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Collegiate Wushu Championship Rules

These are the rules for the Collegiate Championship, which is held once a year (usually around President's Day Weekend). It started in 1997 and has been hosted by four different wushu clubs along the west coast. We hope to grow to nationwide participation as more East Coast schools form clubs in the future. These rules explain the format and guidelines for the competition. These rules can be used not only for the Collegiate Championships, but also for any collegiate wushu competition. We hope in the future that many schools will host collegiate only wushu tournaments throughout the course of the year, culminating in a national collegiate championship - similar to the way other collegiate sports are set up, like gymnastics, swimming, etc.

This is the most recent revision of the rules for collegiates. Please read through them thoroughly. I've added comments, examples and explanations of the motivation behind some of the rules at the end of some of the sections. These comments are marked with the [Comments appear here] icon. If you are using Internet Explorer, simply hold your mouse over the icon and the comments will pop up. At present I don't believe that it works with Netscape though (for those 5% of you). If you have any questions, comments or need clarification, please email me at raffi@uclink.berkeley.edu.

Collegiate Wushu Competition Rules:
v 3.0, 8/17/00 - Combination of 1998 rules with 1999 & 2000 updates

The tournament will have several awards: Best Individual Man, Best Individual Woman and Best Team. Any qualified competitor can compete for the Individual titles, but only full groups can compete for the team title.(see rules below). Standard IWuF criterion and rules will be followed for all judging. [The idea behind collegiates was to make a fun, fair event to promote collegiate wushu. The key is inclusion of all people who are in college who do Chinese Martial Arts (Internal, External, Contemporary or Traditional). Also it was designed so that beginners as well as intermediate and advanced level competitors all have equal value.] [Hopefully it will encourage people to start clubs and promote wushu competitions amongst college students. A model for us is Taekwondo. They've had collegiates for like 25 years. A fundamental theme behind these rules is SIMPLICITY. A lot of tweaking and conditional rules could be added, but these would most likely add to more confusion/abuse than they fix. But because of past experience, more strict and complicated rules have been added in some cases to try and curb dishonesty]

The choice has been made to keep the Collegiates free from any outside influence from governing bodies or other political wushu organizations. Therefore the collegiates shall have no permanent political affiliation with any political organization. A particular year's host can affiliate that year's tournament with an organization, but they may not bar any teams or individuals from participating, nor they can require membership in their organization to participate. [This is to prevent collegiates from getting ensnared in any of the political fights that exist in the wushu world. We do not want collegiates to become the pawn of any other organizations, nor become splintered because of politics. Actually this choice has actually been supported by members of several different governing bodies]

Divisions:
The actual divisions offered from year to year is ultimately the choice of the tournament host. Its important for the competition to not only have at least the standard divisions, but also to accommodate internal and traditional competitors by having sufficient divisions in those areas. Click here for a list of divisions used in past competitions.

One event that MUST be included is the group set division, which is a required part of the team competition (see below for description).

Due to the nature of the team competition, divisions (and skill levels within them) can *NOT* be combined, or cancelled under any circumstances: [Unlike a 'normal' competition (who's motive is generating profit) for the collegiates, the motive is to promote wushu and create the best possible competition. The schools prepare for the team competition by choosing team members based on what events they will be competing in and their likelihood to place in those divisions. Therefore it's unfair to combine divisions. Combining divisions potentially hurts a team based on what /other/ teams enter in. (Its not your fault if other schools don't enter in certain divisions, its unfair to penalize you for it).] [An example of how combining divisions for lack of participation could be abused would be for a school to purposefully not enter in divisions it might otherwise enter in, just so that an other team's competitor has to get combined their division combined and it reduces their ability to win medals. Also the logistics of combining divisions can lead to problems - its unfair to combine straight sword and broadsword if someone is registered for both, since you are removing their ability to medal if you combine them (can't compete twice in the same division, right?). What do you combine something like internal weapons with? For the sake of fairness and simplicity, its best to leave everything as it is set. In an ideal world, we will have so many competitors that combining divisions will be a non-issue]

Skill Level:
Skill levels will include three divisions, based on the number of years of Wushu training and experience:
1) Beginner (0 to 1 year)
2) Intermediate (1 to 3 years)
3) Advanced (>3 years) [These also can be redefined. But its important to remember that as we are dealing with college students, at this point in time, the vast majority of competitors have started wushu in college, so there won't be many people past 3 or 4 years in experience. In the future as more kids and teens practicing wushu enter college, this might change. The beginner level is also important, we want to foster competition amongst newer students (so they'll be eager to return in the future), so putting them in with much more advanced people, doing much more advanced sets is not a good idea. Also judges should be sure to value good basics and clean techniques over more difficult, 'flashier' sets]

Competitors must compete at a consistent skill level throughout the course of the entire tournament. (i.e. one cannot compete in intermediate changquan and beginner's broadsword) the skill level of a competitor is determined by total years since they began practicing Chinese Wushu (of any type), not by time spent learning a particular event. Breaks taken from training (semesters off, etc) are not subtracted from years of experience (ie if you started 3 years ago, you are intermediate even if you've taken a year off of wushu). Violation of this rule is grounds for disqualification (see Disqualification, below) [This is to keep the level definition simple, and prevent any confusion about the definition of skill level and/or abuse or cheating]

Points awarded for placing:
Individual and Team competition will be combined. Scores for all competitors will be given as in any normal competition but there will be *no* ties awarded. Once the competition in that division is complete, there will be two separate sets of results listed on the scoring sheet:
1) "Individual Places" - First through fourth of ALL competitors
2) "Team Places" - First through fourth of ONLY competitors competing in team competition. [This is so team members only compete against other team members for team points]
For both sets of scores, points will be awarded as follows:
First Place - 4 points
Second Place - 3 points
Third Place - 2 points
Fourth Place - 1 point
5th and Below - 0 points

Individual Competition:
Eligibility:
-Must be a currently enrolled full-time student in a degree-earning program. Proof of current enrollment is required and must be brought in person to the event. The proof may consist of an approved study list, transcript, or research curriculum for the present semester or quarter at the student's university. The study list must include the student's name and a date or time period for which it applies, in order to prove present enrollment. A student ID is *not* sufficient proof. The study list or transcript should also indicate that the student is taking at least the minimum number of units or credits at his or her university to qualify as a full-time student. "Currently enrolled" is defined as having the status of full-time student at the university on the day of competition. Violation of this rule is grounds for disqualification (see Disqualification, below) [This is another case where stricter rules were included to prevent abuse]
-Competitors, regardless of whether or not they are members of a Collegiate Team, are eligible to compete for the All-Around Champion title, as long as they register as advanced competitors.
-Note that an individual competitor does not have to be a member of a collegiate team in order to represent his or her college or university. [Anyone who does Chinese Martial Arts, of any kind can compete, they don't have to be a member of their school's wushu club. There are two reasons for this - 1) so that people who go to school at places that don't have a wushu, kungfu or taiji club can participate, and 2) people who practice at somewhere besides from their school's 'official' club can also participate (ie they train in traditional or taiji, but their school only has a contemporary club)]
-Members of a team are also eligible for the individual awards.

All-Around Champion Scoring:
-Sum of "Individual Places" in 4 Advanced divisions will be summed:
1) Handset (Changquan, Nanquan, Chen Taiji, Yang Taiji, Traditional handset, etc)
2) Short Weapon(Broadsword, Straightsword, Traditional Short, etc)
3) Long Weapon(Staff, Spear, Traditional Long, etc)
4) Other (Other Contemporary Handset, Other Internal Handset, Other Contemporary Weapon, Other Traditional Weapon, Other Internal Weapon, etc) [With the current set of divisions we've been using in the past, this formulation inherently means that people only doing internal or only doing southern weapons can't win all-around, something that needs to be considered when the host is choosing divisions]
-Male and Female competitors with highest individual sum will be Men's and Women's Individual Champion.
-If no competitor competes in each of the four groupings, then the sum will be made from all competitors who competed in any three of the four groupings. [In the past, this has been a problem. If no one competes in all four events at the advanced level, we should give people 'zeros' for groupings they're not in and see who of the people competing in three of the four events then has the highest score. If for some reason no one competes in three, look at two, etc]
-Should more than one athlete have the highest number of medal points, the award will be given to the athlete who earns more 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th "Individual Places", in that order. First condition satisfied settles the award. If a tie remains even beyond those comparisons, the award is given to all the athletes with the highest sum of places from ALL the divisions the competitor competed in. [This is a possibility, especially since the All-around has a max score of only 16. An example of this would be if two people have 12 points, one has three first places(3*4), the second has 4 second places (4*3), the first should win since they have more firsts.]

Team Competition:
Team Definition:
-6 people, determined before the beginning of the tournament.
-ALL team members must be eligible competitors (see Individual Competition Section for definition) at the SAME University or College. [ie no ringers, no people from other schools, no alumni. But its important to note that any six people from the same school can form their own team. It doesn't matter if they are an 'official club' for their school or not. For example if a private traditional school has six people who all go to the same college, they can form a team for that school]
-There is no limit on the number of teams from a university [larger clubs can field as many teams as they want, also a taiji club can field a team, a traditional club can field a team and/or a contemporary club can field a team all from the same university]
-At least two females or two males per team
(ie 4 men/2 women, 3 men/3 women or 2 men/4 men). [this is to promote gender equity. It has been hard for schools to meet the 2 person minimum, but its important for schools to /try/ and stay gender balanced]
-Team MUST compete in group set division. [A key feature of the team competition. Truly the centerpiece of the whole event]
Scoring:
-Best two "Team Places" (not including sparring set or group set) for each competitor will be summed. [This way people are encouraged to compete in multiple events, but beginners who might only know two or three sets still have as much impact as an advanced competitor who can enter in 5 or 6 divisions]
-Sum of all six competitor's places will be summed (12 places total).
-Group Set place will be DOUBLED and added to team sum.
-Team with highest team sum will be the winning team.
-In the event of a tie in the Team score, the team with the most first "Team Places" (of all events competed by the team members) will win. If the tie still remains, the team with the most second "Team Places" will win. [Again, a distinct possibility. The highest score possible is 4*12+4*2 = 56]
Rules for Group Set Competition:
-Only open to valid, full teams. [Not a regular division individuals can enter in]
-All participants must be from the same team.
-Minimum of 5 team members must perform set. [This number was originally 4, for 2000 it was changed to 6. Its /nice/ to have the entire team doing the group set, but to do so has serious drawbacks. The rules are flexible enough to allow any six people of any skill level, who practice any style to form a team. An example is like 2 contemporary people, 3 traditionalist and a person who only does taiji can form a team. BUT if you require all six people to do the group set, this means that the taiji person would have to participate in an external group set or everyone else would have to try doing an internal group set. Another problem is that requiring everyone to do the group set together discourages teams from including beginners, since this limits the difficulty of the group set that team can perform. A further problem is that if 6 people are required, but one of the team members gets hurt during the course of the day (a very probably occurrence) and can't participate in the group set. This would mean the team would be disqualified. If its only 4 or 5, then someone can drop out or sub in for an injured person. PS-in China, the entire team isn't required to do the group set either]
-Minimum time limit: 1 minute.
-Maximum time limit: 4 minutes. [just to make sure teams keep group sets from turning into entire 10 minute 'mini-demos']
-Can not be a set that any team members competed with in individual competition.
-Due to the fact that the score for group set counts double in the team competition, points for this division are awarded as follows:
First Place - 4 points
Second Place - 3 points
Third Place - 2 points
4th and Below - 1 point

Disqualification:
To encourage a fair tournament, a strict disqualification policy is in effect. Failure to bring valid documents to prove eligibility will result in that competitor's disqualification from the tournament. Dishonesty reporting of years of training (skill level) will result in disqualification. A disqualified team member causes his or her entire team to be disqualified from the team competition (non-disqualified team members are still eligible to compete in individual competition). A competitor can also be disqualified for cheating, unsportsmanlike behavior, or a failure to accord proper respect and courtesy towards the judges, tournament staff, fellow competitors, or instructors present at the competition. Disqualifications will be made official by the tournament's judge general. [Again, added because of abuses in the past. Ideally should never need to be invoked]

Rules revision procedures -
This is a very important subject. It's critical for the success of our sport for us to keep a consistent format and set of rules from year to year. But as our sport evolves and new situations arise, we need to refine the rules as needed. Its important to make sure that there is an official procedure for these revisions, and we need to make sure that the changes truly reflect the informed opinion of the collegiate wushu community (ie this competition and its rules are "bigger" than just one person or one school).

Therefore I propose we use the following procedure for rules revisions -

Every year at the conclusion of the collegiates, a committee is formed by the top three finishing universities. In the case where a single university has more than one team in the top three, the next best finishing university will get the third spot. It is this committee's responsibility to discuss the rules used at that competition, to get feedback from the competitors about the rules and possible improvements, and then discuss what revisions or additions, if any, need to be made to any rules. The general format of the competition has been proven successful in the past four years and therefore should remain unchanged - time limits, gender balance rules, eligibility requirements, are the most likely elements to be revised.

Once a revised set of rules has been agreed upon by the three committee members, this revision, along with an explanation of the changes should be submitted for review by the teams who participated in the previous year's collegiates. These schools must vote on the rule changes. For the changes to be adopted, a majority of the universities must approve it (>50%). In this vote, each team gets one vote except when more than one team comes from the same club or group. (ie Cal Wushu Club only gets one vote even if they have 3 teams, but another team formed from Cal students that competed the previous year would also get a vote). The team captain or their designee is in charge of participating in the vote. It is their responsibility to make sure they are in contact with the rules committee in order to participate. All meetings, discussions and voting can be conducted electronically

If the rule revisions are not approved, they must be revised again to make them acceptable. If no revisions are approved by one month before the upcoming competition, the rules from the previous year will be used without revision. It is also this committee's responsibility to select a location for the next year's collegiates. If more than one school bids to host the next year, the committee must decide which school is the best choice (based on club size, facilities, geographic location, past collegiates history, etc). Once the selection has been made, the committee should use its experience to help the next host with the organization and publicity of the next year's collegiates. The burden of hosting the event can be lessened greatly with help from past tournament directors, etc.

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