Over 70 million people in 91 countries practice taekwondo, according to a recent AP news story. That is a lot of people who will be interested in the coverage of the sparring matches in the Olympics in London, going on right now. Also according to the story, to keep the sport of sparring fresh and interesting–and fair–the matches will be scored electronically and have instant replay available. Why? What happens in a taekwondo fight, whether in competition sparring or a self-defense situation, happens so fast that sometimes the human eye cannot even see it. Even trained judges can miss what happened. The new electronic system removes the doubt and rewards the achievements of the fighters. 

But when you work out in your home dojang, when you take sparring class, no one is there to award you points. The achievements are measured on a different scale. Did you achieve what you set out to do? Did your technique improve? Did you learn what you need to move to the next level? Did you work hard? Did you build strength or flexibility or improve your health? Chances are you can say yes to all those things if you are taking class regularly. And those things are more important than “points” or medals.