THIS IS A LIVE, VIRTUAL EVENT: The event is held live on Zoom so that you will be able to interact with other competitors in real life and watch other performances while they are happening and be watched and get scores immediately from judges. This means you do not have to film, upload, or submit anything to participate. Just be available on the date and time for your division(s). Go ahead and practice and get ready because we want you to put on your best performance and the competition is being broadcast live on Facebook and YouTube. 

Location and space issues are fine – don’t worry but stay safe and don’t ruin your house. We understand that everyone has a different environment in which to try and perform and that is okay. We only ask that you find a location where you can perform whatever division you signed up for without hurting yourself or others. You can perform outside on the grass, inside your garage, in the basement, in your dojo, in your living room or wherever you like as long as you have enough space and permission to use the location. Also, try not to damage your home or the area you are performing in.

General rules of etiquette, being a nice person and we know bloopers are coming. Since this will be live, we ask that everyone watch yo’ mouth and not swear or say mean things while in the competition room. We also ask that you cheer on your competition and try to make some new sport karate friends during the competition. Be a good sport no matter the outcome, laugh if you fall on your behind in the middle of your performance, or fall over your couch or your dog jumps in. We’re going to laugh and find it to be hilarious and pretty awesome to see the reality of everyone’s current pandemic world.

Be nice to our judges. Our judges will be all volunteers and are going to do their best to be fair and impartial. They will be told not to downgrade anyone based on not wearing a full uniform or having to perform in a small space. There will be 3 judges for all the divisions. The judges will use a 9.91-10.0 scoring system. If there is a tie, we will compare the scores to see which competitor got the highest scores from at least two of the judges and that competitor will win the tie. If a judge gave two competitors the same score and caused the tie, that judge will need to select which competitor should advance to break the tie.

The format is going to be like an in-person tournament – kind of. We post a schedule for the event so you can see the approximate start time. In addition, you will receive an email the evening before the event with Zoom Room info. Note that the Zoom Room info will also be found available on the event page on MATAction.com if you are a registered competitor. Approximately 5-10 minutes prior to your estimated division start time, please join your Zoom competition room where you will be placed in the waiting room. We will be checking people in to make sure only registered competitors are allowed into the live competition room. This will allow us to keep everyone safe from zoom-bombing or strangers entering the competition room. The judges will also be in the Zoom competition room. Remember that you should have video and audio turned on when you get to the Zoom Room or we won’t be able to see you and won’t let you in. Your Zoom account must use the first and last name of the registered competitor(s) (if more than one using the same account, use all the names somehow). If you use something like “iPhone” or a nickname, we won’t let you into the Zoom Room from the Waiting Room.

When it is your turn to compete, your Zoom video will be spotlighted so you are the only one the judges and public are watching. The announcer will tell the judges who you are so you do not need to do an introduction. Once we have told the judges who you are and that you are spotlighted and unmuted, you can perform. When you are finished, the next person will be announced and perform. Once all competitors have performed, the judges will give scores to competitors in the order they competed and we will call out the scores and then call out the order placed at the end of the scoring.

After your division is complete, digital awards will be emailed to you immediately.

1. Creative Forms

Just like it sounds. Creative. No flips or crazy stuff that the average martial artist probably can’t do. Don’t try to jump in with extreme moves because you think you can sneak them in and make them look creative – that’s not cool. Summersaults and cartwheels are fine. No handed techniques, twists and super hard stuff should not show up in this division. If you can do great kicks, this is a great division for those!

2. Traditional Forms

Again, just like it sounds. Traditional. This does not mean go back to 987 AD to find a routine that has been passed down from Shaolin Monk to Japanese master to your grand master who taught it to his ninjas and then you learned it. We know that traditional is defined by the style and we are going to trust you to perform a truly traditional routine in this division as defined by your style. However, if your style’s traditional routines involve flips – it’s not traditional so don’t do it. If you are a soft stylist that does flips of any kind, we are going to ask you to do your routine in the creative or extreme divisions depending on the techniques you are going to use.

3. Musical Forms

Musical forms means you use music with your form. It would be cool if you could match your moves to the musical beats and will probably help you get better scores but if you don’t want to do that, it’s cool but could detract from your score. Note that even if a stream is blocked due to copyright, we are recording all of the competition.

You have to play your own music when you perform and provide your own music player. We suggest playing music on a separate player rather than through the device you are using to connect to the Zoom competition room. Make sure to be able to turn your music up so we can hear it!

4. Extreme Forms

Extreme means extreme – do whatever you want. Note that if you can’t do flips and stuff, you might not do great in this division if your competition is doing flips and stuff but don’t fret – this is a great event to try something new. But no music in extreme - only in musical.

5. Creative, Traditional, Musical, Extreme Weapons

Same as Creative, Traditional, Musical, Extreme Forms but with a weapon. If you drop a weapon, you should pick it up and keep going. Judges will be able to take a .5 point off or downgrade you in general for a dropped weapon depending on how spectacular the drop or the number of drops but you never know, everyone in the division might drop so you could still win!

6. First Timer Division

If you have never competed or are just getting started and feeling kind of shy – this is a great division. You can do whatever you want – your blocking routine, a form, a weapons routine, as many round kicks as you can, your best flying side kicks over some things, etc. Be creative and show us what you’ve got. You have 60 seconds to do your thing. And you get to meet a bunch of other people. We will coach you through introducing yourself to the judges and give performance tips. We’ll give you scores but this is not a competitive division and no one will be declared a winner. 

7. Tricking Challenge and Weapons Battle

Each competitor has 45 seconds to perform the coolest tricking combos he/she can do.Make sure you have enough space to do whatever you plan to do and that you use a space where you won’t get hurt if you land wrong. We highly recommend that you don’t do this on concrete and instead use a grassy or padded area with no obstacles around. For the weapons trick battle, you have to use a weapon. Duh.

8. Para divisions

These divisions are for para (disabled) athletes. You must have a physical or intellectual disability to participate in these divisions. If you have a qualifying disability and are capable of participating in the non-para divisions and doing pretty well in those divisions, the para divisions are not for you. If you are a para-athlete, you can participate in both the para divisions and non-para divisions of your choice.

9. Socially Distanced Forms/Weapons

Get together and perform with your friends – but make sure to stay socially distant. You can perform with up to four people doing synchronized forms or weapons or a combo of forms and weapons. Make sure that you stay at least six feet apart, put your camera on wide angle so yowill all show up and wash your hands.

10. Breaking Divisions

There are two levels for breaking divisions – Basic and Extreme. For the Basic level, you can break up to four boards with any type of combo you want. You can use any type of technique that you would like provided it is a basic level kick or hand/arm strike with no spinning or jumping element (other than flying side kick or skip up kicks). No head breaks, no advanced hand or kick techniques for the basic division. Yes, you can break all four boards at the same time to show your ultimate power! For the Extreme division, you can use spinning, flipping, jumping, and other advanced techniques to break up to four boards or bricks or whatever you want to break in any type of combo you want. Yes, you can break all the boards/bricks/items at once to demonstrate your board domination!

You must provide your own boards or breaking materials and your own board holders (you can use stationary objects to set your boards on for breaking if you have no humans to hold the boards).

You can use any size and thickness of boards but remember, if you are a full-grown adult and you break paper-thin balsa wood with a crazy triple jump spinning thing, the judges will likely downgrade you if your pint-sized competitors are breaking 12×12 0ne-inch thick boards with their more basic tornado kicks. You may also use rebreakable boards in good condition.

If you need boards, our friends at Asian World of Martial Arts have got them!

One-Inch Thick Boards: https://www.awma.com/productdetail/2212-wooden-breakable-boards-1-thick.asp?childskumatch=877614

1/2 Inch Thick Boards: https://www.awma.com/productdetail/2213-wooden-breakable-boards-1-2-thick.asp?childskumatch=877624

Rebreakable Boards: https://www.awma.com/productdetail/1957-proforce-rebreakable-boards.asp?childskumatch=8498

Rebreakable Bricks: https://www.awma.com/productdetail/2604-proforce-plastic-rebreakable-brick.asp?childskumatch=