
The padding partly influences and is in part influenced by another crucial difference between the styles. Whereas ITF is in many cases ‘semi-contact' (striking at full power is not allowed) only until a very high level – WTF is full contact from beginner onwards. As a result the pads in WTF are different: they are ‘meatier' and thicker to stop ribs and arms being broken whereas in ITF this is not so necessary.
Other points of interest for beginners is that WTF is often considered the more ‘flashy' style with its emphasis on high kicks and impressive combinations. This is one of the reasons it was so quickly adopted as an Olympic Sport.
Also, a black belt in ITF is generally considered to be obtainable within 3-5 years – whereas in WTF the general rule is 5-7 years.
Having said all this, please remember that the two styles are very similar (especially from a beginners point of view) and apart from the bitter politics between the two organisations in the past, there is no major ‘beef' or ‘tension' between the two styles at present.
Which one is more popular?
WTF and ITF are both equally popular throughout the world, indeed between them they have made Taekwondo the most practiced martial art on the planet - however they are popular in different proportions in each continent.
For example, in Asia the most popular style of the two is WTF due to it being the only style promoted by the South Korean government. There is also a popular belief (for complicated reasons) that ITF is the style of North Korea and suffers in popularity due to the policies of the northern Communist state. Thailand and Japan are particular fans of Taekwondo, and in many parts of the two countries Taekwondo is more popular than their native martial arts of Muay Thai and Karate. For example, Tony Jaa of ‘ Ong-Bak ' and ‘ Warrior King ' fame grew up practicing Taekwondo before becoming famous for Muay Thai.
In North America ITF and WTF are fairly even in popularity, however Taekwondo as a whole suffers in popularity from the popular perception that is simply another style of Karate. This erroneous belief has been supported by famous Taekwondo-ists such as Chuck Norris and Simon Rhee fighting under the name of Karate in the 1970s before the then unknown martial art of Taekwondo exploded in popularity (mostly due to people discovering the true origins of these famous personalities' skills).
In Europe ITF is generally more popular due to its more international nature, the ITF headquarters having moved between Canada and Austria for many decades – whereas WTF's headquarters (the Kukkikwon) has always been in South Korea. In a sense ITF arrived first and reaped the benefits of the lack of competition. However, as well as WTF making a massive impact and now beginning to rival ITF there are many other style/organisations that have appeared (GTA,GTF, WTA, etc…) vying for dominance. Also a split in ITF that occurred after the late death of founder General Choi Hong Hi has lead to three rival contenders for leadership of the style; as of print (July 2007) the disagreement is currently going through the Austrian courts so that leadership of the style be decided.
I did not know there were two different styles, I thought there was only one?!
Out of respect for each other, each style and organisation does not openly berate or discuss the other – often simply not discussing the subject at all. There is often no reason for a club to tell you that there is another style in the same way they wouldn't openly advertise another local club or martial art to prospective students.
The major instance in which this divergence comes up at all is when a student of one style travels/moves/goes to university and turns up to a Taekwondo club of a different style and can't work out why things are different.
I come from an ITF background, will it be worth training in WTF?
YES! Many ITF students of different levels (from yellow belts through to black belts) have trained with UKC Taekwondo and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Many ITF students enjoy the differences and return to their own clubs with a deeper appreciation of WTF as well as an improved kicking ability stemming from the difference in application - which is of course also directly applicable in ITF Taekwondo. In a sense you get the best of both worlds training between your home club and UKC Taekwondo throughout your course at the University of Kent.
Won't I have to learn all new patterns?
Only if you wish to grade with UKC Taekwondo in the WTF style – many choose not to and this is fine. Due to the haphazard and awkward timing of terms at university grading is only pushed for those who express a wish to grade. As such there is no pressure at all to grade, yet equally no problem if you do want to progress. Lessons tend to be sparring/sport orientated and patterns practice is played down.
What are the differences practically for me?
There are many differences which are more appreciable the greater the experience you have, but as a general rule we say DISTANCE – WTF maintains a greater distance when sparring due to the less frequent punching and more powerful kicking. As such, the biggest tip for ITF students trying WTF sparring for the first time is to keep a BIG distance (much bigger than you are used to), or you will be easy pickings for a WTF opponent of similar grade to yourself. This is not meant disrespectfully, if a WTF Taekwondo-ist tried sparring in ITF rules and pads for the first time they would equally suffer for the very same reason.