Diversity of attacking actions in Malaysian junior and senior taekwondo players

Extensive research has been attempted in sports recently by implementing video/notational analysis, given that its benefits in improving performance have been shown to exist. The present study was conducted to determine whether the taekwondo junior and senior athletes differ in: (1) their attacking techniques of choice and (2) opting for various value groups of scoring kicks during taekwondo match. A total of 38 matches of 11 seniors and 10 juniors during a national level taekwondo competition were recorded for the research on the frequency and variety of the techniques attempted in a match through notational analysis. The results revealed significant differences (p<0.05) between the groups on the preferred attacking techniques used during their matches but no significant differences were found between them on the technique groups used (i.e. 1, 2-, and 3-point scoring techniques). Seniors were superior in performing 1- and 2-point techniques whereas juniors were superior in performing 3-point techniques. Seniors had significantly higher overall techniques efficiency (p<0.05) than juniors. In order to achieve technical efficiency similar to that of seniors, juniors need to improve on their 1- and 2-points techniques while continuing to progress in deploying the 3-point techniques.