Overview

Tournaments can either be (1) show/demonstration, or (2) sparring.

Examples of show/demonstration tournaments are kata (poomsae) and weapons.  Of these, kata demonstrations are safe to perform because there is no combat opponent.  Weapons demonstrations have elevated safety concerns in comparison to kata (depending on the weapon being demonstrated), but are still relatively safe and free from injury.  In contrast, sparring tournaments are inherently riskier than poomsae or weapons tournaments.  

Sparring tournaments that try to minimize risk of injury either implement a "No Contact" / "Light Contact" set of rules, or deliberately minimize the area of allowed contact (e.g. "Restricted Area Contact").

Olympic Taekwondo sparring uses Restricted Area Contact rules.  It is illegal to punch or kick below the belt, or to punch the head.  It is also illegal to sweep, grab, throw, or grapple.  It is also illegal to check the opponent's kick with your knee, or to hold your knee up for more than 3 seconds.  Soft and medium kicks or punches are allowed to the chest or back, but points are scored with nothing more than a touch to the allowed target area, which encourages touch scoring instead of strike scouring.  Also, points can be deducted for anything that the judges deem to be "excessive force".

Kuk Sool Won sparring uses No/Light Contact rules.  Points are earned if the judges deem that the technique would have been effective had it actually made contact.

No/Light Contact rules (e.g., Kuk Sool Won) put a greater responsibility on the judges to get it right.  It is more subjective than Restricted Area rules, and therefore potentially less consistent and less fair.  But it allows techniques that, if they were to actually be delivered, could be quite deadly.  But since there is little to no actual contact, it is not realistic for a street fight scenario, and it can look like to a McDojo dance where nobody ever actually touches anybody.

Restricted Area rules (e.g., Taekwondo) limit the techniques that can be delivered, and the areas of the opponent that they can be delivered to.  This also makes it not realistic for a street fight scenario, and can breed muscle memory for ineffective street techniques that can get you hurt on the street.

Sparring, The Bottom Line: All sparring tournaments that have rules in place for minimizing risk of injury necessarily make concessions that hinder it from a self-defense point of view.  It is unavoidable.  So...

1. Do you want to be able to use all techniques, with little or no touching, which necessarily makes judging more difficult and less consistent? 
        or...
2. Do you want more uniform judging, but with limited techniques? 

Those are your two basic choices, unless you choose a third option-- a tournament that doesn't care much about injuries.  Due to the high risk of injury, the DCCS Martial Arts Association will not support any tournament that chooses the third option, and any member school that participates in or supports such a tournament is subject to being ejected from the Association.

Kata Bunkai  refers to the analysis of the kata for its value in teaching self-defense principles.  Kata without bunkai is just a dance, and unfortunately, that is how the vast majority of kata is taught today.  Yet other kata is steeped in tradition that no longer applies-- see the video below for an example.  At DCCS Martial Arts Association, we encourage member schools to develop and demonstrate kata that is thoroughly "bunkai" analyzed.

(incidentally, we believe that at 7:23 in the video, the original Okinawa kata likely used a real knife that was drawn from a sheath worn on the waist, rather than a spear punch shown in the video)

 WT Taekwondo

WT Tournament Rules (click to download)

From Article 12 of the above document:

1. Scoring Areas

2. Criteria for valid point(s):

3. The valid points are as follows.

3.6 One (1) point awarded for every one “Gam-jeom” given to the opponent contestant

4. Match score shall be the sum of points of the three rounds.

4.1 In the best of three (3) system, match score shall be the sum of the number of round won of the three rounds.

5. Invalidation of point(s): When a contestant records points following prohibited act(s):

5.1 If prohibited act is followed by point(s), the referee shall declare the penalty for the prohibited act and invalidate the point(s).

 ITF Taekwondo

 ITF Tournament Rules  

From page 31 of the above document:

Kuk Sool Won

Tournament Rules

From the above document: