Electronic Body Protector for the Development of Taekwondo Athletes' Technical Skills: Reflections on Performance

This study aims to examine the change in taekwondo athletes' performances after training with an electronic body protector to develop their technical skills. This study comprised 14 licensed taekwondo athletes between 16 and 18 years of age who were training in a private gym. Six techniques were determined to develop the technical skills of the athletes, including three attacks and three counter-attacks using a combination of two techniques. A five-week taekwondo training program was held for two hours a day, three days per week.Observation notes were taken to develop the training program while the participants were performing technical combinations during the first measurement, and the reasons for the athletes’ low scores on the electronic body protector were determined. The qualitative data obtained from the observation notes were analyzed using the descriptive analysis method, while the quantitative data obtained from the electronic body protector system were analyzed using the descriptive statistics. In conclusion, the comparison of the values obtained from the first and last measurements showed that electronic body protector has a statistically significant impact on the athletes' performances in terms of score and time.