1. The Purpose of the Rules

These Rules are made up for competitions on Modern Sword Fighting (MSF) and are obligatory to application at all competitions held and accredited by the Federation of Modern Sword Fighting of Russia (FMSFR) and/or International Federation of Modern Sword Fighting (IFMSF).

2. Definition of Modern Sword Fighting (MSF)

Modern Sword Fighting is a full-contact type of martial arts, which is a duel or group fight of athletes, with the use of safe simulators of medieval bladed weapons – a “sports sword” and a “sports shield” made of soft polymer materials.

3. Organization of competitions
   

3.1. MSF competitions are held in accordance with these Rules, as well as the Competition Regulations, developed in each case by the Organizing Committee of competitions.

3.2. The Organizing Committee is obliged:

3.2.1.          to develop Competition Regulations and approve them at the President of FMSFR / IFMSF and/or at the Chief Referee of FMSFR / IFMSF.

3.2.2.          to form and approve the Referee Panel of competitions;

3.2.3.          to provide an appropriate level of organizational, logistical and medical support of competitions;

3.2.4.          to prepare the competition venue;

3.2.5.          to provide accommodation for participants, team representatives, coaches, referees;

3.2.6.          to provide high-quality work of service staff.

3.3. The Organizing Committee of competitions is obliged to provide and organize the work of the following commissions:

3.3.1.          Referee Board (including the Secretariat of the competition);

3.3.2.          Medical Board;

3.3.3.          Technical Board.

4. Competition Regulations

4.1.            Competition Regulations is the main document, which guides the Referee Board   and participants of the competitions.

4.1.1.         Competition Regulations are developed taking into account requirements of these Rules.

4.1.2.         Competition Regulations are agreed and approved by the President of the IFMSF and/or the Chief Referee of the IFMSF.

Note: when the Organizing Committee of the competition wishes to test any innovation not described in these Rules, these innovations must necessarily be agreed and approved by the President of the FMSFR/IFMSF.

4.1.3.         If there are statements in the Competition Regulations that are contrary to these Rules and not approved by the President FMSF/IFMSF, the Referee Panel is guided by the Competition Regulations.

4.2 The Competition Regulations are drawn up and agreed no later than 7 days prior to the event, otherwise such competitions are not approved by the FMSFR;

4.3 The Organizer has the right to announce an independent set of disciplines and nominations held during the competition in full accordance with the Rules.

4.4.  A competition must be entered into the schedule of FMSFR/IFMSF competitions no later than on the 20^th of September of the current academic year. The Tournaments that are only officially submitted before the 20^th of September, 2019 to the FMSFR Calendar via the link https://forms Hm.gle/NR4epL6aTJAAH2Qm6, or a separate individual Petition to the FMSFR Council for the other date – have the right to be “rated”. Other tournaments that are not included in the Calendar and not designed properly are not considered as “rating”.

4.5 All competitions in FMSFR / IFMSF are divided into 6 categories A++, A+, A, B, C, D. Accordingly they are subject to the rules for organization, composition, number of participants and the Referee Board.

Grades of MSF competitions:

4.6. The rank of the competition is assigned to the tournament beforehand – agreed with the Chief Referee of FMSFR/IFMSF or the President of FMSFR/IFMSF and is prescribed in the Regulations and recorded in the Final Protocol.

4.7. The Final Competition Protocol must contain:

– full list of all athletes (full name, club, city, current rank or category, phone, scored points, coefficient (as the coefficients are all different) and awarded Victory Points (VP),

– chart of results of all fights with points,

– list of winners by age and nominations with occupied places, including 1^st, 2^nd, 3^d, 4^th places,

– list of all referees (full name, club, city, phone) with categories,

– list of all clubs with cities (at the Championship of Russia it is necessary to specify also a Federal District, at the International Tournaments it is obligatory to specify the country).

4.8 The Final Competition Protocol (according to scoring age categories) must be sent to the FMSFR Secretariat (in two types – Excel (edited) and PDF (not edited) to mdavidova@list.ru and smbstat@mail.ru no later than 7 days after the completion, otherwise its results will be canceled).

5. Participation in competitions

5.1. Only members of the FMSFR and/or IFMSF and members of organizations officially cooperating with the FMSFR and/or IFMSF on the basis of Contracts or Agreements are allowed to participate at the competition.

Note: open participation of athletes is possible when specifying the competitions “Open” in the Competition Regulations.

5.2. Only athletes who have passed the official registration procedure are allowed to participate in the competitions.

5.3. Organizations and teams must inform the Organizing Committee about the planned participation of their teams no later than 7 days before the competitions and send the application in the prescribed form in accordance with the FMSFR/IFMSF requirements, these Rules and Regulations.

5.4. A necessary term for participation of teams and individual athletes at the FMSFR/IFMSF competitions is a strict implementation of the MSF Sports Ethics Regulation, given in these Rules.

5.5. Submission of an application for participation at the FMSFR/IFMSF competitions by an athlete or a team means acceptance of Rules and Regulations.

6. Categories, disciplines and nominations of competition

 6.1 Sports fights are carried out with the division:

6.1.1    by gender,

6.1.2. age categories,

6.1.3 weight categories for athletes aged 18-34 years

        6.1.3.2.   light weight – up to 75 kg;

        6.1.3.2.   middle weight – 75.1- 95 kg,

        6.1.3.2.   heavy weight – over 95.1 kg.

         6.1.3.2.  for boys 12-17 years (“light weight” and “heavy weight”).

In case of participation of 10 or more athletes in the same age category. This rule is advisory in nature.

Note: The participants are weighed. If the difference between the minimum and maximum value exceeds 20 kg, the whole category is divided equally into 2 weight groups.

For example: Fighter A – 43 kg, Fighter B – 50 kg, Fighter C – 51 kg, Fighter D – 56 kg, Fighter E – 59 kg, Fighter F – 60 kg, Fighter G – 61 kg, Fighter H – 62 kg, Fighter I – 64 kg, Fighter J – 70 kg. The difference between 43 kg and 70 kg = 27 kg, and it is more than 20 kg. Thus, the “Light weight” will include athletes: A, B, C, D, E and in the “Heavy weight” will include athletes: F, G, H, I, J.

6.2. Modern Sword Fighting Disciplines:

* in Triathlon (one-handed sword) and Triathlon (two-handed sword), each weapon has a time limit of 1 minute, breaks to change weapons last 30 seconds.

6.3. The MSF Federation Standards of allowed to competitions equipment and gears.

 6.3.1. Bladed sports equipment – “sports swords”:

6.1.3.1 In all specified sports categories only bladed sports equipment for Modern Sword Fighting of certain parameters, which are provided by the Organizing Committee of competitions and exactly correspond to the MSF Federation standards, are used.

6.1.3.1 Parameters of the sports sword for the nomination “Two-handed sword”:

* total length 120 cm = handle 30 cm + blade 90 cm

* Garda 15 cm

• weight of 850-900 g

6.3.1.3. Parameters of sports shashka:

           6.3.1.4. It is prohibited to attach the weapon to the arm or to protection elements (lanyard) to prevent dislocations of the hand and wrist.

6.3.1.5. Sports sword should be neat and tidy. It should not have serious deformations and protruding cushioning material. It should not be covered with dirt, dust, etc. The crosshair and pommel of the sports sword should not have sharp elements that can harm an athlete or his rival.

6.3.2. Parameters of the shield for the category “Shield – Sword”:

6.3.2.1. Shields of the established sample from polymeric soft and light materials of the triangular (heraldic) form of two sizes:

6.3.2.2. “Small” shield for children up to 7 years inclusive;

6.3.2.3. “Standard” (“ big”) shield for all other categories from 8 years

6.3.2.4. Shield must be neat and tidy. The plane of the shield must be intact, without significant gaps (internal cushioning material must not be visible).

6.3.2.5. The arsenal of the Organizing Committee of the event must be provided with shields both for “righties” and “lefties”.

6.3.2.6. The number of shield sets must be equal to or greater than the number of working Sites. The kit includes 1 red shield and 1 blue shield.

6.3.2.7. Athletes are permitted to apply their own shields with the club logo or arrangements, provided, that all their tactical and technical characteristics (TTC) coincide with standard ones, and images on a plane do not offend anyone’s dignity.

6.3.3. Parameters of the “MSF Buckler”:

6.3.3.1. A buckler must have a fist grip and a standardized shape, weight and size. The diameter of the buckler should be 35 cm, thickness – 4-6 cm.

6.3.3.2. A buckler must be neat and tidy. A buckler plane must be intact (the internal cushioning material must not be visible).

6.3.3.3. The number of sets of bucklers in arsenal of the Organizing Committee of the competition must be equal or exceed the number of working Sites. Bucklers can be black, red or blue.

6.3.3.4. Athletes are allowed to use at the competitions their own bucklers with the club logo or the event, provided that all their TTC coincide with the standard ones and the image plane do not offend anyone’s dignity.

6.4.      MSF has introduced a division into Leagues, reflecting the level of preparation of athletes in the MSF Movement. The Organizers have the right to hold different nominations and disciplines for League A and League B at the competition at their discretion.

6.4.1.   League A-athletes with more than 1 year of training and performance experience,

6.4.2.   League B-athletes with less than 1 year of training and performance experience,

6.4.3.   League C-athletes with disabilities. For refereeing League C a separate set of rules for the discipline of League C is used.

Note: League B fighters have the right to apply to perform at competitions in League A, regardless of experience training and competing.

Note: League B fighter, having chosen participation in League A (at the specific tournament), loses the right to participate in competitions of League B automatically (at this tournament).

6.5.      The list of the BASIC MSF sports nominations by types of weapon and categories by gender and age recommended for carrying out at competitions in Modern Sword Fighting:

6.5.1.   The Organizers of competitions in obligatory order specify in Competition Regulations the chosen nominations for each age category, taking into account weight categories and distribution on FMSFR/IFMSF Leagues.

6.5.2.   Nominations recommended for MSF competitions  in 2019-20 academic year:

6.6.      Nominations are held at the request of 3 or more participants. With a smaller number of applications, participants are allocated to the next age category one step elder or in the same age category, but the other gender if it is present.

6.7.      Participation of athletes in more than one age category, and also in the category which is not corresponding to the age of the certain athlete is forbidden. Violation of this rule will result in the disqualification of the competitor from the competition with zeroing of results. Additionally, the athlete’s team and the athlete’s manager receive a Warning (“Team yellow card”) for a 6- month period.

6.8.      Distribution by age categories is carried out according to the table of birth years, which is updated every new academic year.

6.9.      A participant of competitions can take part in team fights in his age categories and additionally in one step elder age category.

Note: Athletes born in 2009 and 2008 can participate in the nomination Team fights 10-11 years (2009, 2008), but only athletes born in 2008 can participate in the nomination Team fights 12-13 years (2007, 2006).