Is Olympic style Taekwondo / Martial Arts better than other styles?

Olympic style isn't better or worse than any other style of Taekwondo. It's simply the style of sparring the Olympics has decided to use. At Hilliard Taekwondo Academy we do not use Olympic style sparring for a number of reasons. Our goal is to help students feel better prepared if they have to defend themselves in a fight. The "bad guy" isn't going to keep stopping his/her attack to see who scored a hit and isn't going to stop attacking you when a set number of points have been reached. At Taekwondo America tournaments our organization uses "continuous sparring" where judges use clickers to keep track of points being scored without stopping the sparring. Also, students who have transferred to our program for Olympic style sparring schools historically have not had good blocking skills. This may be due to padded chest protectors that some Olympic style schools use during sparring. We focus on teaching students to move well and block well in addition to developing effective striking and kicking techniques.