General FAQs and Information

Updated on Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Download a PDF Version of the 2018 FAQs

TAEKWONDO – All judging will follow Kukkiwon guidelines.

ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING – All judging is outlined in the rules for each event below.

TAEKWONDO – Any Martial Art Uniform in any color is acceptable. Belt representing rank is required and should be tied neatly and evenly.

ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING – There is no martial art uniform required to participate.  All clothing must be appropriate for a family environment.

TAEKWONDO – Shoes are NOT allowed for any events. However, if shoes are medically required, please bring a written doctor’s note that states shoes are required for participation. This note will need to be submitted to the Holding Area Manager prior to your event.

ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING – Yes

TAEKWONDO and ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING – Age should be determined as of Thursday, July 26, 2018. The age divisions are listed below.

Taekwondo Divisions

Age Division Name
3-7 years old Pee Wee
8-9 years old Child
10-12 years old Pre-Teen
13-17 years old Teen
18-30 years old Adult
31-45 years old Senior
46-54 years old Executive
55+ years old Platinum

Archery Divisions

Age Division Name
6-8 years old Pee Wee
9-12 years old Child
13-17 years old Teen
18-30 years old Adult
31-45 years old Senior
46-54 years old Executive
55+ years old Platinum

All Taekwondo events will be separated into MALE and FEMALE with the exception of the following:

 

  1. Taekwondo – Team Traditional Forms
  2. Taekwondo – Team Creative Forms WITH Weapons
  3. Taekwondo – Team Creative Forms WITHOUT Weapons
  4. Taekwondo – Team Demonstration

 

TAEKWONDO and ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING – The Organizing Committee will divide divisions to be as fair as possible for all participants with the discretion to create divisions outside these guidelines, if necessary.  Each division will have a maximum of 8 participants. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  The remaining participants in the divisions will receive a “Best Spirit” medal. In addition to a medal, each participant will receive an AWARD CERTIFICATE that will display the event name and place.  (TAEKWONDO example: John Smith, Individual Traditional Forms, 7 and under, 1st Geup, 1st place)

 

TAEKWONDO ONLY – All RECORD KEEPING events (listed below) will NOT have a maximum of 8 per division. Each division will be broken down by age and belt level and MAY have more than 8 per division.   For example, the Child’s division (age 8-9) 1st Poom has 16 participants registered. It will ONLY be one division of 16 participants. First, second and third place medals will be awarded.  The remaining 13 participants will receive “Best Spirit” award medals.

 

  1. Individual Jumping High Kick
  2. Individual Power Breaking Knife Hand (Downward)
  3. Individual Power Breaking Skipping Side Kick
  4. Individual Power Breaking Turning Back Kick
  5. Individual Spinning Hook Kick
  6. Championship Team Demonstration
  7. Recreational Team Demonstration

TAEKWONDO and ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING – There is NOT a maximum number of events a person can participate in.  However, a person cannot register for the same event more than once. (For example, a participant CANNOT be on 2 Team Creative Forms teams.) The more events a person participates in, the more likely the chance of scheduling conflicts.  The Organizing Committee will work hard to ensure participants will not be scheduled to perform in 2 separate events at the same time.

The DoubleTree by Hilton is the Headquarters Hotel, which is located at 1775 E Cheyenne Mountain Blvd in Colorado Springs. Taekwondo participant badge pick-up and special seminars will take place at the Headquarters Hotel. For reservations, please go to www.usopentkd.com.

TAEKWONDO AND ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING — Participants do NOT have to pay spectator fees at either the Broadmoor World Arena (All Taekwondo Events and Opening Ceremonies) or the Archery Range.

However, all NON-participants MUST purchase a ticket for admission to the Broadmoor World Arena (Taekwondo Events and Opening Ceremonies).  There are NO spectator fees for the ARCHERY RANGE ONLY.

 

Ticket Prices

Children 3 and under are FREE only if they will be sitting on someone’s lap.  If they require a seat, you will need to pay for an additional ticket. Unfortunately, there is NO price difference for Adult and Child tickets.

 

Ages 4 and above:

 

Friday, July 27, 2018: $27

(Opening Ceremonies)

 

Saturday, July 28, 2018: $17

Tickets can be purchased online at www.usopentkd.com.

You can also purchase tickets at the Box Office or select Colorado Dojangs.

There is a fee of $10 per day per vehicle to park at the Broadmoor World Arena. There is a fee of $7 per day per vehicle to park at the Archery Range. The Organizing Committee does NOT receive any revenue from parking fees. The respective facilities retain all parking fees.

Upon completion of your online registration, you will receive an email confirmation with all your events.  You MUST bring the email and identification with you to pick up your participant badge.

 

If you are participating in Archery and/or Knife throwing, your participant badge will be at the Cheyenne Mountain State Park Archery Range.  This INCLUDES if you are also participating in a Taekwondo Event.  If there is an issue with your badge or events for Taekwondo, trouble-shooting must be done at the Double Tree Hotel.  There will be NO Taekwondo event support at the Cheyenne Mountain State Park Archery Range.

If a participant is participating in both an ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING event AND a Taekwondo event, the participant will receive 1 badge.  The badge, participant bag, and any other pre-order items will be at the ARCHERY RANGE ONLY.

If a participant is participating in TAEKWONDO EVENTS ONLY, the badge, participant bag and any pre-order items will be at the Double Tree Hotel.

 

ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING

Participant Check-In will take place on Thursday, July 26 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

All ARCHERY & KNIFE THROWING competitions will take place from 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM.

It is highly DISCOURAGED to have someone pick up your badge.  Upon pick up, you will be requested to sign a document verifying all events are correct and CANNOT be changed. (Changes will ONLY be made if there was an error by the Organizing Committee.  Changes will NOT be made if a participant simply changes their mind on event(s) to participate in).  Anyone who signs on your behalf will be acknowledging all event registrations are correct and CANNOT be changed. If a Master Instructor or School Owner picks up badges for participants, the Master Instructor or School Owner MUST bring the email confirmation page and sign the document that all event registrations are correct.

Each event is abbreviated with a different code. The codes are below.

CODE EVENT
ICB Individual Creative Breaking
ICBP Individual Creative Breaking Para
IJH Individual Jumping High Kick
IPKH Individual Power Knife Hand
IPSSK Individual Power Skipping Side Kick
IPBK Individual Power Back Kick
ISHK Individual Spin Hook Kick
ITF Individual Traditional Forms
ITFP Individual Traditional Forms Para
TTF Team Traditional Forms
ICFWO Individual Creative Forms without Weapons
ICFWW Individual Creative Forms with Weapons
TCFWO Team Creative Forms without Weapons
TCFWW Team Creative Forms with Weapons
IAST Individual Archery Stationary Target
IADST Individual Archery Distance Stationary Target
IADS Individual Archery Dynamic Shooting
IKTHT Individual Knife Throwing Half Turn
IKTFT Individual Knife Throwing Full Turn

There will only be two para-taekwondo events:  Individual Creative Board Breaking (ICBP) and Individual Traditional Forms (ITFP).  There will be many sub-divisions within our para-taekwondo events.

Para-taekwondo participants will be allowed to have an aide, whether it be a parent, support worker or instructor.  All aides MUST register online like any participant to sign a waiver and acquire a badge.  Aides will NOT have to pay to serve in this role.  Aides will need to fill out everything the same as a participant would (belt rank doesn’t matter unless they are also competing themselves), and then choose the “Para-Taekwondo Aide” event as one of their choices. During checkout, please enter the code “PARAAIDE” which will zero out the invoice.  If the Aide is also competing, the Aide will have to pay for those events.

The first number of the division indicates the ring that the participant will be competing in.  For example, Division 104 will be held in Ring 1.

Badges can be re-printed at the Participant Check-In area for a $5 re-print fee.

Cell phones, cameras and camcorders are STRICTLY PROHIBITED from the award area.  All cell phones, cameras, or camcorders in this area are subject to confiscation. Pictures CAN be taken from any spectator area.  Pictures on the award podium are being officially recorded and taken by the event photographer.  NO additional photographers can take pictures of participants while on the award podium.  Any flash photography will interfere with the official event photographer, disturb the official records and slow down the process.

NO food or drink is allowed in the Broadmoor World Arena.

A schedule is available to view online at  www.usopentkd.com under the “About” main menu and “Schedule of Events” submenu.  The final schedule will be released after the registration deadline of Monday, July 23, 2018.  A final bracket and division list will be available to view online on Wednesday, July 25, 2018.

Colorado Springs is a very tourist friendly destination. The Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak, and the U.S. Olympic Training Center are just some of the great attractions the city has to offer.  For more information, please visit www.visitcos.com.  The Organizing Committee is currently negotiating discounted pricing on tourist attractions.  For updates, please visit www.usopentkd.com.

There are NO press passes available.  Only Participants, Referees, Organizing Committee Members, and working volunteers will have access to the competition floor.

Additional Taekwondo Competition FAQs

TAEKWONDO ONLY – Geup is a taekwondo term used for belt ranks.  Rather than say “Yellow Belt”, a person would say “9th Geup”. Typically, the lower the Geup, the closer the person is to 1st-Degree Black Belt. (For example, a 1st Geup is the level before 1st-Degree Black Belt.) Each participant should speak with his or her Master Instructor to determine their Geup level. Each taekwondo school has a unique belt ranking system.

 

A  SAMPLE Geup conversion chart is listed below.   However, this chart is NOT intended to serve as a universal chart.

Each participant should speak with his or her Master Instructor.

 

A  SAMPLE Geup conversion chart is listed below.   However, this chart is NOT intended to serve as a universal chart.

Each participant should speak with his or her Master Instructor.

 

U.S. Taekwondo Center Geup (Color Belt) Conversion
Belt Color Geup Form (poomsae)
1 Black Belt Eligible 1st Taegeuk 8
2 Bo Dan 2 1st Taegeuk 8
3 Bo Dan 1 1st Taegeuk 8
4 Red Senior 2 2nd Taegeuk 7
5 Red Senior 1 2nd Taegeuk 7
6 Red 3rd Taeguek 6
7 Brown Senior 3rd Taeguek 5 or 6
8 Brown 4th Taeguek 5 or 6
9 Blue 5th Taegeuk 4
10 Purple 6th Taeguek 3
11 Green 7th Taeguek 2
12 Orange 8th Taeguek 1 or 2
13 Yellow 8th Taeguek 1 or 2
14 White 9th INELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE

 

If you are participating in individual traditional forms, please check the event rule page to confirm which Kukkiwon form you will be performing.

Your team should perform the form for the LOWEST belt rank.  For example, the team has 3 members:  two are 1st Dan Black

Belts, and the third member is a 1st Geup. The entire team should perform Taegeuk Pal Jang (8), NOT Koryo.

All pairs (2 team members) and family forms teams will need to register under “Team Traditional Forms”. The Organizing Committee will create divisions accordingly. (For example, pairs will be participating with pairs, and families will be participating with families.)  The Organizing Committee will divide divisions to be as fair as possible for all participants with the discretion to create divisions outside of these guidelines.  If your team is a family, we encourage you to indicate that in your “team name”. (For example, Smith Family Tigers)

 

A participant can only participate in 1 (one) Team Traditional Forms Event. For example, a participant cannot be in a Team Traditional Forms Team as a “Pair” and a Team Traditional Forms Team as a “Family”. The participant can only register one time in the Team Traditional Forms Category.

This same rule applies for Team Creative Forms.  This distinction is made to ensure a smooth flow with the schedule of events.  In previous years, a participant was expected to be in 2 rings at the same time (participating in Pairs Forms and Family Forms).  To prevent this situation, each participant can ONLY participate in 1 team event at a time.

There will be no monetary prize; however, the winning team will perform during Ceremonies, which will be held on Friday, July 27 from 6-7:45 PM. In the event your team wins, please prepare two sets of breaking materials.

The Organizing Committee will NOT provide boards for each team; however, boards will be available for purchase from the

Organizing Committee. (To pre-order your boards prior to your arrival, please email [email protected].)

The rules and guidelines for competition for both events (please see official rules for complete background) are the same. There are only 2 differences.

  1. The 1st place team in the Championship Team Demonstration division is the ONLY winning team that will perform during the Opening Ceremonies on Friday, July 27, 2018. The 1st  place team from Recreational Team Demonstration will NOT perform at the Opening Ceremonie
  2. For Recreational Team Demonstration, a minimum of five (5) team members MUST be age 12 or under. In

Championship Team Demonstration, there are NO age requirements.

Yes, these are different events and are held on separate days.  Championship Team Demonstration will be held on Friday,
July 27, 2018 and Recreational Team Demonstration will be held on Saturday, June 28, 2018.

International Participant FAQs

Below you will find a few frequently asked questions for international participants.  If you do not find what you are looking for here, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

No, this is an open tournament, so it does not require a recommendation from your country’s NTA (National Taekwondo Association) or National Olympic Committee.  However, if need to obtain a letter of invitation or recommendation to secure your via, please send your request to [email protected].  Please keep in mind all participants (regardless of country) must register and pay prior to the event. 

No, the do not.  Please register under your correct geup (belt rank).  The tournament does follow Kukkiwon guidelines in regard to forms/poomsae.  Please view the rules for details.