Striking Divisions:

See full "Light contact" rules below. A summary of the types of rules one can be described as hard sparring with full PPE while using technique not brawling with scoring emphasis on technique , no sweeps, no knees to body or head, no blind attacks, no intention on creating damage. The rule set will be known as light kickboxing,

ROUNDS Rounds for all striking genre competitors will be 2 X 2 minutes with a double elimination format. If, at the end of 2 rounds the match is determined to be a draw, then the athletes will compete for 1 additional sudden death round of 1 minute. Rounds for Adults and Executive Class 2 x 1.5 minutes. If, at the end of 2 rounds the match is determined to be a draw, then the athletes will compete for 1 additional sudden death round of 1 minute.

RULES OF CONDUCT INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE RING

1.) It is the duty of every Athlete to show fair play in the ring.

2.) Should a Athlete not be ready to continue the match, because his/her safety equipment is not working properly or for other reasons, he shall retreat one step and raise one arm.

3.) Should a Athlete be injured or in any other way be incapacitated, his/her opponent shall immediately retreat to the nearest neutral corner and wait for the referee to signal that the match can proceed again.

4.) When an Athlete receives a warning or a reprimand from the referee, indicate that he/she has understood the reason why.

5. )At the conclusion of the fight the Athletes shall approach the referee, standing in the centre of the ring, and there, one on each side of the referee, await the speaker's announcement of the verdict. The referee then raises the arm of the winner.

6.) Violation of Northen BC Combat Challenge rules and regulations, may lead to disciplinary action at the discretion of the Nothern BC Combat Challenge administration and staff.

THE ATHLETE – Kickboxing Divisions Rules

1.) Athletes will wear appropriate Kickboxing shorts, or long pants, and club/team T-shirt or rashguard. Casual attire will not be permitted/

2.) The Athletes must be well groomed and presentable. The nails of hands and feet must be cut short.

3.) It is forbidden to wear any jewelry or watches in the competition area.

4.) It is the sole prerogative of the Northern BC combat challenge Head Referee to decide whether the length of the hair poses a safety hazard to the Athletes or an obstacle to the unhindered observation of the match. In such cases the hair must be contained by a net or tied back.

5.) Use of grease or similar substances is prohibited. The referee can insist that any Vaseline, grease or any other similar substances be removed before the match can start or proceed.

ATHLETE’S EQUIPMENT

All Athletes must be equipped with the following approved safety equipment:

1.) Individually fitted breast-protectors for female athletes is recommended but is not required;

2.) Individually fitted groin-protector for all age male and female categories in all weight divisions;

3.) Padded Leather, cloth or Vinyl Training style Shin/Instep Shinguards. Shinguards cannot have metal buckles or pieces of any kind.

4.) Individually fitted head-protector (helmet) the back of the head must be protected;

5.) Individually fitted tooth-protector (gum shield);

6.) Hand-bandages/handwraps are optional- max. 4.5 meters

7.) Gloves 14-16 OZ in all adult categories

The Head Referee shall inspect all equipment prior to the matches beginning.

Any equipment that does not meet the above regulations must be replaced. Athletes must comply or forfeit their matches. The Athletes have the responsibility of bringing their own personal equipment and that of their seconds in all Norther bc challenge events. All Athletes with long hair must wear approved hair bands or -holders without any metal. If the Head Referee requests such hair bands or holders the Athlete must comply or forfeit the match. COACHES The coach may give up on behalf of his/her Athlete if he/she deems it irresponsible to let the fight continue. This is indicated by the second throwing a white towel into the ring. Prior to every tournament the head referee shall call a meeting with all the judges, referees and coaches to clear up any questions about rules, regulations and the general proceedings of the event. No rules can be changed during this meeting. Coaches can support and advise their Athletes during the match as long as it is done respectfully. Each Athlete may have only 1 coach at ring side during the match. During the rounds the coach may not enter the ring or in any other manner hinder or disturb the proper proceeding of the fight. Coaches shall comply with any and all directions by the referee. Should a coach violate this rule the referee can issue a warning or expel the coach or disqualify the Athlete. A coach who has been expelled may not function as coach for the remainder of the event. The coaches shall have at their disposal a white towel, water and rubber gloves.

A match starts when the referee gives the command "start" to begin, and it finishes when the Referee stops the match at the end of the round with the command, “break”. Only the Athletes and the referee may be present in the ring during the match. If any other person enters the ring, the referee can decide that the fight is over immediately and will not continue. Matches that cease in this manner may result in a no contest or a disqualification for one athlete or another, at the discretion of the Head Referee.

POINTS AND SCORING. In “Light Kickboxing” the contact must remain light to both the body and to the head. Deliberate knockouts and excessive contact to the head or body are cause for disqualification. An athlete is deemed to be striking with Light Contact when they show the intent to prevent a strike from following through their target, and when they show the intent to land a strike with the control and purpose to score a point rather than to cause damage to their opponent, or cause their opponent to quit due to the power of a strike or strikes. A Light Contact Athlete must show the intent to win a match based on the volume of significant, effective strikes that they land on their opponent, and must show the intent to not knock out, or damage their opponent in order to win. Damage refers to a strike that has the potential to injure, or render an athlete unconscious, and does not refer to a strike that may cause pain or such minor injury as a bloody nose, or small bruise.

SCORING CRITERIA Judging of a match round shall be based on the following, with the highest priority given to the first listed criteria, and the least weight given to the last listed:

1. The number of cleanly landed, light contact significant strikes thrown by an athlete to their opponent, which hit a legal scoring zone as defined below

(a) A significant strike shall be defined as a strike that has the potential to damage an opponent should the strike be thrown with full power, were it intended for full contact. Flailing strikes, arm punching, or pushed strikes shall not be counted as significant. i. A Flailing strike is a strike that is thrown without practical technique that does not land with the middle knuckle of the fist, the top of the foot, or the lower shin. Flailing may also be defined as continual throwing of flailing, arm punching, or pushed strikes without regard for proper and intelligent defence, which leaves the athlete open for undefended counterstrikes or forces the defending athlete to strike with significant enough force to interrupt the flailing athlete.

Such as-> Arm punching which is throwing punches without practical technique that rely on the small muscles of the arm, shoulder and chest, rather than the larger muscles of the body.

iii. Pushed strikes are strikes thrown without practical technique that do not land with snap, and are not returned after the strike.

2) strike that lands clean must land without being deflected, and without striking a nonscoring zone prior to landing on a scoring zone.

3.) Scoring zones are defined as the head (except the back of the head), the torso below the shoulders and above the groin/hip (except along the spine), and the and mid-outside thigh halfway between the knee and hip. The lower leg, knee, hip, groin, spine, arm, neck, and back of the head are not considered scoring zones.\

4.) Ring Generalship. Ring Generalship is defined as control of the competition surface, and the ability to dictate where the match takes place within the competition area. This does not necessarily mean the centre of the competition area, but instead refers to demonstration by the athlete that the match take place where they choose it to take place, wherever this happens to be within the competition area.

5.) Number of significant strikes attempted. Should a match be close enough that neither athlete is deemed to have won a round based on the first two criteria, then a judge may award the match to the athlete who attempted the higher number of non-scoring significant strikes. However, if an athlete lands more significant strikes, then this third criteria can have no effect on the match outcome.

MATCH DECISIONS Decisions shall be made using the following guidelines:

1. When neither Athlete clearly wins a round, according to the Scoring Criteria: 10:10 points.

2. The winning Athlete of a round, based on the Scoring Criteria, gets 10 points, their opponent 9 points.

3. At the conclusion of the match each round is added up to the final score (i.e. 20:18) and the Athlete with more points on the scorecards shall be declared the winner.

4. If, at the end of the match, the score is tied then a third sudden death match will be held according to the Rounds Section. The winner of this round will take the match.

A sudden death match cannot be scored as a tied round by a Judge.

LEGAL TECHNIQUES, FOULS AND WARNINGS:

If an official warning was given because of a "foul", the judges shall immediately deduct 1 point from this Athlete for that round, on their individual score for that round. If an Athlete gets a second official warning within a single round, they will be disqualified from the match.  In the case of intentionally excessive, or irresponsible, or reckless contact to the body or the head the Athlete may be disqualified on the first warning. In the case of a foul the referee must first stop the time. If a point is to be deducted, the referee will penalize the offender by taking the penalized athlete by the arm to each judge, where he will indicate that a point is to be taken by gesturing with a single finger, and verbally stating that a point is to be deducted from the athletes score for that round. If the Head Referee decides that no point shall be penalized, then he may stop time, inform the athlete that their actions constitute a foul and further infractions may be penalized by taking a point away. In either case, once the foul has been addressed the Head Referee may re-start the match. The judges shall always note the warnings on the scorecard to indicate that the Athlete has received a warning. In case of athlete exhaustion, or if an athlete fails to intelligently defend themselves, a standing count of 8 may, at the Head Referee’s discretion, be used to give the Athlete time to recover, but each judge must deduct 1 point from the score immediately. The judges shall always mark this on the scorecard to indicate that the Athlete has received a standing count. A Judge may not approach the referee, or enter the competition area until the Head Referee has called a stop to the action, stopped the timekeeper, and indicated that the competition area is safe to enter. Legal techniques: All forms of boxing combined with kicks are permitted to legal scoring zones with controlled light contact. Kicks are allowed to the outside of the leg, half way between the knee and the hip only. Rear or spinning kicks to the body are allowed with controlled contact. Blind spinning techniques are not permitted under any circumstance, including but not limited to spinning hook kick/wheel kicks. A blind technique is any technique that is thrown while an athlete cannot see their target with both eyes. Spinning backhands/fists are not permitted.

Spinning kicks are allowed only under the following conditions:

1.) The strike is thrown only after the rotational pivot of the spin has been ceased, and the athlete is fully facing the target;

2.) The athlete has his eyes on the target prior to the strike being thrown;

3.) The strike is pulled and returned once the surface of the target has been struck;

4.) There is zero follow through in the strike. It must strike the surface of the target, and then be immediately pulled off of the target;

5.) Light Contact is made to a scoring zone. Contact made with the forearm, glove or elbow is a foul.

*Illegal Techniques and Fouls*:

1.) Any strike thrown outside the definition of Light Contact, even if the strike does not land on a target

2.) All strikes to joints, including the knees or hips.

3. ) All strikes to the spine, the neck or the back of the head.

4. ) All types and forms of throwing, including sweeps and trips.

5.) Excessive clinching (holding the opponent).

Strikes may be caught for the purpose of landing a single counter strike before releasing the caught limb. Charging, or taking more than a single step while holding a caught limb will be considered excessive clinching.

6.) Any form of butting with the head.

7.) Any type of strikes and blows with the forearm or elbows.

8.) Any type of strike to the groin. Groin strikes may be penalized on the first offence, and an athlete may be disqualified at the Head Referee’s discretion on the second offence, even if the offense occurs in a separate match to a different opponent within the same event.

9.) Shoving, and all forms of biting

10.) All strikes executed with the palm side of the gloves.

11.) Any type of aggressive behavior deemed by the Head Referee to not be a regular part of competition.

12.) Any un-sportsmanship behavior by the Athlete or the coach.

13.) Intentionally, or continually leaving the competition area during a match.

14.) Failing to intelligently defend, including turning the back, or the head away from an opponent, failing to keep the hands up to guard, closing the eyes, exposing the back or the back of the head by bending over or turtling;

15.) Excessive or continual flailing. A competitor may be penalized or disqualified for continual flailing, or lack of control or proper technique. Single cases of flailing, or lack of control that is deemed to be dangerous by the Head Referee may result in immediate penalty, or disqualification.

16.) Charging or Bull Rushing. Attempting to overwhelm an opponent by charging, attempting to push an opponent backwards by any means other than clean, effective strikes thrown with proper technique and Light Contact, or attempting to smother an opponent with the body without throwing effective strikes or while flailing are all examples of Charging or Bull Rushing and may be penalized. a. Lunging at an opponent headfirst, with hands down will be considered Charging. A Lunging athlete may be penalized or disqualified for failing to intelligently defend themselves, and if injured to the face the lunging athlete may be considered at fault.

17.) Dangerous or Irresponsible actions. A Dangerous or irresponsible action is any action which unnecessarily exposes an athlete, or their opponent to risk of injury. Blind techniques such as blind spinning backfists, and Lunging techniques such as jumping kicks with the hands down are examples of Dangerous or Irresponsible actions. or Irresponsible at the discretion of the Head Referee as well as any form of Spinning Backfis

Warnings and minus points: In case of a violation of the above noted Illegal Techniques and Fouls, the Head Referee shall stop the fight with the command "Stop" The Head Referee will penalize or warn the offender, deduct a point if it is required, and restart the match or otherwise call an end to the match. Warnings shall be issued clearly and in such a manner that the Athlete in question understands the reason for the warning. The referee shall point their hand clearly to indicate which Athlete has received the warning. Following a warning the referee shall let the match proceed by commanding "Start". The warnings and penalty (minus) points are given for using Illegal Techniques or committing a Foul. Penalties and Warnings can also apply to an athlete’s coach’s conduct. Calling a Match and Disqualification: Should the Referee, coaches or Medical Personnel decide that a match cannot continue, then the Referee and Judges must decide the outcome of the match based on the duration of the match that occurred prior to the stop. Should an athlete get the result, the official decision will read "win by Technical Decision". Should a match end due to Illegal Techniques or Fouls the match decision will read "Disqualification” in favour of the non-offending athlete. Should a match end due to an athlete being unable to continue, and neither athlete is found to be at fault, then the athlete who is able to continue will win by “withdrawal”. PROTESTS AND ALTERATIONS OF DECISIONS Protests against the decisions of a Head Referee can only be accepted in the event that the competition rules have not been correctly applied.