Stay Off The Tournament Floor

[sensei8]

More and more I see parents, friends, spouses, and the like ON THE FLOOR during todays tournaments. Standing right next to said ring; this, imho, is quite disrespectful and quite disturbing across the board.

The aforementioned people, imho, need to be staged somewhere else, like bleachers/stands and the like. Cheer your favorite MAist from a distance that's not disturbing the flow of said tournament.

Imho, the Arbitrator of said tournament is responsible for making sure that the spectators aren't IN THE WAY of the competitors. Competitors have enough to worry about without having spectatiors in there ear or in there face or just in the way.

Of course, this is only my opinion, but I'm quite glad that I've retired from sport MA, because in my days, spectators weren't allowed on the competition floor, and if I was still active, I'd walk away from said tournament once I saw this happening.

[AdamKralic]

As a parent who is ringside for all of the tournaments...I agree. In order to maximize profits imo organizations frequently have tournaments at hotel lobbies where there just isn't any place to stick all the non-competitors. But the last fight I was at with my son was at a very large facility that was designed for sporting events and still every ring was circled with non-competitors. They tried asking people to sit down in the first hour of the event it seemed...but people largely did not move. No barriers were erected. No enforcement of desire to keep outer circle of rings clear.

So if you want to see...you are almost forced to get up and go ringside.

I would prefer barriers. Simple rope system like at the movie theater lines. It'd work. You also need one or two volunteers to be "enforcers."

[DWx]

I agree Bob. The only people who should be ringside are coaches and press/photographers. Everyone else should be up in the stands. Just makes it hard for everyone to see and makes it a nightmare for the medics to get around.

[maisweh]

i cant stand parents around the ring, especially when im judging. karate parents are worse than soccer moms and baseball moms.

1, just because you saw a point, doesnt mean the judge did. yelling at me will not help

2, if your kid did a sloppy form, it will reflect in his score. i dont care how perfect you thought it was

3, your kid got hit in the stomach, its not excessive force. he walked into a kick. do more sit ups, say a rosary and get over it.

4, youve been watching little johnny do this for 5 months, ive been doing this for 18 years. no, you do not know better than me.

these are the top 4 reasons why i refuse to be an indentured servent... erm i mean judge anymore.

most tournaments i go to now have a roped off area where if you dont have a competitor band or coaches band and you cross it, its a $50 fine. after one person gets slapped with it, everyone usually stops

[hammer]

i cant stand parents around the ring, especially when im judging. karate parents are worse than soccer moms and baseball moms.

1, just because you saw a point, doesnt mean the judge did. yelling at me will not help

2, if your kid did a sloppy form, it will reflect in his score. i dont care how perfect you thought it was

3, your kid got hit in the stomach, its not excessive force. he walked into a kick. do more sit ups, say a rosary and get over it.

4, youve been watching little johnny do this for 5 months, ive been doing this for 18 years. no, you do not know better than me.

these are the top 4 reasons why i refuse to be an indentured servent... erm i mean judge anymore.

most tournaments i go to now have a roped off area where if you dont have a competitor band or coaches band and you cross it, its a $50 fine. after one person gets slapped with it, everyone usually stops

All of this is why I have no issue with our club only hosting one invitational tournament a year with perhaps one or two other schools. Might be interesting going to open tournaments, but people get so wrapped up in winning (or having their kids win) that they behave inappropriately.

[AdamKralic]

In defense of all the karate parents out there...only once did I see a parent act very inappropriately. It was a Mom at a school (closed) tournament. She got up in the judge's faces about a score on a routine.

The child was visibly embarrassed about her Mom's behavior.

[sensei8]

Barriers, stands, roped-off...anything to reserve the floor for the competitors and the like ONLY!!

[Nidan Melbourne]

At the tournaments i've been to so far they have had roped off areas. The only people inside the roped area are the competitors, judges/referees and coaches. So parents aren't allowed inside the area, the only time a parent is allowed on the mat is when their child gets injured.

[sensei8]

At the tournaments i've been to so far they have had roped off areas. The only people inside the roped area are the competitors, judges/referees and coaches. So parents aren't allowed inside the area, the only time a parent is allowed on the mat is when their child gets injured.

It's ok to cheer and the like from a distance, but I've also seen it allowed that said supporters can come into said roped off area to loudly complain over calls decided my the center referee. Then, said complainer is allowed to remain just outside the roped area to continue their verbal assaults.

Arbitrators must stave off these type of spectator actions, and one way to get the point understood is too present a NO TOLERENCE penalty. Anywhere from point deductions to disqualifications to banning said offender and competitor.

Consistency! That's the key, imho.

[skullsplitter]

For safety sake too, the rings need to be roped off.

This past weekend during my son's kata, a toddler got away from mom and dad and walked into my son's ring. Luckily my son saw her and avoided her while a judge moved her out of the ring. I hate to think what would have happened if the little girl wandered into a weapons ring or a sparring ring. She could have been injured.