Côté Coach · Taekwondo

Coaching taekwondo, from the youngest to seniors

A free knowledge base built on documents from World Taekwondo, Kukkiwon, the FFTDA, Swiss Taekwondo, the DTU and USA Taekwondo. Three authorities, three jobs: WT governs competition, Kukkiwon governs grades, the national federation issues licences — and the contact gate is written category by category: no contact below benjamin, trunk-only for minimes, the head only from cadet.

Côté Coach

Taekwondo coaching

Four age bands, one octagonal contest area — and a contact gate the federation writes category by category.

Source: the Paak taekwondo corpus (02 — the FFTDA contact ladder, rung 1; 01/06 — the contest area). C = Chung (blue), H = Hong (red) — the convention is named, never carried by colour alone. The u9 / u13 / u17 / sen bands are a Paak reference, published by no federation.

Pick an age group

Priorities change completely from one band to the next — and the contact rule is published by the federation, category by category.

Do

Everything runs through forms, lines and play: floor patterns (plus, I-line), ap chagi along a line, reaction games — the repertoire Kukkiwon and the FFTDA publish for this age.
The only « kyorugi » at this age is the open-hand tag, shoulder or chest protector, in a small area — a range-and-timing game, never a strike.
Hosinsul is limited to grip ESCAPES (wrist), cooperative — the FFTDA ladder says so by grade: escape only at the first belts.

Avoid

Any contact: the FFTDA forbids contact below benjamin — poussins and pupilles train without contact, full stop.
The head, even as a touch: it becomes a legal target only from cadet (13–14), and only with foot techniques.
Mixing the authorities: WT has NO kyorugi category at this age — children compete only under their national federation's children's rules.

Do

Build the belt-laddered curriculum: the FFTDA writes five kibon families, each graded (blocks 7 levels, kicks 9, stances 5) — this band's content is that table, not sparring.
Taegeuk advances one form per keup (9th→8th = Taegeuk 1 … 2nd→1st = Taegeuk 8) — the grade's form, learned by segments then in the mirror.
Kyorugi stays TRUNK ONLY: chest-protector touch for benjamins, trunk-condition bouts for minimes, full protectors mandatory.

Avoid

Any head contact: the FFTDA publishes the minimes sanction ladder — a kick toward the face without contact = warning, 1st light foot contact = gam-jeom, 2nd = round lost, violent = gam-jeom + medical, 2nd violent = DISQUALIFICATION.
Treating « u13 » as one rule: benjamin (touch at most) and minime (trunk, best-of-3 bouts) are two distinct published regimes.
Chasing power: the youth scale rewards controlled touch — power belongs to the cadets' PSS and above.

Do

The head opens at cadet — FOOT techniques only, headgear and PSS mandatory; this is the band of turning kicks (the scale doubles: 4 turning trunk, 6 turning head).
Open sparring in rounds starts here, in full gear — and hosinsul moves to escape + strike, then takedown/control at the red belts (the FFTDA ladder).
Playing up is regulated: the FFTDA allows only ONE weight category up, single weigh-in with no tolerance for youth.

Avoid

The fist to the face: it stays forbidden — only the foot scores to the head, and a punch to the face is sanctioned (gam-jeom).
Forgetting WT Cadet = 12–14: international kyorugi has no category before it — below, only national children's rules apply.
Making poomsae a side dish: it is a judged event (Accuracy 4.0 + Presentation 6.0) with its own training — segments, criteria, peer scoring.

Do

Full WT rules: 3 × 2 min, electronic PSS, the scale 1 punch / 2 trunk kick / 3 head kick / 4 turning trunk / 6 turning head — and every gam-jeom gives the opponent a point.
Name the rulebook edition: the kyorugi rules move every year, and 2026 has TWO editions (1 January and 1 June) — the turning head kick went from 5 to 6 points under the « doubled » wording.
The poom → dan passage: a dan exam passed before 15 grades as a POOM (Kukkiwon), converting at 15 — and 1st dan requires five escapes on five imposed grips (hosinsul, FFTDA).

Avoid

Quoting a scale from memory: « turning head = 5 » is a SUPERSEDED value — the edition in force says 6; always date the rule you cite.
Hardcoding the point gap: the threshold changed mid-2026 and differs by ruleset (FFTDA minimes keep 12) — it is a competition parameter, not a constant.
Mixing the authorities: WT does not issue grades, Kukkiwon does not write competition rules — citing one for the other's job is the whole corpus's warning.

Session generator

Age band, duration, theme — and a minuted outline. All 30 drills trace to a federation document (World Taekwondo, Kukkiwon, FFTDA, Swiss Taekwondo, DTU, USA Taekwondo).

The drills

Filter by theme. Any age or contact gate is written into each drill's coaching points, naming the federation that imposes it.

The guides

Age groups & contact rules The FFTDA ladder category by category: no contact below benjamin, trunk-only for minimes, the head only from cadet. Building a session Warm-up, two mains, a kyorugi game form, cool-down — the dojang balance of kibon, poomsae, kyorugi and hosinsul. Fundamental techniques The FFTDA's five kibon families and Kukkiwon's ten basic kicks — stances, blocks, hands, chagi, technique by technique. Poomsae Taegeuk 1 to 8 then the dan series, one form per keup — and how it is actually trained: segments, mirror, criteria, peer scoring. Kyorugi rules The 1/2/3/4/6 scale, the gam-jeom, the PSS and the youth rules — with the edition in force, because the book moves every year. Belt grades & promotion Two ladders, never conflated: keup → poom → dan on the Kukkiwon side, and the FFTDA children's Progression Française (15 keup, 8 colours). Hosinsul & physical preparation Self-defense by grade — escape, then strike, then control — and the physical base of the kick: legs, trunk, single-leg balance. The belt-by-belt program Federal booklet 18-012, colour by colour: poomsae, kibon levels, hanbon, ho shin soul and sparring — the table to pin in the dojang.

These drills are in Paak

The generator above also lives inside the app, on the session itself: pick the age band, the duration and the theme, and Paak builds a five-block minuted outline from this same library of 30 drills — warm-up, two mains, a kyorugi game form and a cool-down. Edit it, save it to the session — that is free. Printing the session sheet and club-authored drills beyond 5 are in Paak One.

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