LMAF Endorsement: To be considered a LMAF Sanctioned Event, a head instructor of any LMAF school must seek approval from LMAF Board before participating in a tournament that is not organized by the LMAF.

To receive LMAF endorsement for a tournament, a tournament organizer cannot specifically invite, or otherwise "challenge", a LMAF member school to an in-house tournament without privately arranging it with their head instructor first.  Otherwise the only LMAF sanctioned tournaments are those that are organized by the LMAF.

 LMAF Sparring Tournament Rules

 Simplified Rules

If desired, a SIMPLIFIED tournament can be implemented by deviating from what is said below via these modifications:

• 1 Referee and an odd number of judges.  Each round is judged ONLY by the odd number of judges, and their job is simple: without regard to points, who do they feel won the round?  Since there are an odd number of judges, the win is awarded to the person that won the most judges over.

 In this SIMPLIFIED scenario, the job of the referee is to:

1. disqualify unsportsmanlike contestants
2. start/stop the contest, including separating/breaking the contestants apart when needed.

Since the tournament is "light contact" or "no contact", it must be judged on whether or not the technique would have incapacitated the opponent, at least momentarily, if the technique had actually landed instead of being controlled. The opponent must also react accordingly, and "recoil" as if the technique had completed.  If they fail to do so, the referee should break them apart and restart them, and possibly even warn the opponent who failed to react as if hit.  Otherwise a contestant that continually gets "hit" might just ignore the hit (because it is "no contact") and keep advancing.  If an opponent were to do that, the only way to stop them is to either actually hit them (and possibly hurt them), or to have the referee separate them when he observes a "score". 

So, if a "score" is observed, the ref should separate them, unless they choose to separate themselves.

Judges should also judge on how well they feel the contestants observed this separation rule, and separated themselves on a "score" without requiring the ref to do it.  They should penalize a contestant that continues to advance when an obvious "score" has been obtained by their opponent, and not count any "score" obtained by such an opponent during those improper advances.

Other than these changes, all the other rules of the tournament, as outlined below, are followed.

Formal Rules

Tournament officials, 4 to 6 people: The Lead Judge/Referee is the final authority on all contested issues.

• 1 Lead Referee/Judge (inside the ring)
• 2 Additional Judges (opposite corners of ring)
• 1 Timekeeper (to record beginning, ending, stopping, restarting of competition)
• 1 Recorder (to keep score - may also be the Timekeeper)
• 1 Designated and qualified First-Aid attendant, or "Medic".  This person can be one of the other people.

Proper ring size:Preferred is 30' x 30' ring, plus at least a 5' safety perimeter, for a 35' x 35' total size.

20' ring is standard size for NASKA Karate Tournaments, 10m (32.8') is standard for USATKD, and 8m (26.25') is standard for many other tournaments. 

The safety perimeter can be more than 5', but the entire ring (including safety perimeter) must be kept clear of all competitor obstructions at all times.  If anything unauthorized enters this area, "interference" is called, and the match is paused.  If a competitor or anyone on that competitor's team is the cause of the interference, they lose 1 point.

Padded ring is preferred.  If ring is not padded, for safety reasons the following techniques are prohibited:

• Head kicks
• Sweeps
• Jump kicks
• Butterfly kicks
• Spinning heal kicks
• Any kind of 360° turning kick

Uniform: All contestants must be in uniform, omitting anything that is not part of an official uniform. Head gear and gloves are required.  Eye protection is required, either as separate glasses or goggles or as part of the head gear.  Mouthguards must be worn, unless the head gear provides mouth protection.  Males must wear groin guard.  

Divisions: Tournaments divisions are grouped into:

• Kids (ages 9 and under)
• Cadet (ages 10-13)
• Junior (ages 14-17)
• Adult (ages 18-49)
• Senior (ages 50+)

Tournaments are further grouped into Men's Division and Women's Division.  There are currently no separate weight or height class divisions.  If not enough contestants enter a division, Referee can combine divisions. If too many contestants enter a division, Referee can choose to split a division.  Referee can also choose to split divisions by weight or height, as he/she deems needed.

Sparring: Sparring is light or no contact.  "No contact" techniques may score a point if the Judges consider the technique to be close enough and proficient enough to warrant awarding a point, and this will be based on the Judges' decision of whether or not the technique would have incapacitated the opponent, at least momentarily, if the technique had not been controlled. 

Sweeps are not meant to take down an opponent, but only to obstruct the balance so as to follow up with a different technique and can only be executed to the back of the front leg at mid-calf or below.

Sparring rounds are two minutes.  The first competitor to accumulate 5 points, or the competitor with the most points at the two-minute time limit, is the winner.  However, if no score is made within two minutes, an additional two minutes are allowed after a one minute rest interval. If at this time, no score is made, the Judges will decide the winner. 

Points: When a Judge sees a point he/she will yell “point”.  Match is stopped upon hearing "point", and is to remain stopped until Referee restarts match.  After every point, foul, or warning, match is stopped until restarted by Referee. Point Scoring shall be:

Time Out: Any tournament official, and any contestant, may call an injury time out by giving the time-out hand signal.  Injury must then be cleared by the Medic before match is continued.  If a contestant calls Injury time out more than twice in a match, they will not be allowed the continue.

Contestants may also call an optional time out once per match for any reason, and it lasts until the Referee resumes the match.

The first time out issued by a contestant shall be considered their "optional" time out, and any subsequent time out an "injury" time out.

Injury: When a contestant is not able to continue the match due to injury, the party responsible for the injury will be disqualified.  If no determination can be reached as to responsibility, the Judges will decide.  Medic can independently stop or pause the match, and a competitor that refuses to accept the Medic's decision will be disqualified.  If a contestant calls an injury time out when the Medic deemed it was not warranted, that contestant will be issued a warning.