Rules

Overview

Being that this is a Chinese Martial Arts Competition the rules are going to go along the lines of a Chinese Martial Arts Competition. However, there will be some differences brought out especially in the Light Contact\Stylized Sparring in the Teen and Adult Intermediate and Advanced Divisions.

 

Uniforms

All competitors must wear traditional style martial art pants and top or recognizable school T-shirt (no other T-shirts will be allowed). A competitor must wear shoes, and can wear tennis shoes or kung fu/wushu shoes. In sparring all shoes must be removed and pads used (to be covered later). If any part of your uniform falls off (like a sash) during the performance of your form, you will be deducted .5 from your final score.

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Division Levels

Novice: 0-1 years of experience
Beginner: 1-2 years of experience

Intermediate: 2-5 years of experience

Advanced: 5-10 years of experience

Masters: 10+ years of experience
 

Songshan Division Levels

Beginners: <2 years of practice

Intermediate: <4 years of practice

Advanced: 4 and above years of practice
 

Form Competition

All forms must fit in the 20 x 40 taped ring area. If you step out of the taped area or your weapon touches the ground outside that taped area you will be deducted .5 from your final score.

 

There are NO time limits except in the taiji divisions. Taiji time limits are a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 4 minutes. A notice will be announced at the 3-minute mark. No time limit is set for internal weapon forms, and is at the judges discression.

 

There is a clear definition between wushu and traditional forms, thus no wushu competitors can compete with their wushu forms in the traditional divisions or vice versa. Wushu here is contemporary (modern) wushu. Forms containing difficulty greater than 360° jumps, or advanced nandu movements, will be excluded from Traditional divisions.

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Songshan Shaolin forms must be recognized, named forms from Shaolin Temple on Songshan. For a more comprehensive list of forms, see the 2023 North American Shaolin Kung Fu Games ruleset.
 

Scoring levels will be 6.0 - 7.5 for the Novice and Beginner competitors; 7.0 - 8.5 for Intermediate competitors; and 8.0 - 9.5 for the Advanced competitors.

 

Team Competition  

There will be a Wushu Category and a Traditional Category.  Any Chinese Martial Art school will be welcome to join in the Team competition.  The rules are simple:  Each team comprises of 3 Hand Form Competitors and 3 Weapon Form Competitors.  Those 3 can be the same people or different (each team can have a minimum of 3 competitors up to a max of 6).  A school could do both traditional and contemporary Wushu and have 2 different teams.  The traditional will not compete against the wushu competitors.  Scoring will be done on a 5 judge panel, scores will be added up and placed on a scoreboard so the whole audience can see how the team competition is advancing (who is winning and not).  Skill levels are open as well as ages.  You can put anybody on your team who is a student at your school.

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Protocols

Entering the Ring for form competition:

When your name is called to do your form, you should come to the center back of the ring facing the head judge, bow to him/her and enter the ring straight towards the Head Judge. Approach him/her approximately 10 feet away, make eye contact and bow again. Once the Head Judge bows back to you, you may move to any part of the ring you want in order to start your form. Once you've completed your form, stand where you are and bow to the judge to signify you are done. Then move back to the initial 10 feet point where you bowed in the Head Judge and await your scores. Once the Head Judge announces your score bow one more time and walk backward out of the ring.

 

• Forgot the Form: If while trying to do your form you forget it or part of it, you may start over but a .5 deduction will be taken off your final score.  This does not apply in the beginner or novice division.

• Do Not: Bow to each judge

• Do Not: Announce who you are, what school you came from, who your teacher is · Do Not - Turn your back to the Head Judge when bowing in/out, leaving.

• Entering the Ring (Sparring): When your name is called come into the ring and the Head Judge will assign you to one red side or the black side. Stand straight and bow to the Head Judge when asked to and then bow to your competitor. Immediately upon bowing to your competitor, you will be asked to assume a fighting posture, do so accordingly.
   

Weapon Standards

• Short Weapons: Usually refers to Straight Swords and Broad Swords but can be Daggers, Guai-zi (Chinese Tonfa).

• Long Weapons: Usually refers to Staff and Spears, but can be Gwon Dao, Ma Dao, and Pu Dao.

• Open Weapons: This could be any Chinese Martial Art Weapon including 3 Section Staff, Chain Whip, Rope Dart, Monkey Staff, etc.

• We do not care that they are wushu/flexible steel or not. We do not care about the length of the weapons in comparison to where they match up with your body part....certain styles and forms have different standards for these...just go out there and do your form.

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Sparring (Reaction) Events:

In order to compete in any sparring or reaction events, competitors must compete in at least a single forms division. Details of each event can be seen below.

Light Contact Sparring & Continuous Sparring

Legal Target Areas: The padded side and front part of the headgear. The chest and front of the abdomen, The front resting leg beneath the knee and above the ankle but only to the back of the calf, not the front part of the leg at all.

 

Illegal Target Areas: The unprotected part of the face, the back of the head, neck, spine or backside of the abdomen. The front part of the legs. The groin. The throat.  No knees or elbows. No throws or takedowns are allowed in Light Sparring.

 

•  Light Contact means Light Contact, no matter what! No snapping of the head should happen when somebody is hit in the head with a punch or kick. When a person is punched or kicked in the chest/abdomen area there should be no bending over due to the intensity of the strike. If any of these things happen a once and final warning will be given, if it happens again the competitor who commits the offense will be disqualified.

• Continuous Sparring is essentially sanda-light.  Striking targets are the same as light sparring.  With the exception that throws and takedowns ARE allowed in Continuous Sparring.

•  Sweeps: You can use a front or rear sweep to sweep the front leg only and only to the back of the leg 2 - 4 inches from the floor. You can also lightly kick the back part of the calf. You CAN NOT punch or kick the opponent if they have been swept or taken down. You MUST stand back after the technique has been done.

•  Scoring: Judging is done on the grounds of Who is being the better offensive and counter puncher/kicker in the contest. IE - If you take the fight to your opponent and he/she doesn't do well in his/her defense, you have a good chance of winning that contest. If your opponent attacks you and you defend and counter clearly and consistently, you have a good chance of winning that contest. If your opponent attacks you and you continually don't defend well and back up upon being attacked you have a good chance of losing the contest. WE ARE LOOKING FOR GOOD TECHNIQUES. OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE.  Scoring will be done by 4 judges, with the Head Judge acting as arbiter in ties.

•  Bad Manners: Any exhibition of bad manners will result in immediate disqualification by the Head Judge.

•  Required Safety Gear: all Light Contact Continuous Sparring competitors must have the following equipment: Foam or Sanda Head Gear, Foam Hand Gloves that cover the whole part of the fist, Shin Guards either foam or Sanda, Foot Gear that covers the whole part of the foot, Groin Protector, Mouth Piece. For competitors under 10, Chest Gear is required.

•  Time Limits: Children 60 seconds for 2 out of 3 rounds with a 30-second break between rounds. Adults 90-second rounds for 2 out of 3 rounds with a 30-second break between rounds.

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Full Sparring\Sanda

• Required Equipment

  • Protective headgear

  • Mouthguard

  • Shin and instep protectors (Cloth or soft leather - slip on - no sharp edges)

  • Groin cup

  • 12 OZ boxing gloves

  • Fight shorts or Kung Fu Pants (Logos must be approved by promoter)

  • Hand wraps

• Scoring Techniques

  • Closed hand strikes to head and body

  • Kicking techniques to head, body and thigh

  • Knees to body

  • Throws/Sweeps/Takedowns

  • Throwing an opponent out of the ring is an automatic Round win.

• Illegal Techniques

  • Elbows

  • Kicks to knee joint

  • Knee to the head

  • Groin strikes

  • Foot stomps

  • Joint locks

  • Striking the back of the head or spine

  • Headbutting 

  • Striking a downed opponent​

• Cautions (1 Point Deduction)

  • Spitting out the mouthpiece

  • Purposely loosening equipment

  • Continuing to clinch after the referee has called for a break

  • Initiating attack before the referrer’s command 

  • Continuing to fight after the referee has called “stop”

• Warnings (2 Point Deduction)

  • Hitting a downed opponent​

  • Any combination of 6 points being deducted from a fight will automatically cause the deducted fighter to lose the contest

• Time Limits:

  • Shall consist of three (3) rounds

  • Each round will be two (2) minutes in duration with a one (1) minute rest period between rounds

  • The fighters must be over the age of eighteen (18) years.

 

Note: Clinching in an attempt to execute a throw or takedown is limited to 3 seconds.
 

Stylized Sparring

• The rules are basically the same as the Light Contact Continuous Sparring however here we will be judging the competitors on how well they demonstrate Chinese Martial Art techniques. For example, when the contestants come out we will introduce them to the crowd as Jimmy Johnson representing the Wing Chun Style and Michael Smith representing the Mantis Style. Then when these fighters square off, their fighting techniques should resemble their styles. Again judges will also be looking for correct offensive techniques and or correct defense and counters.

• Fighters will pick their style for the whole match.  You cannot change styles between rounds.

• Fighters or their coaches will have the opportunity to explain details of their styles to the judges, before the fight.

• Takedowns and throws are legal in this stylized sparring but once control on the ground is established the Head Judge will advise stop, stop you must. No follow up striking may be done once someone has hit the ground. If you were to go down with your opponent and employ a lock, you could do so but only to demonstrate the technique, not to hurt the opponent. This is still a light contact event.

• Due to the degree of difficulty of this event, we are only opening it up for Advanced Teens and Adults ONLY.

• Safety Gear Required: Mouthguard.  Shin-guards\headgear is optional.

• NO closed hand strikes to the face\head

• NO spinning kicks to the head.

• Aerial movement will be left to the discretion of the Head Judge.

• Spinning movement will be left to the discretion of the head judge, and their assessment of a fighter's control.

• Legal and Illegal Target areas are the same as Continuous Sparring.

• Same as in Sanda/Lei-Tai Rules once you grab your opponent you have 4 seconds to establish a throw if not the Head Judge will break it up.

• Time Limits: 2-minute rounds, 2 out of 3 wins with a 30-second rest between rounds.

 

Fixed Step Push Hand Rules

The two contestants will meet in the center of the ring and touch the back of wrists and forward elbow area. They will perform 3 circles pushing and receiving and then after the 3 rotation begin the bout.

Matches will consist of two (2) 90 second rounds with a 30 second rest period between rounds.

In the event of a tie a 3rd 90 second round will be allowed to break the tie. A tie after the 3rd round will be decided by judges majority vote.

The first round will begin with the left foot forward, the second with the right.

The forward foot is not permitted any movement during Fixed Step matches.
 

Martial Push Hand Rules
The two contestants will meet in the center of the ring and touch the back of wrists and forward elbow area. They will perform 3 circles pushing and receiving and then after the 3 rotation, the competitors can either slap the head/body or punch the body, or kick the body/head. They can also push the opponent. Completing a clean push/pull knocking their opponent off their stance will garner 2 points. a slap or punch to either head or body will win 1 point, a kick to the body is worth 1 point but a kick to the head is worth 2 points. The slaps, punches, and kicks should show good control as to not injure your opponent in any way. Only push/pulls can be done with force.

 

The first competitor who gets 7 points will win the match.

Chi Sao

• Required Equipment

  • Head Gear

  • Mouthpiece

  • Kung Fu pants

  • Martial arts shoes

  • No jewlery or Rings. Fingernails must be kept short.

• Match Format

  • Competition will occur in an 8′ x 8′ ring

  • Judge will lead competitors in three (3) sequences of rolling

  • Match begins after the third roll.

  • Judges will look for good techniques directed at legal targets.

  • Match will be stopped for uniform\equipment issues

  • Match will be stopped to seek medical advice

• Legal Targets

  • Torso

  • Light contact to covered portion of the head

• Scoring Techniques

  • Striking and adhering

  • Bridging and Trapping

  • Stable Stance with bridging

  • Clean blocking\intercepting\attacking techniques

• Illegal Techniques (Warnings)

  • Contact to the Face

  • Kicking (above the knee)

  • Shoving

  • Joint Locks

  • No strikes or grabs to the neck

  • No strike to the groin.

  • Striking after the Judge calls a halt

  • Intentionally stepping out of bounds

  • Coaching from the sidelines

• Disqualification

  • Accumulation of 3 Warnings

  • Excessive use of force to the Face or Head

  • Unsportsmanlike Conduct

• Time Limits

  • Two (2) Rounds

  • Each round will be one (1) minute in duration with a thirty (30) second rest period between rounds

  • The contestants will engage in a continuous exchange of technique

  • A 3rd round will commence if there is no winner after the first 2 rounds.

 

PerSilat Sparring

For ruleset, please see the IPSF-PERSILAT Tanding rules published here.

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