A beginners guide to throwing a martial arts tournament?

[chrissyp]

So i'm throwing around the idea, of holding a martial arts tournament, and well I have my sensei to help me, I have no clue where to begin!

Besides revenue to fund it, which will be another issue...Do I need a sanctioning body to govern it? Does the Athletic commission have to be involved? Any advice, guides, would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Indiana, so i'd have to revolve around Indiana laws.

[sensei8]

Intriguing idea; hopefully, it'll be a success!!

So, your Sensei is helping you! That's good! Is that enough?

There are so many things to consider; from the mundane to the extreme.

Anything I might say is of course, my opinion!! So...you'll need...

*A venue

*Insurance

*Volunteers

*An Arbitrator

*Advertisement

*Format

*Financials

*Trophies/Medals/Certificates/Etc.

*Set-up/Tear-down

*Misc.

You don't need a sanctioning body. If you found one, would they be willing to sanction you?!? You can be your own sanctioning body, especially if the tournaments locally and not nationally.

As far as holding a local small MA tournament is concerned, I don't think you'll need to involve your local/state Athletic Commission. However, I'd check with your local AND state to make sure, and then go from there. There was a time when the Athletic Commission was quite involved, but more so for boxing, than for the MA. I'd check first!!

Running a tournament can be as easy as 1-2-3 or as difficult as well as consuming as a difficult calculus problem. Just how simple do you want it to be? OR...just how elaborate to you want it to be? How small or how big? Keeping it local or making it a National powerhouse, like The Battle Of Atlanta/NASKA/Etc!!

What are your time parameters?

Needless to say, there are some important things to consider in holding a tournament!!

What advice has your Sensei offered thus far?

Good luck, and please keep us up to date??

[cathal]

Great post sensei8.

In addition to this I think you may encounter some issues with respect to the VIPs you may be inviting as a matter of course to this goodwill tournament. Let's say you invite a 9th/10th Dan to officiate your Gold Medal events. That person will most assuredly want their hotel and travel paid for at a minimum. Your budget should include additional factors such as transportation, food, and other considerations for not only VIP guests but their retinue.

Regarding location is is a hotel with huge enough space? If so will they give you a deal on rooms? Group rates? What about the surrounding area? How is it for tourism? Can the local gov't give you some incentives since you could be introducing hundreds of new people to their shops & services?

Are you going to have vendors on-sight? I went to a major tournament and there were massage stations setup just as much as there were vendor tables selling t-shirts and souvenirs.

In my local town an international tournament was shut down by police because it violated certain by-laws. You should check that out too just to be certain you're good to go.

yeah, I can probably come up with a lot more. I suggest hiring someone who's managed a large tournament before. Not just sat on the discussion committee, a manager who saw to the operations and planning etc.

[Nidan Melbourne]

In relation to space a Hotel is commonly really good but may be expensive. The tournaments i attend we use basketball courts and have our mats on top of that. As it is more cost effective for the organizer to use.

You don't need a sanctioning body to organize the tournament, but it would be a good idea to so they can help you with potential places and to share with other schools in the area.

Insurance is massively important especially since you will have kumite at the event. So be prepared to have that as the most expensive part of your day.

Volunteers and Officials are going to be the most difficult to attain. So like i said before it is a good idea to have a sanctioning body because they will/should have a pool of officials.

Formatting the day will be a busy/time consuming. what divisions are you going to have? what format of the rules are you going to use? Are you going to have repecharge?

- Are you going to use the WKF (World Karate Federation) rules?

Trophies, certificates etc should be taken into account for how many divisions you have.

How much are you going to charge competitors to participate in the tournament and how much extra for extra events? At my VKL (Victorian Karate League) tournaments I compete at they are normally $75AUD for entry (includes 1 event) + $10AUD for any extra events. with the exception of the Victorian Championships which is $85AUD + $10AUD for extra events

If you can get some sponsors that would be great and have them have a stall at the tournament so they can sell their product. Like how Arawaza was a major sponsor at the recent Senior World Karate Championships and all the competitors wore Arawaza Gi's and the kumite competitors wore arawaza mits and pads.

[sensei8]

cathal and Nidan Melbourne: EXCELLENT posts!! Helped my post by filling in the essential details that I failed to mention...thanks!!

[chrissyp]

In relation to space a Hotel is commonly really good but may be expensive. The tournaments i attend we use basketball courts and have our mats on top of that. As it is more cost effective for the organizer to use.

You don't need a sanctioning body to organize the tournament, but it would be a good idea to so they can help you with potential places and to share with other schools in the area.

Insurance is massively important especially since you will have kumite at the event. So be prepared to have that as the most expensive part of your day.

Volunteers and Officials are going to be the most difficult to attain. So like i said before it is a good idea to have a sanctioning body because they will/should have a pool of officials.

Formatting the day will be a busy/time consuming. what divisions are you going to have? what format of the rules are you going to use? Are you going to have repecharge?

- Are you going to use the WKF (World Karate Federation) rules?

Trophies, certificates etc should be taken into account for how many divisions you have.

How much are you going to charge competitors to participate in the tournament and how much extra for extra events? At my VKL (Victorian Karate League) tournaments I compete at they are normally $75AUD for entry (includes 1 event) + $10AUD for any extra events. with the exception of the Victorian Championships which is $85AUD + $10AUD for extra events

If you can get some sponsors that would be great and have them have a stall at the tournament so they can sell their product. Like how Arawaza was a major sponsor at the recent Senior World Karate Championships and all the competitors wore Arawaza Gi's and the kumite competitors wore arawaza mits and pads.

Thanks for the information and advice!

I plan on charging AS LEAST AS POSSIBLE for competitors, since while they're the heart and soul of this event, I don't want to exclude people because the cost is too high.

As far as rules, it's going to be custom rules, which will essentially be full contact Shotokan, with KO's allowed. This is where I ask about sanctioning bodys and athletic commissions for 2 reasons:

1) Due to the full contact nature of this tournament, would it even be -LEGAL- to do it?

2) Would a sanctioning martial arts body be the loophole to allowing if it is illegal?

3) Who should I get if no. 2 is the case, to sanction and regulate it. suggestions?

4) Again, because of the nature of the event, and the fact i'm gonna try to do something very different than whats been done before, Should I create my own sanctioning body to help regulate it?

I plan on getting as many sponsers as I can, as well as vendors.

As far as a venue, there is a hotel/event center in my city I could look into, and they'd more than likely have a special rate for competitors.

[Kusotare]

All of the above PLUS....

1. Pick your date well.

There are a lot of competitions these days and if yours clashes with one that is already in the calendar - your attendance will be disappointing.

2. Medics - You will need medics on hand, particularly if you are proposing a full contact tournament.

3. You might want to use an on line organisational tool... This covers promotion, registration, fees and tournament planning / draws etc.

We use this one...

https://www.sportdata.org/

K.

[Nidan Melbourne]

If you are going to do full contact biggest rule is HAVE PARAMEDICS there as they will ensure safety. and many locations will mandate you have them there or even just first aiders on hand at all times. even 1 or 2 per tatami

[cathal]

If you are going to do full contact biggest rule is HAVE PARAMEDICS there as they will ensure safety. and many locations will mandate you have them there or even just first aiders on hand at all times. even 1 or 2 per tatami

In addition to paramedics: If there's a local college that teaches paramedicine (and/or advanced paramedicine) you can boost your numbers by contacting them and they may get extra credits for volunteering to work the tournament.

[DWx]

Looks like you've already gotten great advice so far.

Have you tried reaching out to school's in your area or school's you are friendly with to gauge interest first?