Purpose. The study aimed to verify the effects of a simulated taekwondo tournament on vertical jump as well as technical and tactical performance in athletes of the Brazilian national team.
Methods. The study involved 10 male Songahm taekwondo athletes. They took part in a simulated tournament in sparring modality, comprising four 2-minute fights with different opponents. Before and after each fight, the athletes performed the Sargent Jump Test and were asked to indicate the rate of the perceived exertion (RPE). In addition, the fights were recorded and some technical and tactical variables were analysed, namely the number of kicks, effectiveness, and technical variety. The analysis of variance for repeated measures with the Bonferroni post hoc test was used, with the significance level set at p < 0.05.
Results. No significant differences in the jump height were observed throughout the fights (p = 0.22, trivial effect). The RPE increased over the fights (p < 0.01, large effect); however, no significant differences were obtained after each fight (p > 0.05, trivial effect). All technical and tactical variables remained unchanged over the fights (p > 0.05, trivial-to-small effect).
Conclusions. The simulated taekwondo tournament had no effect on vertical jump or technical and tactical performance throughout the fights. The athletes were able to recover the effort perception before each new fight.