how would one go about organizing a martial arts tournament?

When I moved to Virginia in the mid 1980's, I met an Isshinryu Master that was well known. He knew everyone and was a long time tournament competitor, and promoter. Even though my style is not tournament oriented, I thought It might be fun to try it. Over the next few years my friend had me get involved in his tournaments for set up as well as judging. He added my name to some of the tournament fliers and eventually my name was on top as the promoter of the event. From my experiences I can tell you this....

*** First and foremost if you do not have connections within the schools that compete, and a way to motivate them to support your event, you are likely to lose your rear end...!!!

***If you have that kind of contacts or do an event with someone that has then you may want to read further. Otherwise I recommend that you either hook up with someone that has run successful events or forget the idea completely.

Now if you are still considering this here is what you MUST consider...

1) You must have fliers or web contact with the schools you want to come.

2) You must find a place that will rent you a gym suitable for the event. Many gyms will not allow such events due to insurance liability issues.

** Any school that will rent to you will require

A) a fee for the rental

B) a large insurance policy to cover the event to protect them. To buy that kind of insurance all the insurance companies I know of will not sell that kind of coverage to you unless you already have your own martial arts school covered by them.

C) They will also either have someone say all day to represent them and for their own insurance company. They will charge you so they can pay that person.

D) They most likely will require you to have a local EMS ambulance present for the whole event. Again that will cost you at least $100 and possibly much more.

4) You will have to have awards trophies made for each division for at least 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place..... Note: you may want to have additional places.

NOTE: If you try to get out cheap, people will not want to come to your tournament. The last Tournament I held in Virginia in the mid 1990's cost me over $1,700.00 just for the trophies....

5) You will need staff to both run the registration and to judge the tournament.

Note: Be sure to have staff you can trust with the money!!! Also arrange as many judges in advance. I have seen many tournaments where the promoter did not do that. He waited until the event was about to start then asked anyone that was a black belt to come forward and help judge. That is a good way to fail, or have idiots that are not qualified judging your event. At one event some guy wanting to impress his girlfriend claimed to be a black belt and was allowed to judge. He knew nothing about martial arts and his blunders caused an outrage. At the very least having unknown people judging will cause you big headaches.

6) Have the rules written out in detail and have them covered before the event starts.

7) Make sure that your rules will not get you sued. Have the judges enforce the rules strictly. At many tournaments I know of judges that would allow full contact in their ring even thought the rules did not allow it. At one in Maryland one competitor broke the others jaw. The promoter lost a lawsuit and had to pay over a million dollars (fortunately for him his insurance paid it).

There is much planning and more I have not mentioned involved in having a successful event. If you don't plan it well and stick to the strict format, you stand to lose money and possibly get into legal trouble. I ran several events that after tons of work and money made a small profit. The last one lost me big bucks. I will never do another tournament again...

...

I agree with jw: Kokoro and Pugpaws have covered it well.

One specific suggestion: Contact a tournament organizer in your area. Be upfront about your plans. But offer to work for free to see what goes on behind the scenes. Choose a tournament organizer who puts on a different type of martial art tournament so there won't be the fear of direct competition.

The established contacts with schools in the area is critically important. Example, in my area, there are perhaps 6 or 7 different martial arts tournament promoters--MMA, MMA/Muay Thai, BJJ/grappling, TKD, and maybe another combination.

My son attends a branch of a school that has maybe 30 people who could compete. It's part of a larger school that has maybe 200 potential competitors. While the students can compete in any on their own (except for MMA), the school will select a few at which to really show up and compete. At those, the instructors will attend the tournaments and coach the students.

So some aren't promoted at all within the school. Others are promoted at every class: "I expect to see you all at XXXXX in January. Doesn't matter if you're a beginner or a purple belt. I expect to see you all there." Keeping in mind that BJJ/grappling tournament fees where I am (Northern Virginia) can be close to $100--if 20 students from the one school show up, that's $2,000 in registration fees. If closer to 30 show up, that's $3,000.

You do that with 5 or 10 schools in the area, and you've transformed your tournament from one that's scraping by to one that's quite profitable.

Hope that helps.

Your going to néed to be know by other people go to there tournaments and support there events. Other wise you won't get a turn out

Start small keep it simple, don't lay out too much or you will lose your shirt

-You need insurance

-A place to host the event

-Organize your rings and events (I strongly recommend its only advance registration so you can do this)

Set up you rules (and for your judges meeting remember your in charge, it's not a discussion it's your rules done your way. I have seen a 5 min meeting turn into an hour argument, because the director did not take control like he should)

-you will need basic things like score cards, ring tape flags, charts for fighting and bye charts

-advertisement

-a contingence plan for injures and a medical kit

-a concession stand for food and water as well as basic equipment.

-plan out your registration setup

-a few key people to help you through the day

I may have left some things out I'm in a rush. I'll look at it later

K_JKD Here is my addition to the list above also I expect you will get little real support on this as few people on here are involved in their clubs running and are all my style is better than your style and u r in a mc dojo

1-Fundraising

2-Fundraising

3-Fundraising...have I emphasised that enough

4-Venue

5-Volunteers mostly club member each contributing their professional skills to the cause

6-Advertising and promotion...get the other clubs to COMMIT not vague but need people to sigh up and confirm their presence...deposits will help secure peoples attendance..if they pay they play

7-Plan and trial run

Thats all i got i was always a volunteer but not a core contributor

WHATS THE TOURNEY ABOUT?

Good advice so far.

But if you don't know, then delegate the task to someone else who's done it before. It is a nightmarish headache. Here is a checklist that we used to use:

1. Secure liability insurance before you do anything

2. Secure event insurance before you do anything

3. Secure legal advice - get a qualified lawyer to help

4. Get sponsorship from manufacturers

5. Sponsors should handle advertisements, you can augment with your own

6. If you advertise on your own, consider established (ie, bookmarked) web sites rather than new domains, because people won't know to find them.

7. As part of your advertising, contact schools near you and hand-deliver fliers

8. You will need to hire services who can rent you raised platforms (if that's required by the styles competing), they will set it up, secure it, take it down. You don't want the liability of doing it yourself.

9. If your style is part of an organization (eg, WTF, judo, karate, and the like), notify them. They may have restrictions about who can participate unless some restrictions are met (uniforms, rules, advertisement, use of equipment, whether other styles are allowed to compete, etc)

10. Establish rules, weight/age/competency categories

11. Be sure your get medical clearances from all competitors

12. Review with your lawyer whether any competitor who has had a concussion or medical problem (asthma, epilepsy, etc) is medically cleared for competition, and whether such clearances meet state law

13. If your tournament sponsors a money purse, review with your lawyer whether you meet state gaming commission regulations

14. If your tournament allows minors to compete, be sure there are facilities that can handle them (separate bathrooms, child safety precautions, etc. Again, work with your lawyer.

15. Revenue generators - food and supplies

16. If you sell food, you will need clearance with state health inspectors. The town inspector should be able to guide you on how to obtain a temporary permit. Expect to handle issues such as waste, cleanliness, hot water, electrical, refrigeration, and other sanitary needs.

17. Your town police will no doubt need to know about the venue, and will probably require a permit. Then, they can monitor the event so extra police can be on-hand to handle extra traffic and potential problems with spectators.

18. Security - need to deal with unruly spectators, parking, etc

19. Will you serve alcohol? A whole new can of worms opens up; you'll need an expensive permit, as well as extra liabilility insurance for drunk drivers; ask your lawyer about this.

20. Prizes - trophies, medals, etc all need to be ordered ahead of time, and generally, no refunds: what will you do in the event the event is cancelled? Review the trophies to be sure the markings are correct; that you have enough

21. Signage: exit signs, instructional signs, standings as the event progresses

22. Audio/Visual - microphones, amplifiers, and speakers are a must; so is the electricity to power them; this makes placement critical. Also, extra lighting may be required. Seek the advice of a local theater company to assist with this.

EDIT: You'll need support staff. And prioritize your list.

Create a team of as many people as possible; each person is responsible for one thing on your checklist. You manage the people; the people manage their task. When they are done, assign them to the next item on the priority list.

Consider getting someone to record the event, and to take photos. The can be sold for profit or for future advertisement.

-Book a sporting facility

-Organize competitors through advertising or approaching martial arts schools

-Organize referees and accreditation from an organization if desired

-Organize first aid and health officials

-Organize catering and food/drink

etc

Kokoro and Pugspaw covered it well. Just to add to what they said. You can get some decent pricing on trophies from:

http://www.dinntrophy.com/

They run all types of specials and will get you your trophies quickly. I've only had one trophy sent to me that was not right. I called them and they sent me another custom engraved trophy the next day.

First you have to kidnap the wives / girlfriends / brothers of the fighters you want to compete. Then you have to rent a warehouse. Next, find a bunch of guys in tuxedos and a bunch of hookers to watch the fights.