Our competition rules have been changed many times in order to improve our sport. The rounds were made shorter and longer, point gaps and point ceilings were introduced and abandoned. But while details were changed, some basic principles have remained the same. Basics are for example the round system of our matches and the accumulation of points during a fight.

Maybe the time has come for a fundamental change of our competition rules, a change not only of details but of principles. In the following, I would like to present a new set of rules that has not been tested yet. However, in my opinion it is worth a try. Let me call it the “three points rule”:
- Under the “three points rule”, we have no rounds but a fight lasts for a time span of, for example, three minutes maximum. Different time spans might be used for juniors and seniors, for beginners and advanced players.
- When one opponent has gained three points, he is the winner of a fight. In this case the fight ends early. As a head shot is worth three points now, this means that a player can finish a fight with a single, perfect hit.
- If after three minutes the score is 1:1 or 2:2 points, the player who made the first point is the winner. This rewards active players who take the initiative in a fight.
- To encourage spirited fighting the referee gives a Kyongo if the fighters remain passive for 8 seconds.
- If after three minutes the score is 0:0 or -1:-1 or less with no points scored, the player who paid more respect to etiquette and courtesy is the winner.
- Both coaches can take a time-out of 30 seconds to give instructions to their players. The time out cannot be taken when the fight is in active progress but only when there are interruptions like when a penalty is given or when the fighters are clinch fighting.

The strong point of the “three-points rule” is that every single hit is important. With our existing rules a hit is of little value. The players accumulate points over the rounds. In the first round a hit more or less is of little consequence as everything is still open. And in the second or third round the result begins to show and so a single hit will not change much. With the “three-points-rule” a player could finish a fight with one single hit to his opponent’s head. One hit – and the fight is over. This is a true martial art principle. In a realistic fight, a street fight, the first blow is the most important. For ideally there is no second.

The victory or loss due to a single hit teaches us something that in modern life is often forgotten: There are situations when you just don’t get a second chance. Every move you make has its result and it might be not reversible. If you make a good move, you will be rewarded. If it is a bad move, a moment of inattentiveness or a downright mistake, you lose. You have to take the consequences for your actions. Therefore, it is good to plan them well and to be prepared before you start. This applies to daily life as well as to a taekwondo match.

The idea of irreversibility is well expressed in Eastern art. A traditional Eastern painting is executed with fluid ink or colours on absorbent material. With this technique a correction is not possible. If the artist makes a wrong brushstroke, his work is ruined. If he aims at perfection there is no second chance. In comparison a traditional Western painting is executed with viscous colours on non-absorbent material. Corrections and retouches are possible and very common. Here the artist can try out things and he can make mistakes – he will always get a second or third chance. You might say that the second principle is more convenient and much better adapted to human fallibility. This principle is indeed prevalent today due to our extensive use of computers. Almost everything you do on a computer is reversible, at least for some time. But then we are not talking about everyday life here, but about art. Even if it is not convenient or practical the idea of irreversibility appeals to many people today, who are looking for an alternative to the triviality of the computer age. They long for a world where actions are meaningful and taking a certain step means taking a risk.
Why not use this longing to make our art, the martial art taekwondo, more attractive for modern society? “One hit can decide a fight” is certainly a notion that appeals to spectators. Just look at the sudden death round, which is extremely exciting for the audience. If the spectators know that every move of the players may lead to a decision, they look at the fight with other eyes. They will not lean back in their seats and wait until after three rounds when the fight is finally over. They will watch with much more attention. Who wants to see fights that end 2:2 or 12:14 after six minutes of fighting? The first is normally uneventful and dominated by tactics, the latter is utterly unrealistic. Can you imagine a real fight, a street fight, where the opponents deal 12 and 14 blows and in the end walk away happily? Such fights ridicule taekwondo as a martial art.
The “three-point system” has other advantages: The risk of injuries is smaller, as the fights end sooner and with fewer hits. Good players can fight until their early thirties. This means that Taekwondo legends do not have to step down so soon. And we need such heroes to draw the attention of the public. With the “three-point system” it is also possible to look for a Grand Champion, a winner of all classes. With our current competition rules it would be far too dangerous to mix weight categories.
The length of the fights would differ when the “three-point system” is used. This might cause a problem for tournaments with a fixed schedule, like World Championships or Olympics. But then this was the same under our old rules with the 12-point-ceiling and the ``seven-point gap`` and it is still the case because of the fourth round. In television time that has to be bridged between two fights could be used for replay, comments and interviews, which in the end might be an advantage.
With the “three-point system” the fights would be shorter so even for a big tournament two mats for the preliminary rounds and one mat from the quarter-finals onwards would be enough. The audience could focus on the fights and the players would be rewarded by the greater attention they are paid. For the tournament organisers this would be better as well as they do not need a huge venue and lots of equipment for eight, ten or twelve fighting areas.
The audience might be in favour of the “three-point system” but what about players and coaches? “I came with my player all this way and after just one hit from his opponent he is out of the tournament”, could be a typical complaint from coaches. It would take some time until players and coaches get used to this system and lose their reservations. For this time of change it might be good to start a tournament off with a league-system-round and the winners go on in the K-O-System. After some time coaches and players would see that the system has many advantages for them. Apart from the injury risk being smaller there is the time-out. The coach does not have to wait for the first break after two minutes. He can get a time-out when he sees that it is needed and when he wants to give his player some advice. With the new system, the coach would have more influence on the fight.
So in the end everybody stands to gain from the “three-point system”: players and coaches, the spectators, organisers and most of all taekwondo, our sport.