INCTL Competition Rules
(last updated September 23, 2007)

Competitor Qualifications

Full-time Student Status.Competitors must be full-time students of a participating school at the time of competition. If a student's full-time status is in doubt, then the student may be asked to produce documentation proving his full-time status. Each competitor must bring a copy of his/her student university or college identification card as well to an INCTL competition and show it at the time of registration.

Medical insurance. All competitors must be covered by a medical insurance policy, and must have their medical insurance coverage information present with them at the tournament.

Required Equipment

Uniforms. All competitors must wear white V-neck Tae Kwon Do doboks (uniforms). Only black belts should wear uniforms with black trim around the collar.

Sparring equipment. All sparring competitors must wear the following equipment:

-trunk protector (for A-team competitors, must be a WTF-style hogu with shoulder/back protection)
-helmet
-mouth guard
-forearm guard (worn inside uniform)
-shin guards (worn inside uniform)
-instep guards
-groin protector (for men, worn inside uniform)

WTF-style gloves and socks are allowed but not required. However, the color of these protectors must be white or match the color of the hogu being worn.

Tournament Entry Fees and League Membership

Competitor entry fees for members. Tournament entry fees are $25 for competitors from member clubs, and $35 for competitors of non-member clubs. An additionally $10 late fee will be assessed for every competitor who registers after the registration deadline of the tournament, typically on the Thursday before the tournament at 10 pm.

Club/College membership. Annual membership for a collegiate club costs $100. Membership gives the club the rate of $25 for its members at tournaments, allows it to be considered in the year-end rankings for trophy consideration, and gives it a profile and link on the INCTL website.

Sparring (Kyorugi) Rules - General

Modified WTF Rules. With certain exceptions, current World Taekwondo Federation rules are in effect, including one point for a kick or punch to the legal scoring are of the trunk, two points for a kick to the legal scoring area of the head, and an extra point awarded for a strike resulting in an eight count. Exceptions to the WTF sparring rules include but are not limited to the following:

Sudden Death. If a match ends with a tie score at the end of the second round, then the match proceeds to a sudden death round where the match is decided by either the 1st player to score or the 1st player to receive a one-point deduction. If the tie is not broken by the end of the first sudden death round, a second, third, etc. sudden death round will be contested, and so forth until the tie is broken. At the beginning of each sudden death round, all penalties will be cleared.

Instep protection. As in USA Taekwondo competitions, instep protection is required for all competitors.

Number of Corner Referees. Only 3 corner judges are required for a valid ring.

Point Gap. A 10-point gap shall be used instead of a 7 point gap to compensate for the more liberal scoring that comes with 3 judges. If 4 judges are used in a ring, then a 7 point gap shall be used.

Point Ceiling. No point ceiling will be used at INCTL competitions to give competitors as much sparring experience as possible.

Weight divisions. Weight divisions are modified as described below in the Team Sparring rules section.

Length of matches. Matches are 2 rounds long with a 30 second break in between. The length of the round is different for each division - advanced divisions spar with rounds of 2 minutes, intermediate divisions with rounds of 90 seconds, and beginner divisions with rounds of 60 seconds. See the Team Sparring rules section for more information.

Head contact. For the beginner, or "D-Team" and "C-Team" divisions, no head contact is permitted. Kicks to the head will be penalized in the same manner as punches to the head. For all other divisions, head contact follows standard WTF rules.

Allowed kicks. For "D-team" or first-timer division sparring only, competitors shall use their right leg during the first round and their left leg during the second round. Kicks with the wrong leg will be penalized as an illegal technique.

Team Sparring Divisions and Team Sparring Rules

Team composition. The main draws of INCTL tournaments consist of teams of 3 competitors plus up to 2 alternates. Each team will consist of one lightweight competitor, one middleweight competitor, and one heavyweight competitor. The alternates may be of any weight division. The weight divisions are defined as follows:

A competitor may spar "up" a maximum of one weight division, at his/her coach's discretion. For example, middleweight may spar in the heavyweight slot, but a lightweight may never spar in the heavyweight slot. Competitors may not spar in a lighter weight class than the one they weigh in as.

Sparring divisions. There are 4 skill levels at INCTL competitions: A-Team (Advanced), B-Team (Intermediate),, C-Team (Beginner), and D-Team (First-Time) for both men and women. Thus, there are a total of eight divisions:

B-team competitors may also spar in A-team competition at the same tournament. C-team competitors may also spar in B-team divisions at the same tournament. However, no competitor may spar in both the C and A-team divisions at the same tournament. Once a competitor has been entered in the A-team division, he/she may not spar in the C-team division at any future INCTL tournaments. Also, any competitor entered in the D-team competition may not spar in any other divisions for that tournament.

No head contact for D and C-Team divisions. D (first timer) and C-team (beginner) divisions spar using no contact to the head. Kicks to the head will be penalized in the same manner as punches to the head.

D-team division rules. The purpose of this division is to provide first-time sparring competitors with a positive experience against other competitors with limited Taekwondo sparring experience.

All competitors in the D-team division must, in addition to being full-time students, must be:

1) White or Yellow belt in rank (yellow belt with green stripe acceptable)
2) Must have never participated in a martial arts tournament sparring match before.

During the first round, D-Team competitors may only use their right leg to spar. In the second round, -Team competitors may only use their left leg to spar. The reason for this rule is to reduce the frequency of injuries in the competitors.

D teams will earn no points for their teams. Once a competitor has competed in the D-team division, he/she may not compete again in the D-team division at future tournaments.

Match Length. Sparring matches are two rounds long, lengths varying according to the level of competition as described below.

Point awards for team sparring. For each division, all teams within that division will be entered into a single elimination bracket. One 1st place, one 2nd place, and two 3rd places will be given all divisions. No points are awarded for D-team sparring.

Also, one school may not earn points for more than 2 teams per division in a signle men's or women's division. For example, if MIT places 1st, 2nd and 3rd in men's B-team sparring, then they will only receive points for the 1st and 2nd place teams, but not for the 3rd place team. This rule is intended to make sure that large teams do not have too much of an advantage over smaller ones.

Seeding. Seeds will be awarded based on the total number of team points scored by each team (i.e. MIT A1, Cornell A2, NYU C2) at the last 3 tournaments. i.e. if Tufts Men's C2 earned a bronze medal at the previous tournament, a silver medal at the tournament before, and no tournament at the season before, then they would earn 40 points towards their seed in the current tournament).

Number of teams. Each school may enter as many teams as desired per division. However, no more than two teams from any one school may score points in a single division.

Lining teams up. For a team vs. team match, competitor match-ups will be decided on the initial team lineup of two teams before any sparring begins. Alternates must line up behind the person for whom they may substitute for that match.

- No competitor may spar two positions within the same team.

- Because a competitor may qualify for more than one weight division, it is possible for there to be more than one legal lineup for a given team. Thus, a competitor cannot change his/her placement after the initial lineups have been decided until after all 3 matches have been contested.

- In the event that both teams have flexibility in their lineup and can not mutual agree, then they shall each write their chosen team down on a sheet of paper to be submitted to the referee, who will then reveal both teams simultaneously.

- After a team has advanced to the next round, they are not required to keep the same lineup that they used in the last match.

Determining the winner of two teams. Because schools may not have enough competitors to fill a complete team, different combinations of competitors are possible. The winner between two teams will be decided as follows:

Criteria for advancement for a 3 person vs. 3 person team. The winner is determined by the team that wins two or more matches.

Criteria for advancement for a 3 person vs. 2 person team. The 2 person team must win both matches to advance, otherwise the 3 person team advances.

Criteria for advancement for a 2 person vs. 2 person team in the same weight classes. The winner is determined by the team that wins two matches.

If, after two matches, each team has won one match, then the winner is determined by the team that scored the most number of points across both matches. I.e. if match 1 was won by Red, 7:3, and match 2 was won by Blue, 3:5, then the total score across both matches is 10:8 in favor of Red, and Red advances.

If after both matches each team has won one match, and the cumulative score is also tied, then the winner is decided by the referee on the basis of cumulative superiority across both matches. Thus, the center referee must be aware of this possibility and track the superiority of the players across both matches. Superiority is defined as the player who showed more initiative during the match.

Criteria for advancement for a 2 person vs. 2 person team which share only one weight class in common. If, for example, Red has only a middleweight and a heavyweight on its team, and Blue has only a light weight and a middleweight on their team, then the winner is determined by the winner of a single middleweight vs. middleweight match.

Criteria for advancement for a 2 person vs. 1 person team. A 2 person team always advances over a 1 person team. However, the 2 person team must spar out the match in good faith against the 1 person team or risk disqualification for the rest of the division.

Criteria for advancement for a 1 person vs. 1 person team. The team to win the single match advances in the bracket.

"Lame duck" rule. All competitors must compete even if his/her team has already qualified to advance to the next round, unless the competitor is severely injured and cannot compete. There will be no voluntary forfeits. If the competitor withdraws either before or during a match due to injury, then he/she may not compete in any other matches in that sparring division (i.e. A, B, C) even if his/her team advances. However, he/she may return later in the day to spar in a different division.

The only exception to this rule is if an alternate is substituted in his/her place. In that event then the player who was substituted out may later spar in another match within the same division.

This rule is designed to enrich the experience of all competitors whether they win or lose and to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to compete.

Example. In the semifinals, MIT Men's A1 meets RPI Men's A1, with 3 players on either side. Neither team has any alternates. RPI A1 wins the light and middleweight matches. RPI A1's heavyweight may not withdraw and save himself for the finals - he must spar the match to completion. If he does decide to withdraw due to injury, or if he does not complete the match, then he may not compete in the A-team finals. However, if the RPI A1 heavyweight is entered in the Men's B-team competition as well, he may compete in that division regardless of any withdrawl in the A-team division.

Alternates. 2 alternates per team are allowed. Alternates are to be used as substitute players for a team in the event that a player for that team is injured or wishes to withdraw from competition. Alternates may only substitute for a player of the same weight class.

Alternates may be on the team list for a maximum of two teams within a division, but cannot actually compete for (i.e. spar or force a forfeit for) more than one team within a division. Once an alternate has competed for one team, he/she may not compete for another team within the same sparring division (A, B, C).

Weigh-ins. Weigh-in shall be conducted in uniform with a 2 pound allowance. Weigh-in shall be made once; however, one more weigh-in is granted within the time limits for official weigh-in to the contestants who did not qualify the first time. Weight divisions are enforced for all sparring divisions (A, B, C).

Sparring on multiple teams within a division. A competitor cannot spar or compete for more than one team within his/her division (i.e. Men's A-team) within a tournament. Thus, if a competitor is an alternate on two teams, he/she is ineligible to compete for any other teams in that division once he/she has competed for (i.e. sparred or forced a forfeit for) a particular team.

Example 1: John is an alternate for both MIT Men's A1 and MIT Men's A2. He is substituted in on MIT Men's A2 to spar one match. He may not compete for MIT Men's A1 for the rest of the tournament, although he may continue to spar with MIT Men's A2.

Example 2: Betty, a middleweight at 130 lbs, is an alternate for both Cornell Women's B2 and Cornell Women's B3. Cornell Women's B3 has only two players in addition to Betty - a light and a middle weight. They are matched up against NYU B1, which has only 2 competitors - a light and a middle weight, with no alternates. Betty is asked to line up with Cornell B3 as their heavyweight to force a forfeit of the heavyweight match by NYU. Betty may not then later spar for or force a forfeit for Cornell Women's B2.

Sparring in more than one division. A color belt competitor who is entered in a B-team division may also compete on an A-team. This rule is aimed at the individual who may not be the rank of a black belt, but can compete at the level of a black belt.

Likewise, a competitor who is entered in the C-team division may also compete in the B-team division. However, a competitor may not be entered in both the C-team division and the A-team division.

Once a competitor has sparred in the A-team division, he/she may not compete in a C-team division again at the same or any future INCTL tournaments, regardless of his/her rank.

Poomsae (Forms) Competition

Divisions. There are ten poomsae divisions (including both Men and Women), defined as follows:

Any rank-appropriate traditional Taekwondo forms will be accepted, but WTF poomsae are preferred.
There are no weight classes in poomsae competition.

Large divisions. If a division has 30 or more competitors, the group may be split into two equally sized divisions. After one round, then the top 5 competitors will be chosen from each group and run off in a final group of 10 to determine the overall medalists for the division.

Accepted Poomsae. Any rank-appropriate traditional Taekwondo forms will be accepted, but WTF poomsae are preferred. Some latitude will be allowed by judges for different styles of Taekwondo and the different poomsae requirements of different clubs.

Point awards for poomsae. One 1st place, one 2nd place, and one 3rd place award will be given for each of the 10 poomsae divisions. Points will be awarded to the school of the competitor in the following amounts:

Weigh-in Procedures

Night-Before Weigh-in Procedures:

The host team MAY host weigh-ins the night before the tournament day. These weigh-ins must follow the following regulations:

- Weigh-ins must take place after 6 pm and must last for at least 2 hours. Within reason, the school should make an effort to accommodate the travel schedules of participating schools.

- The time, duration, date and location of the night-before weigh-ins must be announced at least 2 weeks in advance of the tournament date via the INCTL mailing list.

- No weigh-in may occur with representatives of only one school present. Preferably, an INCTL league representative (who is not a member of the host school team) designated by the board shall be present in addition to a host school representative. In the absence of a league representative, an officer, team captain or instructor from at least 2 INCTL-registered schools must be present at the time of weigh-ins. This means that the host schools may not solely weigh in their own competitors.

- Athletes must make the exact weight specified on the INCTL website for their weight division, unless they are wearing a complete uniform (top, bottom and belt). If they are wearing a complete uniform, two (2.0) pounds leeway may be given to the athlete.

- A complete record of each athlete's weigh-in must be kept on an official INCTL weigh-in sheet. Each athlete weighed in must be signed off on a record sheet by representatives of at least two schools, and the time of weigh-in shall also be recorded.

- Whenever possible, the host school shall use scales provided by the INCTL for weigh-ins.

Day-Of Weigh-in Procedures:

The host team MUST conduct weigh-ins on the morning of the tournament. These weigh-ins must follow the following regulations:

- No weigh-in may occur with representatives of only one school present. Preferably, an INCTL league representative (who is not a member of the host school team) designated by the board shall be present in addition to a host school representative. In the absence of a league representative, an officer, team captain or instructor from at least 2 INCTL-registered schools must be present at the time of weigh-ins. This means that the host schools may not solely weigh in their own competitors.

- Athletes must make the exact weight specified on the INCTL website for their weight division, unless they are wearing a complete uniform (top, bottom and belt). If they are wearing a complete uniform, two (2.0) pounds leeway may be given to the athlete.

- A complete record of each athlete's weigh-in must be kept on an official INCTL weigh-in sheet. Each athlete weighed in must be signed off on a record sheet by representatives of both schools, and the time of weigh-in shall also be recorded.

- Whenever possible, the host school shall use scales provided by the INCTL for weigh-ins.