ETIQUETTE
ATA's primary goal for its students in sparring matches is to be safe and have fun. To do that, competitors and spectators are to follow these rules and guidelines:
All sparring students are expected to wear ATA-approved equipment:
- Head gear
- Face shield
- Chest guard
- Foot gear
- Hand gear
- Mouth guard
- Protective cup (for males)
Students and their parents will practice good sportsmanship by showing discipline, courtesy, and respect. They will refrain from signs of frustration, disgust, or dissatisfaction with the outcome of matches, and they will not show over-exuberance should they or their student win a match.
Competitors will get warnings for these actions:
- Purposely running out of bounds to avoid the match or fall down to avoid contact or otherwise delaying a match. Going out of bounds or falling in the normal course of the match will sometimes happen. Competitors should know where they are in relation to the ring boundary.
- Performing fakes to illegal targets
- Grabbing or holding an opponent, but swatting or closed-hand blocking away kicks and punches is fine.
- Receiving coaching. Positive cheering is welcome and encouraged. If a spectator is coaching, the chief judge will stop the match and remind them of the rules. Should the coaching continue, the spectator will be asked to leave the ring side or the competition area.
A student always has the right, and the responsibility, to limit the amount of contact during a sparring match. Although color belt sparring is ideally noncontact, contact does occur. If you are uncomfortable with the amount of contact or power, it is your right, and responsibility, for you to ask for less contact or power. No one else will ask for you.
