Construction of a Functional Training Program to Improve Taekwondo Kick Performance for Sport School Students

Background and Aim: Taekwondo is a confrontational sport that mainly uses kicking and punching as a supplement. It is one of the official events of the modern Olympic Games. Functional training, as an advanced training means and method, can effectively improve athletes' competitive performance and reduce the risk of injury with its efficient training effect and low risk of sports injuries, and has been adopted by many elite athletes and coaches. As a physical confrontational sport, Taekwondo has certain risks, and it is easy to get sports injuries during exercise. Sports schools are the grassroots units for training athletes in China and are also important early places for training Olympic champions. The training concepts, methods, and means of sports school coaches play a vital role in tapping the future competitive potential of young athletes. The research concept emphasized the importance of scientific analysis by the functional movement screening (FMS) technology, construction training program, training, and monitoring for Taekwondo athletes. This study was to improve the kicking ability of students in sports schools by constructing a functional training program. Materials and Methods: The subjects of this study were 30 Taekwondo students aged 16-18 years old from Zhengzhou Sports School. They were divided into an experimental group and a control group by the score of the FMS analysis. The training plan was developed, with a validity was 0.91 (0.80-1.00), and the experiment adopted a two-group pre-test and post-test design, with 15 students in each group. The experiment operated for 8 weeks, three days a week, with one and a half hours a day. The experimental group was taught with the functional training program, while the control group continued with the traditional training program. The FMS test, physical fitness test, and skill test. The data were collected before commencing the experiment and after the end of the experiment. The paired t-test was used for within-group data analysis, and the independent sample t-test was used for between-group data analysis. Results: found that 1) The FMS score of the experimental group was significantly improved after functional movement training in the experimental group (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the control group. 2) The physical fitness was improved after training, both in the experimental group and the control group, but had more improvement in the experimental group than in the control group (P<0.05).3) The skills of kicking were improved after training in both the experimental group and the control group, but the experimental group had more obvious improvement than the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The results indicate that functional movement training significantly enhanced FMS scores, physical fitness, and kicking skills, with the experimental group showing greater improvements than the control group. This suggests that functional movement training is more effective than standard training methods in improving overall athletic performance.