Want an opportunity to grapple with people your own skill and weight?  Want a chance to spar people who are at the same level as you?  Want to show the awesome body mechanic of your form in front of a panel of black belts?  Got $10 in your pocket?  You should go to the adult tournament on March 5th! Let’s get together and raise everybody’s skill set up a notch.  This tournament is open to all martial arts students who want to participate in a challenging, fun and friendly tournament. The schedule is:

• 9AM-10AM Grappling
• 10AM-11AM Forms
• 11AM-Noon Sparring

The doors will open at 8:30.  We will have a judges/coaches meeting at 8:45 to discuss rules. For the grappling portion, if you train MDP and have grappled before, get in there and do it!  Don’t be shy.  If you are a white belt (of any stripe), in BJJ, you are also welcome to come roll with us.  If you are a blue or above, you are welcome to come coach, judge or watch.    We will break students up into divisions based on skill and size as best we can. Each match will be 4 minutes long (or to submission).  Winner will be determined by submission only.  If there is no submission, the match is considered a draw.  The judge can stop the match if they think that things are getting dangerous for one or both students.  Before each match begins, students will be asked if they wish to start from standing or from the knees.  Submissions not allowed: fingers, toes, ankles and spine manipulations.  We will make sure to clarify the rules as much as possible the day of the tournament.  Remember: when in doubt, don’t do something that would make everyone in the room think you are a jerk. For the forms portion, anyone who trains and is willing to do a form is welcome to participate.  It can be a traditional form, a creative form, a weapons form… whatever you want to put out there.  As we have a small space, we won’t be allowing students to perform with music.  Students will be broken into divisions by skill.  We will make sure to clarify the rules as much as possible the day of the tournament. For the sparring, anyone who trains and is familiar with tournament sparring is welcome to participate.  We will do two minute, light contact rounds.  Contact will be allowed to the head, body and groin.  The match will end if one student gets five points or two minutes expires.  In the event of a tie score, the students will be allowed to continue until one student scores (and thus wins).  Students will be broken into divisions by skill and size.  Controlled sweeps are allowed as long as both participants are of an appropriate skill level.  Throws are not allowed.  We will make sure to clarify the rules as much as possible the day of the tournament. We work to keep our tournaments as fun, punctual and affordable as possible.  In that spirit, we reward the winners with a round of applause and high fives instead of medals or trophies.