Board Breaking Competition

A. In each event a #1 or #2 white pine wooden board (10 x 12 x 1 inch thick)
B. For each item, each competitor will only have 1 attempt to break only with 1 pre-judging of distance and up to 4 stations using at least one hand/elbow and one foot technique.  If you attempt to go for the third or fourth station, it can be foot or hand/elbow.  The competitor will bow to the judges and assume a sparring/defensive stance before attempt to break.  The attempt to break must be in one continuous movement. After the signal of the center judge/referee, the competitor has 30 seconds to complete that item.  Bring you own obstacles (if applicable)! 
C. Judges/referees may disallow a break for failure to maintain the following:
    i.) Correct balance and posture throughout technique.
    ii.) Correct attacking tool in the correct manner.
    iii.) Knocking over any or all of the hurdles. (If applicable)
D. Judges/referees must examine each board before each attempt. Once a wooden board is used, it cannot be used again, even if it is not broken or cracked.
E. Each broken/separated board will count as 3 points.  Each cracked board will count as 2 points.
F. The winners will be the competitors with the highest scores after having broken all items listed from their 3x5 card.
G. Competitor must break or crack each board in order to be considered for placement.  The intent of this is for the competitor to have an interesting and challenging break while anticipating they will actually be able to perform the breaks.  If the competitor sets up three stations with 2 boards each and fails to crack or break on one board, they are disqualified from winning with only first place being awarded.
H. In the event of a tie the competitors will line up and the judges will point to the best overall performance.  This is the reason the competitor should attempt interesting breaks.  If there are three finalists with a tie (meaning they all broke/cracked all boards at all stations and ended up with the same score), the person using more difficult techniques will likely be the winner based on the judges final selection.

The competitors bring their own boards.  When the board breaking competition begins, all boards will be gathered and mixed up so that a competitor will very likely not get their boards back.  This is intentional to prevent any board tampering.  ONLY bring #1 or #2 white pine.  Before competition, have your name, instructors name, city, state, and rank written on a 3x5 or similar size paper/card.  On the back of the card, list what you are going to break with, how many boards, what striking tool, and any obstacles.

A deeper look into scoring.  Assume a person has 3 stations with 1 board in each station.  They break all three stations so they get 9 points (3 points per broken board x 3 boards).  Another competitor breaks 2 stations with 2 boards each so they get 12 points (3 points per broken board x 4 boards).  The object is to break the most boards using up to four stations.

Obviously, special allowances will be made for those physically unable to break with hand/elbow or foot techniques.  (IE on crutches, amputee arms or legs, wheelchair, etc) We will make this as fair as possible for everyone involved.

Solely at our discretion, we may split the division up based on male/female, weight, and/or rank. 

See an arbitrator if any problems that can not be resolved in the ring. Arbitrators will be announced before the competition begins.

What we expect: A safe and fun competition for the entire family that will make people feel compelled to attend every year. Please refrain from foul language and tobacco products while at our family event.  For many people, this may be their first competition.  A bad judge or bad experience may very well stop them from ever competing again in this tournament or anyone's.  So please be professional and make sure everyone has a safe and fun experience.

Martial art tournaments should be fun.  We've introduced board break competition because we saw it being done in Connecticut and the competitors really had a good time.   

Questions we've received: (please check back for the latest questions.  Use the contact page to send your question in)

Can I use only one station/technique?  Yes.  And it can be foot or hand.  However, you're placing a lot on one break.  With that said, breaking 5 boards with an elbow is worth 15 points and that beats a competitor doing 3 stations with one board.

Can we use rebreakable boards?  No.  It gets too complicated when we redistribute the boards.

Why do you redistribute the boards?  Well, we'd all like to believe a person's integrity is worth more than a $25 trophy, but this helps to keep an honest person honest.  There's no reason to bake a board if the odds are pretty slim you'll get it back come competition time.

Can set the board break up on blocks for a downward strike?  Yes.

Can we break blocks? No.  See rebreakable board question above.

Spacers allowed?  No.

Do we need people to hold boards?  Yes and no.  We will need board holders for everyone but we don't want anyone to bring their buddies to hold exclusively for them.  If you know anyone willing to hold boards, by all means, suggest them.  We're trying to keep this as fair as possible.

Some great questions!  Thanks for clarifying things before competition day!  Hit the "contact us" if you have any more!