INVESTIGATION OF THE SPEED OF THE INDIVIDUAL MOVEMENT AND THE SPECIFIC MOTOR REACTION IN TAEKWONDO

ABSTRACT Taekwondo WT is a complex Olympic sport and a martial art. As such, the reaction time and the speed of the individual movement are of great importance. Our study aimed to establish values in terms of the specific reaction time and the speed of the individual movement in two taekwondo kicks. Twelve active taekwondo athletes took part in the study. We measured the speed of the single movement for two taekwondo kicks and also the time for inflicting those two kicks using KICK.AI ankle bracelets and software. The variation analysis we applied on dollyo chagi showed an average execution speed of 5.53 m/s for the right leg and 5.51 m/s for the left. For dollyo chagi with the front leg, the corresponding mean values were 4.64 m/s for the right and 4.08 m/s for the left leg, respectively. The specific reaction time for those two kicks required the subjects to perform the kicks after a signal from the software, which measured the time from giving the audio signal to the impact on the target. The time required to apply the dollyo chagi with the right leg was 785.70 ms, while the average values for the left were 781.65 ms. The specific reaction time for the front leg dollyo chagi was 788.25 ms for the right and 767.49 ms for the left. After processing the results, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to establish the relationship between the speed of the individual movement, height of the subject, weight category, and length of the lower limb. We found that the dominant leg affects the guard with which an athlete competes. Such tests can be used not only for quality control of speed but also as a psychological training. Some of the data obtained lead us to believe that the KickAI device must be subjected to a thorough technical analysis to prove its objectivity. We recommend further study into the influence between the technique of execution, the speed, and the force of the kick.