Search Forum Home   Discussions  General  Taekwondo View-...  Taekwondo View-ablity    1/19/2007 8:27:10 AM Jeannette 176 posts Taekwondo View-ablity   What would make more people watch TKD? My first thought? If they could get electronic chest protectors to work, I think that would make the sport much more understandable to the spectator. It is clear that most of the spectators, including coaches and competitors do not understand what a point is. Unfortunately, I also believe that some of the things that would do the most to make the sport more popular would also destroy it: More violence, blood, injuries, less protective padding and more trash talk. Afer all, figure skating took a big jump in male viewership when Tanya Harding was slouching around the ring with a crowbar.  1/19/2007 9:52:50 AM RonMarlow 8 posts Re: Taekwondo View-ablity For the last few months the instructors in my club (Clark County Taekwondo Club) have been experimenting with speaker size and configuration to make the sound effects in Ringmaster of greater assistance to the center and corner referees. We have used floor-mounted base speakers, satellite speakers under the Corner’s chairs and measured the results with sound meters under tournament conditions. We have also varied the sound effects for points, penalties, and 10-second countdown to the end of contest. The intent was to find an auditory system of alerting the Center Referee of scoreboard activity without distracting him/her from the competitor action. An unexpected result from this experimentation was that our student competitors and their parents loved the loud sound effects because it dramatically signaled the awarding of points and penalties. The parents were much more engaged in match and more interested in understanding the application of the rules. Many have asked to be trained to perform Corner Judge duties. The competitors spent less time looking away from the fight to check the score. We think that calling audience attention to changes in score and awarding penalties will make the competition more understandable and thus more viewable. Ron Marlow  1/19/2007 4:48:50 PM Joe 25 posts Re: Taekwondo View-ablity More contact, less running  1/22/2007 6:10:56 AM Jeannette 176 posts Re: Taekwondo View-ablity Ron You may want to post this on the Electronic Scoring section of the Forum as well. Jay F. may have some ideas here.  1/23/2007 8:54:19 AM MarcoMack 10 posts Re: Taekwondo View-ablity I like this idea. The competitors and judges would need to maintain focus - so they don't react to the sound effects from the neighboring ring. I do recall seeing a competitor at a JKI - stop their sparring from the end of round sound coming from a neighboring ring. This would not be an issue at a large venue like at most National events. I can't recall if the USAT is using additional speakers on the ringside table. We do for many local events - but not at all events.  1/23/2007 11:33:32 AM MarcoMack 10 posts Re: Taekwondo View-ablity  Jeannette wrote What would make more people watch TKD? Tournaments can be more Spectator Friendly. We do not promote key fights at tournaments - this becomes necessary when there are 5 or more rings. It is too easy to loose track of who is where - it is a struggle to find the players from your own Team - let alone the top players. Recognition of players names creates a following and promotes an interest in matches beyond your own team. Our current staffing level at tournaments does not allow time to track who is on deck - where we could have a small crew tied to the announcer where they could broadcast and lead the interest of the crowd. This should also promote the underdog who is taking on the big names. Most tournaments struggle to staff folks just to get competitors to the right place and moving out of the way when done - there is room to grow here. Larger events could have the last match of each bracket moved to a center elevated ring. A center of focus. I recall tournaments at UC Berkeley where they had video on the jumbo-tron... This caused the crowd to respond and stay engaged. It would be great to have the kids who really need to watch good matches - engaged and learning. The entertainment production value is wide open !! If spectators are engaged at a tournament - they will want to come back - bring family members to watch - and want to watch more than the players from their team.  Page 1 of 1   Discussions  General  Taekwondo View-... Flat View Tree View Oldest To Newest Newest To Oldest