Point System

For many years, ranking in Taekwondo has always been about results in tournaments. However, in each country, making onto their national team boiled down to winning either their own national championship, or a team trial. USA has done this for many years but recently switched to making the point system doubly serve as who gets to be on the national team. While in theory this makes sense because of results, it also excludes many athletes.

By turning the team selection process into ranking, numbers, and points, making team can only be made if these athletes are able to compete in many tournaments. Unfortunately, many of these weighted tournaments take place in far places, necessitating the need for travel AKA money. Only those with a lot of money and or large amounts of funding can afford to compete in an abundance of tournaments in an attempt to make team.

Already, this shows the flaw in this new selection process. Just because the athletes who are able to compete often earn these points, it does not necessarily mean that they are the best choice to represent the USA. There many fighters who are more talented but lack the funding needed to earn points. This was perfectly shown in the 2019 National Championships in Minnesota. Many of the top seeds across all of the divisions lost to those of lower seeding even though they are supposed to be the best in their division. Although these athletes earned their spots as required, it does not mean they are the best in the nation in their respective divisions.

I believe that in order for the point system to work, a team trial is still necessary. The top 4 athletes in each division by a certain date will be eligible to compete in a team trial and only the winners of this team trial will be allowed to represent USA.