Tournament Information
*Updated 01/10/2024
The following information is for the 2024 World Kuk Sool Association Winter Competition.
On competition day, we recommend that you arrive early and find the rest of the team, there are team leaders on the day to help you with any questions, ring locations and nerves. PSBN Sarah is the team captain on the day and any major concerns that cannot be answered by other team members can be addressed to her.
More accurate times for each age and rank will be published the week before the competition.
On the day
All Students require a full uniform with badges and a Black T-shirt.
Students should compete barefoot.
On arrival you should report to PSBN Sarah and find the rest of the team, Do not sit separately from the team; you/your child could be a falling partner for someone else and they will need to know where you are.
PSBN Sarah has the most difficult job on the day; she is full-time counselor, ring callout director, practice captain and so much more. Please don’t make her job any more difficult by not paying attention to the ring announcements and not being at your competition area in good time. We need everyone to play their part, students, parents and families to make the event as stress-free as possible.
The schedule for the day will be released the week before the actual competition but as with 99% of tournaments in the past, will change as the day progresses. You should arrive early, establish where you need to be and perform a sufficient practice and warm up with your team members.
You only get one chance in front of the judges, do not miss out due to lateness, inadequate practise or just simply by missing your group announcement. Much like a plane at the airport, your not being there will not delay the event from starting.
The tournament begins at 08:00 and is normally finished by 14:00. As soon as your group is done you are free to leave the building and enjoy the day or stay around and watch the team.
Saturday evening is the Master’s exhibition, Black belt promotion ceremonies and winning school/Grand Champions announcements. This is the part we all work towards and is definitely worth coming back for.
It normally begins around 16:00 and gets very busy, again we ask that you sit with the rest of the team so that we can hear your cheers as our various team members Grand champion wins and school placings are awarded.
We will also take a team photo at the end of the evening and like to include parents and families in this one, uniform is not required for coloured belts. Any Black belt who thinks they may have won Grand Champion must be wearing General’s uniform to collect their award.
Tournament format
We will cover this A LOT in class over the coming weeks but here’s a basic rundown of what it’s all about
Coloured belts aged 4+ have access to up to 3 categories, Forms, techniques & sparring
During the coming weeks, we will look to involve parents in this and will give homework practise assignments to improve areas that we need to address in forms & techniques.
The minimum entry is forms & techniques; sparring is optional but highly recommended.
Traditional Forms – there will be a set number of sections that need to be completed in front of 3 judges to the highest standard possible, a score will be given on completion.
Techniques – the instructor team will choose 3 techniques and assign a falling partner to each student. parents of the student will need to familiarise themselves with both the falling partner and the falling partners’ parents to be able to find them on the day
Sparring – taught on Wednesday nights and open to everyone, very little experience required and it is NO CONTACT! please come and speak to us if you want to know more about this, its always a shame when students miss out on a medal opportunity on tournament day just because they didn’t enter sparring
For each event, the competitor will introduce themselves, bow and begin, bow at the end and then await score. the whole process often takes less than 2 minutes per person.
Cost of entry (correct at time of writing, we are hoping for no price increase over last year’s fees)
Competitors
Forms & techniques £45
with sparring £50
Brown belts & DBN with staff competition £60
Black belts £65
Entries for both tournaments will open early May, as we begin our dedicated tournament classes
Physical paper entry forms are not required for any student but we recommend that you still keep a copy for your own information
Spectators
Adults £10.00 / Children £5.00 (Under 5s free)
Includes evening show of Masters Exhibition
Awards & Medals
Medals for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places.
Gold Medallion or trophy for the Grand Champions
Grand Champion divisions
1st Dahn: Junior / Youth (Boys) / Youth (Girls) / Men / Women / Senior
2nd Dahn: Youth / Adult / Senior
3rd Dahn: Split by age on the day
4th Dahn: All ages
The above divisions are not guaranteed to be the exact divisions awarded on the day. These can change depending on the number of people competing in each division.
Those wishing to enter for the Grand Champion competition must enter all divisions in their rank. Grand Champions will be chosen by overall point accumulation. Only Black Belts may compete for Grand Champion. To be eligible for the Grand Champion award, participants must have a minimum of one gold medal and the highest overall points accumulated.
Winning schools
The school with the most points will receive an award and a World Kuk Sool Association (WKSA) flag. The winning school will keep the flag until the next year’s tournament, at which time the winning school will render the flag to the new winning school. If a school wins the flag for three consecutive years, it will retain the flag permanently. Only first through to fifth places will receive an award.
General information
All adult Black Belts who are authorised judges must report to the head table for 7:30am on the day. All competitors must wear a complete Kuk Sool uniform with authorised markings only. All officials and judges must wear their General’s Uniform. This tournament is governed by the WKSA Tournament Rules and Guidelines and is only open to members of the WKSA.
Safety equipment is required for all sparring competitors. (Mandatory: boots, gloves, headgear, mouthpiece and cup for men. Optional: shin guards, breast protectors.)
We reserve the right to combine divisions. Please note that in all divisions, except sparring, men and women under Black Belt will be combined.
Tournament Guidelines*
Divisions
Please be aware that there are no longer pre-decided age groups for competitors. Age groups will be selected in a manner that creates a fair and even split of competitors in each division, this entirely depends on numbers on the day of the tournament (this also applies to the number of grand champion trophies that are available). The split could be by age, gender (or both) and there must be at least 3 competitors to create a competition. Conversely, very large divisions could be split into multiple groups.
With this in mind, it is imperative that the competitors/ parents stay alert for their correct ring assignment when the time comes. Ring assignments will be announced over the PA system and also displayed on the projector screen(s) (where available).
Medals are awarded for 1st-4th place and when there are large groups, multiple medals 2nd-4th medals could be awarded (there will only ever be one 1st place awarded).
In the event of less than 4 competitors in a division, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th medals are not a guarantee. Medals will be awarded accordingly based on their overall score against the ‘gold standard’ scoring system.
Sparring
Contact in WKSA sparring competitions is classed as ‘light to no contact’. This means that it is possible to score a point when no contact has been made if the judges deem the competitor could have made contact but had the control not to. Scoring zones are to the front of the body and on the padded areas around the front and sides of the head. Strikes to the face, back of the head, arms, back and below the belt are not scored.
The judge(s) will shout ‘break’ when something is seen and the centre judge will then award a point if two out of the three judges agree on the location (head, body) and technique (punch, kick) that was thrown (kicks to the head count as two points).
Depending on the number of competitors in the division, byes will be chosen at random except where there are only three competitors, in this case, a ‘round robin’ will take place. Judges will make every effort to ensure students from the same school don’t spar against each other in the early rounds.
* Safety equipment is required for sparring competition. Mandatory: headgear, mouthpiece, cup for men, boots, and gloves. We also recommend shin/breast guards.
Board Breaking
Breaking competition is for adults (over 18) only. For JKN’s the high board must be at a minimum of face height (top of the board chin height for 40+) and the low board must be at a maximum of the top of the board at knee height.
The number of boards broken is the first criteria for competitor placings. In the event of the same number of boards broken, style and execution are then taken into consideration.
Techniques
1. The partner can be only one rank above or below the competitor (e.g. white can partner yellow but not blue, red can partner blue or brown but not DBN)
2. Black belts cannot fall for DBN’s or any ranks below them (e.g. KSN cannot fall for JKN)
3. Adults cannot partner children under 12
4. There must be no more than 6 inches height difference when an adult partners a youth (13-17)
Weapons
Only WKSA approved weapons are permitted for competition. The judges will check this before starting and ensure that weapons are provided in the case that the competitor does not have what is required.
Dropping a weapon is an automatic disqualification.
Spectators
Please keep in mind that the judges of this tournament are unpaid WKSA practitioners. Their job is to endeavour to maintain a high quality of judging and the smooth running of their respective ring.
However, we do understand that despite their best efforts issues can arise. If there is something that you feel needs to be addressed, please contact one of the tournament officials who are on hand around the venue. Their job is to deal with any issues that may arise.
Thank you for your cooperation on this matter.