- Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 8th November 2016
Feedback in the wake of our announcement of the international Bartitsu sparring video contest has included this question, both from groups who practice their own forms of neo-Bartitsu and from groups who train in comparable styles of Filipino, French, Italian and other martial arts.
“We don’t strictly train in Bartitsu – can we still enter the sparring video contest?”
The objects of the contest are to pressure-test the sparring guidelines themselves and to generate sparring video footage of the “canonical” method described by E.W. Barton-Wright, circa 1900.
With that in mind:
- We’ve allowed a three-month period so that martial artists can train for their entry (or entries) if they wish. We anticipate that many people who are already skilled in comparable styles will find that is plenty of time to adjust their regular practice towards the style suggested in the guidelines.
- The rules allow videos to be edited and note that a single video can include footage from multiple sparring matches. “Highlights videos” are just as welcome as are unedited videos of single matches. Therefore, if, in the heat of sparring, you perform techniques that are outside the style guidelines, you are welcome to edit those techniques out of your video.
If you have any further questions regarding the contest rules or sparring guidelines, feel free to ask in the comments below or by contacting tonywolf(at)gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing your videos!