Competitors will be grouped based on age, weight, and rank to optimize fairness and safety. If a division has only one contestant, we will attempt to move them up or down a weight or age division; if that still does not result in matches for the competitor, we will contact them or their coach to discuss the situation.

Age is calculated as of the day of the tournament. For example, if a competitor was born on November 11, 2010, they are 12 years old; if born on November 12, 2010, they are 13 years old.

See the bottom of this page if you are interesting in competing "up."

Weight

The listed weight are the group breakpoints; all weights are in lbs.

Male

Junior 5-6 years old: 42, 51, 62, 62+

Junior 7-8 years old: 51, 59, 68, 77, 77+

Junior 9-10 years old: 57, 66, 75, 84, 95, 95+

Junior 11-12 years old: 62, 68, 75, 84, 92, 103, 114, 114+

Intermediate 13-14 years old: 79, 88, 97, 106, 117, 128, 141, 141+

Intermediate 15-17 years old: 110, 121, 132, 145, 161, 178, 198, 198+

Senior 18 years old and older: 132, 145, 161, 178, 198, 220, 220+

Female

Junior 5-6 years old: 42, 51, 62, 62+

Junior 7-8 years old: 51, 59, 68, 77, 77+

Junior 9-10 years old: 57, 66, 75, 84, 95, 95+

Junior 11-12 years old: 62, 68, 75, 84, 92, 103, 114, 114+

Intermediate 13-14 years old: 79, 88, 97, 106, 117, 128, 141, 141+

Intermediate 15-17 years old: 88, 97, 106, 114, 125, 139, 154, 154+

Senior 18 years old and older: 106, 114, 125, 139, 154, 172, 172+

Rank

We will be using your belt color as a grouping criterion. In general, white/yellow, orange/green, blue/purple for juniors and intermediates, and white/green, brown, and black for seniors. If you wear a mixed color belt (e.g. white/yellow), you may pick either color; some will result in being placed in a higher ranking group.

We use the following guidelines when grouping competitors:

Junior white, yellow: Junior Novice

Junior orange and above: Junior

Intermediate white, yellow: Intermediate Novice

Intermediate orange and above: Intermediate

Senior white, green: Senior Novice

Senior brown, black: Senior

Adjustments

• We will attempt to have a minimum pool size of 3 competitors.
• All pools will use the round robin competition format. We will make an attempt to give competitors four matches in their pool.
• Divisions may be combined, at the discretion of the tournament committee, to keep age, rank, and weight as close as possible for safety.

• New divisions may be created, at the discretion of the tournament committee, to keep age, rank, and weight as close as possible for safety.

Competing in a higher division

We can try to accommodate special requests for assignment to higher level divisions, for example as a 17 year old ikkyu to compete in a Black Belt division.

Please have the competitor register in their division, and then have their instructor send us an email requesting the change. We will then move the competitor manually into the requested division.

Note that we do reserve the right to decline to make the change if we don't think it is safe.