Quarantine Qualifier – Live, Free, Virtual Martial Arts Event

Quarantine Qualifier Event Information

Registration is open! Click HERE to register!

REGISTRATION CLOSES ON APRIL 30th AT MIDNIGHT! Zoom links with division start times and draws will be sent out on May 1st. Competition is live on May 2nd starting at 9am CST.

Get your collector’s item event t-shirt HERE!

This is supposed to be fun so come and chill out with us. The free, live, virtual tournaments being hosted by SportMartialArts.com are designed to allow competitors to perform in a fun, non-stressful situation that is kind of like being at a tournament but with the social distancing required by the COVID19 crisis. The events will be held live on Zoom so that you will be able to interact with other competitors in real life and watch other performances while they are happening and be watched and get scores immediately from judges. This means you do not have to film, upload or submit anything to participate. Just be available on the date and time for your division(s). Go ahead and practice and get ready because we want you to put on your best performance because we plan to broadcast a lot of the competition live on YouTube. However, chill out and don’t be too serious about this because we want you to have a great time and experience without feeling overwhelmed or stressed.

Location and space issues are fine – don’t worry but stay safe and don’t ruin your house. We understand that everyone has a different environment in which to try and perform and that is okay. We only ask that you find a location where you can perform whatever division you signed up for without hurting yourself or others. So don’t sign up for the tricking challenge and expect to throw flips in your 5×5 living room! You can perform outside on the grass, inside your garage, in the basement or wherever you like as long as you have enough space. Also, try not to damage your home or the area you are performing in.

General rules of etiquette, being a nice person and we know bloopers are coming. Since this will be live, we ask that everyone watch yo’ mouth and not swear or say mean things while in the competition room. We also ask that you cheer on your competition and try to make some new sport karate friends during the competition. Be a good sport no matter the outcome, laugh if you fall on your behind in the middle of your performance or fall over your couch or your dog jumps in. We’re going to laugh and find it to be hilarious and pretty awesome to see the reality of everyone’s current pandemic world.

Be nice to our judges. Our judges will be all volunteers and are going to do their best to be fair and impartial. They will be told not to downgrade anyone based on not wearing a full uniform or having to perform in a small space. There will be 3 judges per forms, tricking, first timer and weapons division. See the individual divisions for Round Kick Challenge, Pull Up Challenge and Toilet Paper Kick Challenge as to how they will run. We are not going to vet the judges to be sure they are not from the same schools or teams as competitors – we are going to trust the judges to be fair and impartial regardless of who they are judging! The judges will use a 9.0-10.0 scoring system. If there is a tie, we will compare the scores to see which competitor got the highest scores from at least two of the judges and that competitor will win the tie. If a judge gave two competitors the same score and caused the tie, that judge will need to select which competitor should advance.

The format is going to be like an in-person tournament – kind of. The day prior to each event, we will send you the times each of your divisions start, your Zoom links for each division and the performance order and/or brackets. Approximately 5-10 minutes prior to your division start time, please join your Zoom competition room where you will be placed in the waiting room. We will be checking people in to make sure only registered competitors are allowed into the live competition room. The live competition room will close about 5 minutes after the division is scheduled and no new people allowed in even if it’s a registered competitor so be on time. This will allow us to assure that only registered competitors are allowed into Zoom competition rooms and to keep everyone safe from zoom-bombing or strangers entering the competition room. The judges will also be in the Zoom competition room. Remember that you should have video and audio turned on when you get to the Zoom room or we won’t be able to see you and won’t let you in.

When it is your turn to compete, your Zoom video will be spotlighted so you are the only one the judges are watching. The announcer will tell the judges who you are so you do not need to do an introduction. Once we have told the judges who you are, you can perform. When you are finished, the next person will be announced and perform. Once all competitors have performed, the judges will give scores to competitors in the order they competed and we will call out the scores and then call out the order placed at the end of the scoring. Once the division is completed, and everyone says hi and congrats, we will kick you all out of the Zoom room to start the next division.

Routines should be kept to 2 minutes or less for forms and weapons.

After the event is completed, we will be putting up the final results and sending out final prizes.

Divisional Rules

1. Creative Forms

Just like it sounds. Creative. No flips or crazy stuff that the average martial artist probably can’t do. Don’t try to jump in with extreme moves because you think you can sneak them in and make them look creative – that’s not cool. If you can do great kicks, this is a great division for those!

2. Traditional Forms

Again, just like it sounds. Traditional. This does not mean go back to 987 AD to find a routine that has been passed down from Shaolin Monk to Japanese master to your grand master who taught it to his ninjas and then you learned it. We know that traditional is defined by the style and we are going to trust you to perform a truly traditional routine in this division as defined by your style. However, if your style’s traditional routines involve flips – it’s not traditional so don’t do it. If you are a soft stylist, we are going to ask you to do your routine in the creative or extreme divisions depending on the techniques you are going to use.

3. Musical Forms

Musical forms means you use music with your form. It would be cool if you could match your moves to the musical beats and will probably help you get better scores but if you don’t want to do that, it’s cool – but don’t expect those brownie points from the judges for actually choreographing your form to the music. Note that the musical forms and musical weapons divisions will NOT be lived streamed because YouTube hates it when you play music that has a copyright attached. Instead, we will record the divisions and then try and play them on YouTube later and possibly have to mute songs that violate copyrights.

You have to play your own music when you perform and provide your own music player. We suggest playing music on a separate player rather than through the device you are using to connect to the Zoom competition room.

4. Extreme Forms

Extreme means extreme – do whatever you want. Note that if you can’t do flips and stuff, you might not do great in this division if your competitors are doing flips and stuff.

5. Creative, Traditional, Musical, Extreme Weapons

Same as Creative, Traditional, Musical, Extreme Forms but with a weapon. If you drop a weapon, you should pick it up and keep going. Judges will be able to take a .5 point off for dropped weapons but you never know, everyone in the division might drop so you could still win!

6. Super Forms

We will have a cool online spin wheel with various styles of forms (creative, traditional, musical and extreme) we will survey those who registered for this to see if they all have similar weapons so we can add a weapons option if it will work. We will spin the wheel, share the screen to show what it lands on and whatever it lands on. The competitor must do that type of routine. 

7. Round Kick Challenge (60 seconds)

This one is pretty straightforward. You have 60 seconds to do as many round kicks as you can. There will be a bracket and you will face off against someone and whichever of you does the most round kicks in 60 seconds advances. When there is only one person left, he/she will be declared the winner – because there CAN BE ONLY ONE! Unless you are not really flexible (we assume this with our older competitors), your round kicks should be waist level or above. If your kicking foot touches the floor before 60 seconds, you cannot do more kicks and only kicks up to that point will count.

8. Pull Up Challenge (60 seconds)

Just like the Round Kick Challenge but with pull ups. You must have your own pull up bar. Your video must show your entire body so we can make sure you don’t touch the ground. Only pull ups where your chin clears the bar count. If you touch the ground before 60 seconds, you cannot do more pull ups and only pull ups to that point will count.

9. First Timer Division

If you have never competed or are just getting started and feeling kind of shy – this is a great division. You can do whatever you want – your blocking routine, a form, a weapons routine, as many round kicks as you can, your best flying side kicks over some things, etc. Be creative and show us what you’ve got. You have 60 seconds to do your thing. And you get to meet a bunch of other people. We will coach you through introducing yourself to the judges and give performance tips. We’ll give you scores but this is not a competitive division and no one will be declared a winner. This division will not be lived streamed so anything that happens in the First Timer Division, stays in the First Timer Division.

10. Toilet Paper Kick Challenge

Competitor takes a roll of toilet paper, balances it on his/her foot and extends the foot while not dropping the toilet paper. At full extension, competitor uses foot to throw roll of toilet paper into the air and then kicks the roll out of the air with a kick of his/her choice (can be with either leg). Competitors will be judged on success and creativity. You will not be judged on brand of toilet paper. This will be done in brackets like the Round Kick Challenge and Pull Up Challenge.

11. Tricking Challenge

This will be done in brackets. Each competitor has 1-minute to perform the coolest tricking combos he/she can do. Judges will choose who advances until we have a champion. Make sure you have enough space to do whatever you plan to do and that you use a space where you won’t get hurt if you land wrong. We highly recommend that you don’t do this on concrete and instead use a grassy or padded area with no obstacles around.

Equipment, Weapons and Uniforms

1. Equipment/Location

For the pull up challenge and toilet paper kick division,  competitor must provide own pull-up bar or roll of toilet paper. 

For all divisions, competitor may perform in whatever area he/she chooses. If in a smaller space, you can modify your form/weapon routine to account for space. 

Competitor must provide his/her own device to connect to Zoom (phone, tablet or laptop will work) and own internet connection that is of sufficient speed to live stream your performance from whatever location you are performing. 

Competitor must provide his/her own music for musical forms/weapons and music player that has sufficient volume so competitor can hear the music while performing and preferably so the judges can hear the music through the competitor’s stream.

Please make sure your broadcast device (phone, tablet, laptop) is set up to show your entire performance area so judges can see your whole routine. You may have someone hold the device for you to change angles or positioning as you perform.

2. Weapons

You can use whatever weapon you want for the weapons divisions provided it is not so dangerous that you could harm yourself if you make a mistake in your routine (i.e. no butcher knives, open flames, etc). If you do not have a weapon or only have a practice version of a weapon, a substitute will be allowed (i.e. broom stick instead of bo, stick instead of sword) provided the substitute or practice weapon will not lead to self-injury. Competitor is solely responsible for any damage done to surrounding area and self during a performance!

3. Uniforms

Karate pants or tricking/work out pants and t-shirt are acceptable. Belts are cool but optional. Note that for traditional performances, it is suggested and encouraged that you wear a full uniform and belt because it just looks more traditional. If you don’t have a full uniform, your uniform is dirty and unable to be used, you are performing in a location that could cause your uniform to get really dirty and you don’t want to deal with the stains (i.e. grass on a white uniform), don’t worry about it, wear something else and have fun!