Kata

KATA
- In  KATA division a competitor or a team shows their skills about a particular Kempo Kata of their choice . A Kempo Kata means a traditional Kempo Kata as well as a modern Kempo Kata.
- All IKF Kata have a purpose, they are for defending, attacking, balance, developing muscles or breathing purpose . An IKF Kata is not a dance ,  and it must have a combat value .
- Inside the KATA division there are 2 subdivisions :                                                                            
1. KATA INDIVIDUAL ( one single competitor )                                                                                                         
2. KATA SYNCHRONIC ( one team composed by 3 competitors )
 - All competitors or teams will wear Red Belt / Blue belt , depending by their corner .

Note : You can find included in the end of this manual the IKF DATABASE of  KATA& WEAPON KATA  mentioned there in an Appendix . Just the mentioned KATA are permitted to be performed in the IKF tournaments.

Age categories in KATA :
- Juniors : 16-18 (16,17) Female , 16-18 (16,17) Male                                                                                               
- Youths : 18-20 (18,19) Female , 18-20 (18,19)  Male                                                                       
- Seniors B : 20-37 Female , 20-37 Male
- Seniors A ( Senior Masters ) : +37 Female , +37 Male

Presentation in KATA :

- If the names of the competitors or teams are announced for the first time by the head referee, the competitors or teams must take place in the competition area, on the chair(s) in the back of the competition area.
- If the belt color of the competitor or team is announced by the head referee, the competitor or the team has to start their presentation followed by their KATA . 
- The competitor or team walks in front of the head referee, salute to the head referee and speak out loud just the name of the KATA .   This information will be  very clear ( Example : Ni Cho Zai no Kata  ) . By teams , the head of the team is the announcer to the head referee .
- After a signal of the head referee the competitor or team walks to the point they have to start their performance , and start when they are ready to do it . Directly the head referee gives a signal by a gong to start the time. 
- When the competitor or team is ready with their performance they salute the head referee again, and the head referee give’s for the second time a gong-signal, direct the time will stopped by the time keeper  .
- All the competitors will wait , before and after their performance , outside the competition area in a  decent manner . 

Time limit in KATA :

- Maximum time  is 5 minutes.
- The time will start from the salute for starting to perform  until the salute at the end of performance .
- If the time limit will be overlap , the scorekeeper will give the sign “TIME OVERLAP” to the head referee.
- The head referee will inform after finish the performance,  the competitor or team and the audients that the time limit is overlapped.
- If the time it was overlap , the head referee will disqualified the competitor or team.                                     

How to win in KATA

- The decision will be taken by the majority of referees .  
- In KATA competition there will be always one competitor compete against another competitor, or one team compete against another team.
- The winner will go forward in the next round, the loser is eliminated .
- The last 4 competitors or teams will compete for place 1 to 4 in that competition. 

Refereeing and Judgments in KATA
- The refereeing system within the International Kempo Federation is by having 3-5 referees.
- The referee team is separate in one head referee and 2 or 4 site referees.
- In the semi-finals there are 3 referees of different countries.
- In the finals there are 3 or 5 referees depending by the organizer staff of the IKF .
- The decision will be taken directly by the referees as follows : the  side referees and the head referee will watch in the same direction and they will show the winner of them directly by their blue or red stick, at once , at the sign of the head referee . 
- The decision will be taken by the majority of referees .  
- A referee who was not present in the referee course in the day before competition will be not allowed to act as referee in that event .
- The following principles are very important if we have to judge a performance in KATA .
- Every referee must have the knowledge and must be able to give the right interpretation of upper rules .  

The 7  PRINCIPLES of KATA
1. KATA and WEAPON KATA has to be alive and has to carry out with feeling. It must be clear for what the techniques are for , by getting them a combat value. A KATA must be not just a dance, nice for looking, having not a combat value of techniques .
2. There has to be “spirit”. Energy, force and mind must come together in one point in a short moment. Here we can talk about “Focus”.
3. The power of strong and weak, hard en soft, flex an relax . This we have to see in a KATA .
4. The timing of fast and slow. There has to be a variation in speed. There is a   different between action and no action in a KATA . In this manner there will be a rhythm in the also by getting a character and a feeling of a battle.
5. Rhythm of breathing, the right way of breathing in and out. Gather power and energy in the area of our energy-centre in the lower abdomen.
6. Balance is in every exercise very important. For right and effective techniques it’s important to have a good balance of the body. Some techniques in a KATA are just for development balance of the body.     
7. Synchronization is very important in KATA SYNCHRONIC .

Note : Referees /judges must have always in their mind the following questions in order to judge correctly :

1. How it was the PRESENTATION ?
2. How was the SYNCHRONIZATION ?
3. How it was his attitude ? Did he looks like a fighter or was his attitude weak during the presentation?
4. How it was his BREATHING ? It was good ? It was not good ?                                                                                      
5. How it was his BALANCE ? Did he lost his balance during the performance ? He was strong on his legs ? 
6. How it was applied HARD/SOFT,  the main principle of Kempo ? It was just Soft movements ? It was just HARD movements ? 
7. How it was his KIME ? Did he showed he is a fighter by his attitude ? Did he look like having a real fight , a real battle during his KATA ?  Did he induct you the feeling that something strong and focused was inside of his performance, or did his movements looks just like a dance , just like a beautiful succession of movements and that’s it ?

Disqualification in KATA
- If one competitor/team is not coming to compete, after 30 seconds follows disqualification.
- When a competitor ore team stop the performance before the end, disqualification will follow.
- When a competitor ore a member of a team moves out of the competition area, the competitor ore the team will be disqualified.                                                                                                                                    
– When a performance is less or more than the time limit .  

First competitor or team
- The competitors will compete in the order of their registrations . In this way the competitor or team who was delayed sending registrations forms will be the first in starting the competition. The first registered competitors will compete in the end of division .

KATA – official  list.
*Note : This list will be upgraded with all Kata received from the new IKF-members.