Welcome to the British Student Taekwondo Federation!
This guide explains the different types of membership passes the charity offers, lists entry fees and pass discounts, and answers some frequently asked questions.
Join the largest student martial arts organisation in the UK – working exclusively to promote and enhance university taekwondo, the British Student Taekwondo Federation (BSTF) is a national student sport federation and registered charity.
A member focused charity – founded in 1986, we are governed by an elected board of trustees and project a national student voice for more than 70 active university taekwondo clubs of all disciplines (and welcome individual practitioners from institutions without taekwondo clubs as well!)
We deliver the biggest and best events – gain access to university taekwondo events, including: the Student National Taekwondo Championships Series, Training Seminars, S&C for Taekwondo Courses, Umpire Training Modules, Support Services, Equipment Hire, and more.
All clubs, all disciplines, all grades, all divisions – take part in the multi-discipline Student National Taekwondo Championships Series, the UK’s largest university martial arts events, in your chosen discipline(s): ITF rules sparring, WT rules sparring, Chang-Hon patterns, Kukkiwon patterns and Freestyle patterns.
Professional events at student rates – current Student-athlete Pass holders get major discounts on open training camps, online training courses and other events where indicated.
Free umpire courses for university club members – students and alumni understand the value of sharing knowledge and upskilling their teams; we fully subsidise L4 online courses and exams, and L3 centre referee courses and certification. All trainee umpire courses and materials are provided for free by the BSTF to all university club member account holders, students and alumni (saving a combined cost of >£100).
Professional partnerships – the BSTF works closely with several partner organisations to deliver more for our members, including: Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA), GB Taekwondo (GBT), British Taekwondo (BT), United Kingdom Global Taekwon-Do (UKGT), and Ki Martial Arts Ltd (KiCo).
Advocacy and advice for all university clubs and committees – we provide advice and advocacy for all university taekwondo clubs and their members, publish various online resources for club committees, and recognise high performing club committees through the annual Club of the Year Award.
Online platforms and scalable technologies – our website is packed competition information and features for members, including: online event registration and payment portals, umpire registration portals, team sheets for institution administrators and club captains, member only areas including competition results, the events calendar, online account management, on demand online umpire exams, members’ only equipment shop, and much more.
All event participants are covered by our bespoke insurance – no third party policies are required, all BSTF account holders are covered under the charity’s bespoke martial arts member to member and public liability insurance when attending BSTF tournaments and other events, ensuring every university taekwondo practitioner from every institution may safely compete with one another.
Our online shop lets you buy at wholesale prices – save huge amounts on taekwondo training equipment and uniforms, available exclusively to our account holders, thanks to our online shop partnership you have the option to buy your club’s taekwondo uniforms and equipment at wholesale prices.
Most common Pass type options:
- For Student Competitors: Student-athlete (A, B or C class) Membership
- For L3, L4 Trainee Umpires (also competing): Student-athlete (A, B or C class) Membership
- For L3, L4 Trainee Umpires (only officiating): General Membership
- For Coach Assistants (also competing): Student-athlete (A, B or C class) Membership
- For Coach Assistants (only coaching): General Membership
- For Spectators (only spectating; not training): Supporter Membership
- For Non-participants (including trial sessions): Affiliate Membership
Other Pass types:
- For alumni-athlete guest entries (see eligibility rules): Alumni-athlete (A-class) Membership
- For the club’s Head Coach: Club Coach Membership
- For L2, L1 Umpires: Umpire Membership
- For Institution Administrators: University Staff Account
For all participants: All new student-athletes, coaches, corner judges and other volunteers planning to participate in BSTF events must first create an account if they do not already hold one, selecting the required pass type. Existing student-athlete account holders must login to the manage your account page and update their account’s pass type to the correct type; student-athletes must select a Student-athlete Pass of the correct level (an A, B or C class pass based on grade) for the new academic year.
Student-athlete eligibility: Student-athletes competitors entering Student National Taekwondo Championships Series events must meet current eligibility criteria on the date of the event i.e., be current students internally registered at an institution of Higher or Further Education, be registered on a credit rated course (e.g. MSc, Degree or HND), and be undertaking a study programme equivalent to at least 60 credits per year, or in the case of a postgraduate student be undertaking a study programme of no less than 50% of the full time student programme. All competitors must be members of their university’s students’ union and be in good standing with them. All competitors must be aged 18 or over.
Student-athlete mid season class changes: When a student-athlete completes a grading and changes class they must login to the manage your account page and upgrade their pass (C->B or B->A), using the “upgrade” button on the Account tab, completing this before submitting their next event entry (note, you are only charged the difference in price between levels when upgrading).
Alumni-athlete (guest) eligibility:
- Guest athletes must create/ renew a Alumnus-athlete Pass
- Guest athletes must have previously held a BSTF Student-athlete Pass
- Guest athletes must have graduated within 36 months of the starting October of the season (for example, graduating in the month of October 2022 would be the most distant month of graduation to remain eligible to compete in the 2025-26 academic year season, as the season begins on the 1st October 2025)
- Guest athletes must be A-class competitors
- Guest athletes must be a current registered member of a university club
- Guest entries will only be accepted if we have not reached the entry cap through student-athlete entries
For Club Committees: Incoming Club Committee members please activate/ request the login details for your BSTF Club Committee account; from this special account you can access various tools and event registration systems. If you are an individual student-athlete from an institution currently without a taekwondo club please contact us for assistance.
Other rules & regulations: See the Championships entry information page for more details.
Annual Membership Type |
Fee |
|
|---|---|---|
Student-athlete Class-AFor A-class competitors
|
£26.36 /yr
|
|
Student-athlete Class-BFor B-class competitors
|
£19.96/yr
|
|
Student-athlete Class-CFor C-class competitors
|
£15.96 /yr
|
|
GeneralCoach Assistant/ L4, L3 trainee umpire |
£14.95 /yr£1.95 /yr for non-competing trainee umpires/ coach assist.
|
|
Club CoachContracted coach(es)
|
£1.95 /yrProfessional Coaching Insurance add-ons available
|
|
UmpireL2, L1 referee/ judge only
|
£1.95 /yrIncludes annual BSTF competition insurance
|
|
University StaffInstitution administrator only
|
£0Free |
|
Club Committee Admin Account1 per club, for club committee only
|
£0Free |
|
AffiliateNon-participant |
£0Free
|
|
Alumni-athlete Class-AGuest athlete, see eligibility rules and T&Cs |
£39.95 /yrIncludes annual BSTF competition insurance
|
Passes are valid for the whole academic year, from the 1st of October to the following 30th of September, inclusive. Student-athletes must obtain a membership pass which matches their level of competition entry (A, B or C-class). When a student-athlete completes a grading and changes class they must login and upgrade their pass (C->B or B->A), using the “upgrade” button on the Account tab, completing this before submitting their next event entry (note, you are only charged the difference in price between the levels when upgrading). BSTF Membership T&Cs apply.
BSTF Competition Insurance is automatically provided to all paid membership pass level holders when attending BSTF events.
*Club Insurance (i.e., day-to-day university club training insurance) is included with all paid membership types (General memberships, and A, B & C class Student-athlete membership holders, and so on), however, the Club Insurance Service must be activated by your club committee/ institution administrator (activate this via the Club Committee Portal/ Staff Portal); only once activated, this service provides member to member insurance coverage for your club’s officially organised and head-coach led day-to-day training activities. T&Cs apply.
BSTF Club Training Insurance can fully replace more costly 3rd party memberships/ ‘licenses’ you may have used to insure your club in the past.
The BSTF Club Training Insurance service requires that 100% of your actively training club members must, at all times, have registered/ renewed onto one of our paid membership types, or be a free Affiliate Member type holder attending no more than 3 trial lessons, after which they must upgrade to a paid General Club Member, A/ B/ C Athlete Member or Club Coach Member membership.
Event |
Paid Pass holders |
Non-members & Affiliates |
|---|---|---|
Student National Championships SeriesOur principle events since 1986 |
See Fees tab for entry fees. |
n/a. |
Competition InsuranceCompetition Insurance is automatically provided to all paid membership pass level holders when attending BSTF events
|
Included with all paid membership levels. |
n/a. |
Club Training InsuranceMember to member insurance for
|
Included with all paid membership levels*. |
n/aAffiliate members may attend 3 trial lessons and then must upgrade to a paid membership level |
Sport Science of Taekwondo Module 1 & 2Online streaming + live Q&A ~3.5 hr |
£27.5050% discount |
£55. |
Sport Science of Taekwondo Module 1 & 2 + practical S&C module 3Classroom & gym based ~10am – 5pm |
£5050% discount |
£100. |
Strength & Conditioning Athlete ProgrammesProgrammes for clubs &/or individual athletes, designed + coached by a GB Taekwondo Pathway S&C Coach |
From £5520% discount |
From £68.75/session (/term programs available) |
Equipment hireA range of competition equipment is available to hire, for example, for varsity events |
See BSTF Hire Webpage33% discount for university clubs & charities |
See BSTF Hire webpage. |
BSTF Online ShopPurchase equipment at wholesale prices for members |
See BSTF Shop Webpage~25% discount on retail prices on average |
n/a. |
Umpire Course (L4)Online modules + Online exam |
£0100% discount, free |
£50Includes two online exams |
Umpire Course 1-day (L3)In person course, typically 10am – 6pm |
£0100% discount, free |
£75Required before training towards L2 cert. |
Passes are valid for the whole academic year, from the 1st of October to the following 30th of September, inclusive. Student-athletes must obtain a membership pass which matches their level of competition entry (A, B or C-class). When a student-athlete completes a grading and changes class they must login and upgrade their pass (C->B or B->A), using the “upgrade” button on the Account tab, completing this before submitting their next event entry (note, you are only charged the difference in price between the levels when upgrading). BSTF Membership T&Cs apply.
BSTF Competition Insurance is automatically provided to all paid membership pass level holders when attending BSTF events.
*Club Insurance (i.e., day-to-day university club training insurance) is included with all paid membership types (General memberships, and A, B & C class Student-athlete membership holders, and so on), however, the Club Insurance Service must be activated by your club committee/ institution administrator (activate this via the Club Committee Portal/ Staff Portal); only once activated, this service provides member to member insurance coverage for your club’s officially organised and head-coach led day-to-day training activities. T&Cs apply.
BSTF Club Training Insurance can fully replace more costly 3rd party memberships/ ‘licenses’ you may have used to insure your club in the past.
The BSTF Club Training Insurance service requires that 100% of your actively training club members must, at all times, have registered/ renewed onto one of our paid membership types, or be a free Affiliate Member type holder attending no more than 3 trial lessons, after which they must upgrade to a paid General Club Member, A/ B/ C Athlete Member or Club Coach Member membership.
BSTF Kup Gradings and Courses 2025-26 |
Fee |
|
|---|---|---|
10th grading to 9th Kup |
£12.50 |
|
9th grading to 8th Kup |
£13.75 |
|
8th grading to 7th Kup |
£15.25 |
|
7th grading to 6th Kup |
£17.00 |
|
6th grading to 5th Kup |
£19.00 |
|
5th grading to 4th Kup |
£21.25 |
|
4th grading to 3rd Kup |
£23.75 |
|
3rd grading to 2nd Kup |
£26.50 |
|
2nd grading to 1st Kup |
£29.50 |
Gradings are available in both the Chang-hon (ITF rules) or Kukkiwon (WT rules) syllabus, separately. Clubs may run their Chang-hon and Kukkiwon syllabus Gradings in parallel, but the Grading content will be different.
BSTF Kup Gradings are led by the club’s contracted coach strictly according to BSTF Grading procedures within your club. Grading videos must be uploaded for moderation by BSTF’s senior grading examiners who accredit all BSTF gradings. Your Grading fees include one free re-test in the event of a first fail testing for that grade.
BSTF gradings may be booked by the Institution Administrators or Club Committee account users via the Gradings application page.
Championships Series Fees 2025-26All events (Autumn, Winter Championship) |
Fee |
|
|---|---|---|
Sparring (individual) |
£33.45 |
|
Patterns (individual) |
£27.95 |
|
Patterns (pairs) |
£14.95 |
|
Patterns (teams) |
£9.95 |
|
Self-defence Routine (teams) |
£14.95 |
|
Fees per student-athlete, per event; see entry rules page for full details
.
How do I enter a BSTF Student National Taekwondo Championships Series event?
You must be a BSTF member with the appropriate membership type to enter BSTF Championships events.
You can enter an event through the BSTF event registration portal. Individual event entry forms are found on each event’s page.
If you can’t see the entry form options, there may some common reasons:
- You may not be logged into your account
- You may not have the correct membership type (e.g. affiliate members are not eligible to enter events)
- You may have already entered/registered for that specific discipline or role
Please provide all of the requested information for the disciplines you are entering for your entry to be valid.
Participants must complete Pre-Accreditation before the event entry deadline.
Note for some C class athletes: 10th kups are not eligible to enter sparring disciplines. They can however enter all patterns disciplines.
How do I complete pre-accreditation?
Prior to an event’s entry closing date you must have completed the following Pre-accreditation steps (you will only need to complete these steps for your first event entry, since no further action is required except when you need to replace a form of ID that has expired/ update records):
- Log in to the Manage Your Account page and upload a passport style profile picture in the Profile Tab (required for all participants, including: Student-athletes, Umpires, Trainee Umpires, Club coaches and coach assistants)
- Log in to the Manage Your Account page and upload valid photo ID in the CompetitionPreAccreditation Tab (required for all non student-athlete participants, including: Umpires, Trainee Umpires, Club coaches and coach assistants)
- Log in to the Manage Your Account page and upload a copy of your student ID card in the CompetitionPreAccreditation Tab (required for Student-athlete competitors only)
- Log in to the Manage Your Account page and update your referee/ judge certification in the UmpireExternalCertifications Tab (required for Umpires L2+ with external certification only)
Do I need a General membership or a Student-athlete membership to take part in BSTF Championships?
All BSTF Championships competitors must have a Student-athlete membership and this must be of the correct grade class; either a Student-athlete: (Class-C), (Class-B) or (Class-A) membership to enter the C, B or A class divisions respectively. Student-athletes you must update your account level as soon as you grade to a higher class division. Your entry grade (i.e., class division) is determined by your membership level at the time of entry and cannot be amended in any other way. Please login and upgrade your membership type (C->B or B->A), using the “upgrade” button on the Account tab, completing this before submitting your next event entry.
Trainee umpires and coach assistants require a (paid) General membership or (paid) Student-athlete memberships.
How long do Memberships last?
Memberships are valid for the whole academic year in which they are first subscribed or renewed, from the 1st of October to the following 30th of September, inclusive.
If I subscribe to a (free) Affiliate membership can I upgrade it to a (paid) Student-athlete membership later?
Yes, simply log-in to the Manage Your Account page and you may upgrade anytime; go to the Account Tab then scroll down to the “Renew, Upgrade or Update Billing” button.
I am an Institution Administrator or Club Committee member – is it possible to review a list of my team members?
Yes, Institution Administrators and Club Committee members only can review their team’s registered members anytime, simply log-in to your account and select the Team tab. Only special Club Committee accounts and activated Institution Administrator accounts have access to the registered team members list. Please contact us if you wish to to request authorisation for an existing account.
Which membership types include BSTF Competition Insurance and which include day-to-day training Club Insurance?
All Athlete, General, Club Coach and Umpire membership types include competition insurance coverage for BSTF events.
Coverage for your day-to-day officially organised club training is automatically included for Athlete membership levels A, B, C, General memberships, and Alumnus membership holders. All club members’ club insurance remain inactive until your club’s service is activated by your Club Committee/ IA via the Club Committee Portal/ Staff Portal. T&C apply to both members and club managers for the service to become active, see the legal notices page.
Club insurance does not provide coverage for coaching activities, see the club coach insurance add-on for more information.
How do I enter training camps, umpire courses and other (non-competition) events?
Via BSTF Event Entry Portal, including online tournaments, individual training camps, S&C courses, corner judges courses, and other individual events. To enter an event simply complete your individual/ team registration before the event’s entry deadline via the online Event Entry Portal. If the event appears on the website’s main calendar but is not yet listed the event registration portal then registration is not yet open for that event – please check back later 🙂
I am an Institution Administrator or Club Captain, may I upgrade multiple (free) Affiliate memberships to (paid) Student-athlete memberships all at once for my team members (bulk Student-athlete membership purchase)?
Yes, Institution Administrators and Club Captains can upgrade all of their team members’ accounts from Affiliate membership (free) accounts to General membership & Student-athlete membership (paid) accounts in a few clicks. Go to the the Institution Administrator Portal or Club Committee Portal respectively and input the BSTF ID codes of the accounts you wish to upgrade (each student-athlete must have an existing (free) Affiliate membership in order to upgrade).
If I subscribe to a Student-athlete C-class membership may I upgrade it to an Student-athlete B-class membership later in the year?
Yes, simply log-in to the Manage Your Account page and you may upgrade anytime; go to the Account Tab then scroll down to the “Renew, Upgrade or Update Billing” button. Student-athletes you must update your account level as soon as you grade to a higher class division. Your entry grade (i.e., class division) is determined by your membership level at the time of entry and cannot be amended in any other way. Please login and upgrade your membership level (C->B or B->A), using the “upgrade” button on the Account tab, completing this before submitting your next event entry.
I am an Umpire (a national/ international L2 / L1 umpire (referee and or pattern judge); what type of account should I create?
Please go to the Create Your Account page and select Master Pass (Umpire). Once your account has been approved by a BSTF admin (typically 5 working days) please visit the Umpire’s Portal to review the event registration page and other tools available to you.
I am an Institution Administrator managing my team’s entries, what type of account should I create?
Please go to the Create Your Account page and select Staff Pass (University Staff). Once your account has been approved by a BSTF admin (typically within 2 working days) please visit the Institution Administrator Portal to review the team members tab and other tools available to you.
I am a my institution’s head-coach, what type of account should I create?
Please go to the Create Your Account page and select Club Coach (Contracted Coach).
May I edit my own account details once I have an account without having to send emails via my team captain or university staff?
Yes, simply log-in to your account and edit your details directly.
How may I end my membership, close my account, and have my personal data, results, rankings and certificates expunged?
See the close account guide.
Find this menu by logging in to Manage Your Account.
How may I stop receiving occasional BSTF newsletters via MailChimp?
Simply click “Unsubscribe” at the bottom of a newsletter email. Please note newsletters and account holder emails operate on separate systems – you can close your membership account and still receive newsletters, or unsubscribe from newsletters while keeping a membership account open, which itself receives standard account holder emails. To receive no communications from us at all you must unsubscribe from the newsletter as above, and also end your membership and close your account via the membership management “Delete” tab.
What are BSTF’s membership terms and conditions?
Please see the legal notices page.
What are BSTF’s transgender athlete policies?
Please see the legal notices page.
I have a different question!
Please contact us and we’ll be happy to help 🙂