Format/Rules

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Martial Arts Tournament

Rules & Guidelines

All competitors must wear a complete and traditional uniform to include a jacket, pants, and belt or sash.  T-shirts are only allowed if they are the school’s official uniform.  Female competitors may wear a t-shirt or tank top under their jacket.

Spectators must remain in the stands for the safety of the competitors. Food and beverages are not allowed on the gym floor.

Divisions

• Blackbelt weapons and forms are done first. All other competitors and spectators should sit and watch respectfully.
• Once the blackbelts finish, they will be sent to rings to start the under-belt divisions. The order of competition is weapons, open-hand forms, sparring.  Once all under-belt divisions are completed, blackbelts will return to their ring for the sparring competition.
• If a division has more than 16 competitors, it will be split into two (2) divisions.

Safety Equipment

All sparring competitors MUST have the following: headgear, mouthpiece, hand gear (foam), foot gear (heel and complete top of foot/toes must be covered), groin protection (males).  Face shields and chest protectors are optional.  NO cloth hand or foot gear allowed.

Judges

• All under-belt rings will have a center judge and two (2) additional line judges. The blackbelt ring will have a center judge and two-to-four (2 to 4) additional line judges.  Judges call points, rule infractions, and vote on disqualifying behavior.  The center judge makes all final decisions (except for disqualifications) and can consult the line judges before deciding.
• MANDATORY Judges meeting at 8:00a. If you are a blackbelt planning on competing in the tournament, we ask that you attend this meeting as well as volunteer to judge for the remainder of the tournament.

Forms/Weapons Routines

• Each divisional form/weapons routine should be three (3) minutes or less.
• Any ties 1^st thru 3^rd place are broken by the competitors repeating their routine.
• A competitor may start their routine over only once and still receive a score.
• If an under-belt competitor drops their weapon, it is NOT an automatic disqualification, but their score is reduced.
• If a black belt drops their weapon, it IS an automatic disqualification. They are encouraged to complete their routine, but no score will be given.

Sparring

• Matches are selected at random. Every effort will be made to prevent first-round competitors being from the same school.
• If a division only has three competitors, a round-robin style match will be conducted so that all will have to compete more than once to compete for first and second place.
• Each match is two minutes (running time) or until a competitor reaches seven points. If there is a tie at the end of two minutes, then a “sudden death” overtime takes place in which the first person to score a point wins.
• All sparring techniques must be sport karate techniques, focused, and controlled. No blind techniques are allowed and excessive use of them may cause disqualification.
• Legal hand techniques will earn one (1) point; legal kicking techniques will earn two (2) points.
• Legal target areas to earn points: entire head (covered by headgear), ribs, chest, abdomen, face (BB only).
• Illegal target areas: back, throat and neck, groin, knees, legs.
• Non-point target areas: hips, shoulders buttocks, arms, hands, and feet. No warnings given, but no point scored.
• Absolutely NO headbutting, hair pulling, biting/scratching, use of elbows or knees, take-downs or sweeps, and stomping or kicking a downed competitor.
• The competitor must have at least one foot inside the ring to earn a point.
• Competitors who break any of the sparring rules may receive a penalty point (their opponent receives a point). Black belts are issued a penalty point immediately if they break a rule.  Under-belts will receive one (1) warning if they break a rule; the second infraction of the same rule will result in a penalty point.
• There is no coaching at ringside.

Event Codes

Results