Order of Competition

Form: Once the final call for the form and weapon divisions has been made at ring side and the divisional seeds have been taken out (if seeding is required) the competition cards will be collected and shuffled thoroughly.   The competitor cards will then be drawn randomly for the order of competition. As per the Relative Ranking Rule the judges will look at all the competitors before they give their final scores.  This rule allows judges to adjust their scores if they feel other competitors that come later are better or worse than the competitors who came first (See Relative Ranking Rule Sheet).  Sparring: Once the final call for the sparring division are made at ringside and the seeds have been taken out (if seeding is required) the division is ready to be set up.  The competition cards should be collected and counted (if competition cards are not used, count the competitors) to see if byes are needed.  If byes are needed, they will be picked randomly (See bye chart to see how many byes are needed).  Matches should always be selected by random, but certain allowances may be given to competitors from the same school or team that is matched up in the first round of competition.  They may be separated randomly from each other in the first round if possible.  (Competitors cannot pick whom they want or do not want to fight.)
In the youth division, the competitors should be lined up by height (Smallest to the tallest) and split into tall and short divisions if required or offered.  Determining tall and short divisions is for safety reasons, not just to split the division equally. A true break in size should be found to determine the taller competitors from the shorter competitors.  Once the tall and short divisions are determined by height, determine who fights whom by random draw.  Consideration should be given to competitors who are from the same school or team that have been drawn to fight each other in the first round.