Organising competitions

[guird]

Hi everyone,

I have been considering organizing a small martial arts tournament at my university, but I am unsure how to go about it. For the ruleset I'm planning to use polls to find out which ideas are popular, but I have questions about safety and legality. In any case we will do it under the supervision of experienced instructors from the nearby sports centre, but i'd like to ask all of you for advice as well.

When it comes to the legal issues (which rulesets are legal/illegal in the Netherlands), google has not been my friend. I can't find anything about illegal fighting, or about whether someone needs a particular qualification or affiliation to be allowed to host such an event. Is anyone here familiar with the legal issues of organising such an event? (not neccessarily specific to the Netherlands, general advice is helpful too!)

For safety, I know we will need to hire medical professionals to give first aid if it turns out to be neccessary. I am worried about the injuries associated with full contact striking competitions. While I sometimes go pretty hard while sparring, I understand it's still a totally different game when it's competitive. When it comes to mixed striking/grappling competitions, I have an increased worry due to the smaller gloves and striking on the ground. I, and probably most other potential competitors have a healthy fear of traumatic brain injury in particular. Are three or four full contact fights likely to have any noticable consequences? Medium/light or semicontact striking are alternatives of course, I'd just like to get a better idea of the risks involved before making choices regarding this.

Also, if the chosen ruleset includes throws, would it be fair/safe to expect all the competitors to take responsibility for learning to breakfall (after of course repeatedly stressing its importance). or would I need to organise a few (mandatory for competitors) sessions with an instructor to teach/evaluate it?

When it comes to rulesets, would it be possible to use a modification of existing rulesets? For example, with respect to the the head injury issue we may choose to kickbox without shots to the head. Or we may want to add padding to class A USFL pankration. Or combining, say, IKF semicontact kickboxing with full submission grappling? Are rulesets further removed from existing competitons an option? For example, I like the idea of hard contact striking (and also grappling) with padding, but no strikes to the head and stoppage at a certain total of points, points for strikes only awarded when done with a lot of force (as opposed to the other point-based rulesets I've found that require a certain minimum level of contact to score a point, which all also have an upper boundary).

Also, is it neccessary to get sanctions from governing organisations to host a small, non-commercial event like this?

[CredoTe]

I can't say anything about rule sets or legalities, but the 2 cents I will offer is how you will raise the necessary funds to host such an event... Tourneys are awfully expensive to organize and put on...

[guird]

I can't say anything about rule sets or legalities, but the 2 cents I will offer is how you will raise the necessary funds to host such an event... Tourneys are awfully expensive to organize and put on...

My university's student association raises more money than it knows what to do with. If neccessary we can also ask a small fee for spectators. I should check the specific prices of renting space and hiring medical professionals, but the MMA club I train at has occaisional small submission grappling tournaments (renting the dojo for a full day, medical professional present) and they don't ask any participation fees or do any fundraising.

Since its a very minor tournament we wouldn't have to hire any professional referees, we could just have students referee for most rulesets. Doing so may rule out some of the harder styles of competition though.

[DWx]

If it were me, I would err on the side of caution and pick a ruleset that you know if OK under your country's laws and then tweak it slightly if necessary. So if you know IKF semicontact rules are fine, for the sake of simplicity run with that. If you're going to do it like a fight night or something you may need an event license of some sort.

Most important things will be getting an insurer on board. And get yourself some umpires / referees that know your rules and will enforce them.

Good luck

[ps1]

When it comes to legality, you're going to need to contact an attorney. Be sure you hire one that has experience in this type of thing.

You'll need to purchase insurance. The insurance company, in large part, will limit the types of rules you can use.

[guird]

When it comes to legality, you're going to need to contact an attorney. Be sure you hire one that has experience in this type of thing.

You'll need to purchase insurance. The insurance company, in large part, will limit the types of rules you can use.

That increases the price for the event significantly. Are you sure hiring a lawyer is neccessary? I don't see people hiring lawyers for other sports.

In the Netherlands everyone is legally required to have medical insurance. I'm not sure if this insurance is also required to extend to sports injuries.

also, The sports centre certainly has insurance, if I organise this with one of the coaches that insurance should extend to the event. speaking of the coaches, maybe I should have spoken to some of them before posting here. That way I would know more specific information about organising the event in the netherlands and at the sports centre.

Thanks for bringing up the issue of insurance however, I hadn't thought about it as much as I should have.

[bushido_man96]

When it comes to legality, you're going to need to contact an attorney. Be sure you hire one that has experience in this type of thing.

You'll need to purchase insurance. The insurance company, in large part, will limit the types of rules you can use.

That increases the price for the event significantly. Are you sure hiring a lawyer is neccessary? I don't see people hiring lawyers for other sports.

In the Netherlands everyone is legally required to have medical insurance. I'm not sure if this insurance is also required to extend to sports injuries.

also, The sports centre certainly has insurance, if I organise this with one of the coaches that insurance should extend to the event. speaking of the coaches, maybe I should have spoken to some of them before posting here. That way I would know more specific information about organising the event in the netherlands and at the sports centre.

Thanks for bringing up the issue of insurance however, I hadn't thought about it as much as I should have.

ps1 is right on here. Better safe than pending a lawsuit.

Check with the venue at which you wish to hold this event. Make sure they will allow it, in if their insurance will cover an event like this. It may not.

Is your club a member of any kind of affiliation that holds sanctioned tournaments? If it is, use this to your advantage, and see if you can help through them. If not, at least use their ruleset, so you have something to work with that you are familiar with.

As for the breakfalling question, you won't be able to really teach any kind of breakfalling in the small timeframe you'd have before beginning the competition, so I'd nix that idea. You will want the attorney you hire to come up with a waiver form for the competitors to sign, in regards to relief from liability and all that stuff. That should cover you on the issue of others not knowing how to breakfall yet still entering your competition. It should cover some other areas, as well.

Best of luck with this, and I hope it goes well for you. Keep us posted on your progress, please!

[ps1]

I can only go based on what we do in the US. In the U.S., not having legal counsel on an event like that is the same as bringing all of your possessions and giving them to all the participants.

The legal counsel will write up all of your release forms and make sure everything you do is on the up and up. Probably $1000 worth of work. Divide that over 300 competitors, it's an additional $3.00 each person to ensure they can't successfully sue you.

You may be right about the insurance of the event location. They may have some of their own. But it could be limited or only cover certain things. Check with them to see what their requirements are for you to carry insurance.

The only other think I'd do is have an accountant (or tax professional of some sort) look over how you handle the revenue from the event.

I know you're thinking of it as a martial arts venture. But you really need to look at is from the perspective of a business venture. Even if you're not looking to make much out of it, you need to be sure you, and more importantly your family, are protected from liability.

[DWx]

I dunno... you might not need an attorney. We've organised competitions in the past (semi-contact based) and not bothered. Had KO's and broken ribs etc. But then again I think here in the UK we don't have the same kind of culture where we sue for things.

I think the key is reasonable provision to protect the competitors from injury. So a good clear ruleset that is enforced, waivers that everyone signs, mats if the floor is hard, first aiders / medics on standby and mandatory equipment and equipment checks prior to being allowed to compete.

[Nidan Melbourne]

If it is going to be a university one that your going to organize speak to the student association.

But a good thing to do is speak to your national or state federation for your martial art to get an idea of what to do.