20/20 Armor Sparring

All divisions will be established based on sex, weight, age, and rank and may be combined as needed. 20/20 Armor vests and 20/20 Armor helmets will be provided to each competitor for use.

All matches will use “Game #1” or “Energy Scoring” whereby each player makes legal contact with a kick or punch to their opponent’s chest guard or helmet until the game time has expired or when the opponent’s energy has been completely depleted. All winners will be exclusively decided by
the 20/20 Armor’s built-in win indicator at the end of each match.


*** IMPORTANT *** Possibility of Size Limitation

20/20 Armor only comes in 4 sizes.  Where possible every effort will be made to accommodate every competitor, but in some cases this simply will not be possible in consideration of safety. As such, competitors under the age of seven (7) or smaller than sixty (60 lbs.) pounds as well as those over six-foot four inches (6’4”) and one-hundred ninety (190 lbs.) pounds, will be assessed on a case-by-case basis for this event. Should a potential safety issues exist, the competitor will be removed from 20/20 Armor sparring and get a refund. We ask that all coaches, competitors, parents, and sponsors, consider this when registering for this event.


Safety Equipment

All competitors must wear protective equipment in good condition.

  • Chest Guards: 20/20 Armor Vest, provided.
  • Head Gear: 20/20 Armor Helmet, provided.
  • Hand Pads: must cover the back of the hand and fingers with soft padding.
  • Foot Pads: must cover the instep, sides, toes, and heel with soft padding.
  • Mouthpiece: properly fitted mouthpiece is required
  • Cups: male competitors are required to wear groin protection
  • Optional Gear: shin pads, forearm pads, and elbow pads are optional for all competitors.  It is up to the competitor to decide if they are willing to assume the risk of not wearing these additional pieces of equipment.

 

Uniforms

Uniforms may be any color; however, competitors will not be allowed to complete without a belt and uniform. All competitors must have properly trimmed nails.

 

OFFICIALS/JUDGES

Each ring should have a Head Judge, and one to four other judges and a Scorekeeper.

HEAD JUDGE

The head judge is the most experienced official in the ring and is thoroughly versed on the rules and order of competition. He/she promotes the safety of the competitors and enforces the rules. He/she starts and stops the match, makes penalty decisions, communicates clearly with the scorekeeper and timekeeper, and announces the winner of each match.

Responsibilities of the Head Judge:

  1. Match starts and ends only with his/her command.
  2. Has the power to issue warnings and award penalty points.
  3. Has power to disqualify a competitor who has received their final foul or for severe rules infraction.
  4. Has power to issue time-outs. A competitor can ask for a time-out, but it is the determination of the head judge to issue one. Time-outs are for injury or equipment issues not for exhaustion.

SCOREKEEPER

Scorekeeper manages the 20/20 Armor app and tournament win loss record sheets. 

Responsibilities of a Time/Scorekeeper:

  1. When using the 20/20 App will apply penalties as called out by the head judge. 
  2. When not using the 20/20 App will only record number of fouls per competitor.
  3. Tracks winner and loser bracketing to determine the next match.

JUDGES

Each ring should have a Head Judge, up to four other judges, a Scorekeeper(can be one person or two). The judges call infractions that they clearly see. They also can vote on disqualifications. Head judges make all final decisions on warnings/fouls but can consult with the other judges before making their decision.

CALLS A JUDGE MAY MAKE

When a corner judge believes there has been a foul has occurred they will call out "STOP" in a loud voice. At this point the Head Judge will call out "STOP!" in a loud voice. The head judge shall then return the competitors to their starting marks and addresses the judges by saying "JUDGES CALL!" All judges cast their votes simultaneously and in the following manner.

  1. Foul - The judge holds the color of the offending competitor down to his side. The head judge may request the judge describe the foul the judge observed.
    1. When using the 20/20 App the head judge will tell the Scorekeeper to apply damage to the fouling competitor
    2. When not using the 20/20 App the head judge will apply a “hit” penalty to the fouling competitor by hitting their vest as if they were scored upon.
  2. Disqualification – There are two ways for a competitor to be disqualified. 
    1. Upon receiving a 4th warning/foul. 
    2. A severe rules infraction (deliberate illegal technique, ignoring the head judge, excessive use of force, etc.) 

If a disqualification vote is asked for due to a severe rules infraction, the head judge will explain that this is a disqualification call and explain the reason then say, "JUDGES CALL". The judges will then either agree, disagree or No See. If two or more agree with disqualification the competitor is immediately disqualified. The Head Judge has a right to make the call himself or request a call from the other judges.

More details on disqualification follow under the Fouls section

Judges should not say anything after "Judges Call" is said by the Head Judge. They will show their view on the point by the above mentioned hand signals. They should only speak when requested by the Head Judge.

Judges stay in call stance until the Head Judge finalizes the call as: a point, no point, foul, etc.

LENGTH OF MATCH

Length of match is based on belt color of the division.  Matches can be either single elimination or double elimination.

  • Black Belt matches will consist of one, three-minute round.
  • Color Belt matches will consist of one, two-minute round.

POINT VALUES AND WINNER DETERMINATION

All techniques that make contact with the 20/20 Armor vest or helmet will award ‘a hit’ to the opponent.  Each competitor has a health bar.  When the health bar reaches 0 the match is over.  This is all maintained by the 20/20 Armor system.

LEGAL TARGET AREAS

Kicks and punches to any padded area of the 20/20 Armor Vest or Helmet is legal.

NON-TARGET AREAS

Shoulders, arms, hands and feet. Contact to these areas gain no damage no incur a foul.

ILLEGAL TARGET AREAS

Any area that is NOT listed in Legal Target Area or Non-Target Area.

  • Attacks to these locations incur a foul.

 

LEGAL TECHNIQUES

  • Must make contact with the 20/20 Armor System.
  • All kicks to legal target areas, and punches to the body are legal with light or medium contact except those listed as illegal.
  • Back fist to the side of the 20/20 Armor Helmet with light contact with nothing crossing over the face mask area.
  • All techniques to the head MUST be light contact.
  • 4th Gup+: Reverse Knife Hand/Ridge Hand to the 20/20 Armor Helmet added to the list of legal techniques.
  • 2nd Gup: Straight punch to the 20/20 Armor Helmet added to the list of legal techniques.
  • Black belt: All punches to the 20/20 Armor Helmet added to the list of legal techniques.  

ILLEGAL TECHNIQUES

  • Hard contact (head judge makes the call if a technique is thrown with too much force)
    • Contact is considered hard if it causes instant swelling, bleeding, a very loud impact is heard, major deflection of the body or minor deflection of the head. 
  • medium or hard contact to the head
    • contact is considered medium if: a loud impact is heard, a minor or major deflection of the head.  If it causes any visible injury or distress.
  • open hand techniques or hammer fist
  • spinning hand techniques 
    • Technique is not considered a spinning technique if the attacker pauses after turning around then executes the hand technique. 
  • head butting, biting or scratching
  • elbow or knee strikes
  • eye attacks of any kind 
  • take downs or sweeps
  • grabbing or holding
  • falling down or fleeing the ring to avoid sparring 
    • Falling down or fleeing must have been on purpose to be a foul
  • uncontrolled blind techniques and any other uncontrolled dangerous techniques that are deemed unsafe by the Head Judge.
  • Attacking a downed competitor or attacking while being downed 
    • A competitor is considered 'downed' when any part of their body except their feet are touching the ground.

 

OUT OF BOUNDS

To be considered out of bounds depends on the ring

Flush flooring: When the ring and out of bounds are the same level then the competitor must leave with both feet to be out of bounds

Raised Mat/ring: when the ring is raised above the out of bounds (even by 1/2") if a competitor is considered out of bounds if either foot is out of bounds.

This type of foul cannot cause a disqualification only additional points to opponent

FOULS

A foul occurs when a competitor uses an illegal technique or attacks an illegal target area.  Also fouls can be called for unsportsmanlike behavior (taunting an opponent, arguing with the judges, over celebration, etc.)  Fouls are in total not just of a single time. Any four fouls disqualifies a competitor. 

  • 1st foul is a warning
  • 2nd foul a penalty is added to the fouler
  • 3rd foul a penalty is added to the fouler
  • 4th foul competitor is Disqualified
    • Any judge, even not assigned to the match, can request for the tournament coordinator to adjudicate a disqualification.  The match will be paused and the tournament coordinator will hear the information and make the final call. 

Applying a Foul

  • Using the 20/20 App: Each foul will apply 20% damage to the fouler.
  • Not using the 20/20 App: The head judge will hit the fouler’s vest to apply a damage. Attempt to be about 20%-30% of health.

 

"Pulling" FOULS

When a defender deliberately moves in such a way to cause an attack to strike an illegal area.  The attacker will not get a foul since the defender caused the illegal contact.  A competitor pulling a foul can get warnings/fouls for unsportsmanlike behavior.

PROTEST

The head instructor of a school or an appointee for the school may protest the results of a call or match.  The head instructor will request the head judge to stop the match and call for the tournament coordinator to hear the protest.  The tournament coordinator will hear the protest and make a decision based on the protest and information from the judges. Protests should rarely occur.  

A school that protests and is overturned on multiple occasions may be disallowed to protest for the rest of that tournament at the discretion of the tournament coordinator.

INJURY

If an injury occurs have the other competitor return to their starting spot face away from the injured competitor and take a knee.

The Head Judge will determine if the injured contestant can or cannot continue.

If an injured contestant cannot continue:

  • From a legal technique they forfeit the match.
  • From a non-scoring or illegal technique the injured competitor wins the match.

DISQUALIFICATION

Competitor is listed as the loser and the win is given to the other competitor.

The Tournament Coordinator can be brought in if the disqualification may require more actions outside of the current match (removal from the tournament, banning from future tournaments).