Exit Chains Playbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "Leave Before the Answer." Print it. The article explains why the answer always comes after a score and what separates a good exit from plain retreat. This book drills the exit as one unit…
| Art | Taekwondo |
|---|---|
| Family | Korean Arts |
| Level | intermediate |
| Format | playbook |
| Topics | kicks, sparring, competition, safety, training-plans |
Mat Manual companion guide to "Leave Before the Answer." Print it. The article explains why the answer always comes after a score and what separates a good exit from plain retreat. This book drills the exit as one unit — any scoring kick, a cover kick thrown as a shield, and an angled exit off their counter's line — across the scoring kicks built in this batch's earlier playbooks, through a four-week build to free rounds where giving the point back counts against you.
Name: ______________________________ School: ______________________________ Grade: ______________ Start date: ______________ Lead side (circle): Left / Right Ruleset (circle): WT / ITF / School Your main scoring kick this cycle: ______________________________ Current week (Part 11): ______________
BEFORE ANYTHING: PARTNER SAFETY AND AGREEMENTS ☐ All partner work in this book runs at agreed speed and agreed contact, stated out loud before each drill. Either partner can lower the speed or the contact at any time with one word, and the drill obeys instantly. ☐ Hogu (chest protector) is worn for all partner kicking work in this book. Scoring kicks and counters land on the hogu at the agreed contact. Cover kicks are thrown to occupy space at low to mid height; their contact, when they land, is light by design, and any cover kick thrown at full scoring force is a fault in this book. ☐ Counters in this book are real. The defender's counter is thrown at the agreed speed and contact on the agreed line, because an exit trained against a pretend counter fails against a real one. Counter speed rises only when the exit has passed the card at the current speed. ☐ Exit drills move both partners diagonally across the floor. The space behind and beside both partners is checked clear before every set, and lanes are set so pairs exit in the same direction. Collisions end the set, and the session log (Part 16) records it. ☐ The exit never turns into a run with the back exposed. Any rep where the exiting partner turns fully away from the counter stops, resets, and is logged as a fault, kindly and without exception. ☐ Stop on any pain, dizziness, or loss of control, from either partner, with no argument and no finishing the set first. Log what happened in the session log (Part 16).
Part 1: The Exit Unit at a Glance
Attack, insurance, door, in that order. If any of the three is missing, it was not this unit, whatever the score said.
| Part | Job in the unit | Body action | What success looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack: any scoring kick | Score, and start the exit's clock | Your chosen scoring kick, thrown to finish (this batch's earlier playbooks own its chaining) | It scores or is covered honestly; your recovery starts immediately |
| Insurance: the cover kick | Be in the way of their counter, on its beat | Lead-leg kick, cut kick or quick lead dollyo chagi (turning/roundhouse kick), low to mid height, across the counter's line as your body starts to leave | Their counter starts late, goes around it, or checks up; you are already moving |
| Door: the angled exit | Leave the line their counter travels down | Cover kick's set-down lands at roughly 45 degrees off the center line; rear foot follows to a fresh stance facing them | You end at an angle, guard up, watching a partner who must turn to find you |
Unit law: the exit is planned before the attack and trained hardest when the attack scores. A score does not end the unit. The door does.
| Scoring kick result | Their likely answer | Your exit |
|---|---|---|
| Scores clean, partner stung | Fast counter down the center line | Full unit: cover kick across the line, angled set-down out |
| Covered, exchange live | Counter off the cover, quicker still | Full unit, no admiration pause at all |
| Jammed, you are crowded | No counter kick is coming; they are already inside | No cover kick. Clinch-step answer or angle straight out, guard high (Card R3) |
| Misses, you are turned | Rush into your turn | Finish the motion as an exit spin; the set-down angles out (Card R4) |
| Score called, exchange paused | Nothing; the referee has it | Walk the angle anyway in training, every time (Part 5, Card X3) |
Exit Chains Playbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "Leave Before the Answer." Print it. The article explains why the answer always comes after a score and what separates a good exit from plain retreat. This book drills the exit as one unit — any scoring kick, a cover kick thrown as a shield, and an angled exit off their counter's line — across the scoring kicks built in this batch's earlier playbooks, through a four-week build to free rounds where giving the point back counts against you.
What's Inside
- Part 1: The Exit Unit at a Glance
- Part 2: How a Rep Counts
- Part 3: The Three Counters
- Part 4: Counter Drill Cards
- Part 5: Cover Kick Cards: The Shield
- Part 6: Core Exit Cards by Scoring Kick
- …and 22 more sections
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Free companion article: Leave Before the Answer — the full article, free in full.