There are two fundamental differences, by which Taekwon-do is a Martial Art and not a sport.
They are as follows:
1) The sport ends the moment one stops playing it. When a tennis player finishes a match, when he leaves the racket he set aside the game, not committing his later attitude to the sport.
The same is not true of a practitioner, since when leaving the gym or not wearing the do-bok, it does not mean that the Taekwon-do Principles are no longer valid and their attitude at all times relates to the practice of Taekwon-do.
In short Taekwon-do accompanies the practitioner all the time, therefore, his attitude outside and inside the gym must live up to the belt.
2) Sport, however professional, is nothing more than the regulation of a game. Historically the game appears first and then the need to regulate it, but there is always the idea of "play" or "entertainment", turned to physical activity.
So the fundamental idea, on which the sport is based is the physical activity aimed at recreation, fun, or play, where there is the direct confrontation of two or more players. Any athlete, however professional, knows that he "plays" football or golf. A Taekwon-do practitioner, not "plays," but "practices." The basic idea of Taekwon-do is not recreation, but self-defense.
Although there are competences within Taekwon-do, they are nothing more than one aspect of it, it is not all Taekwon-do, besides the real competition in Taekwon-do is not with another, but with oneself
