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The American Sambo Association is a division of American Sambo, LLC

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The following persons are certified as ASA Freestyle Sambo™ Referees. In order to earn and retain "Certified" status, all ASA certified referees must attend an ASA referee training course and referee an event at least once every 2 years. If a referee fails to officiate at least once per year, he/she will need to re-certify at one of the ASA's referee training courses. Referees marked "active" have either officiated or completed a training course in the required time frame.



ASA REFEREES

CERTIFIED PRIOR TO 2010

Anthony Sansonetti (inactive)

James Simrell (inactive)

Nick Fulciniti (inactive)

Reilly Bodycomb (active)

Stephen Koepfer (active)

Vladislav Koulikov (inactive)


GRADUATES OF OUR OCTOBER, 2010

REFEREE TRAINING COURSE:

Brandon Adamson (active)

Grant Gilliam (active)

Gregg Humphreys (active)

John Miller (inactive)

Pat Goode (inactive)

Paul Keith (inactive)



GRADUATES OF OUR OCTOBER, 2012

REFEREE TRAINING COURSE:

Matt Lincoln (active)

Rob Terlizzi (active)

Paul LaBlanc (active)

Patrick Kennedy (active)

Frank Swanson (active)

Thomas Frale (active)

Dana Roman (active)

Javier Polomo (active)

Chris Renfroe (active)

Aaron Graft (active)

Oleh Tritenichenko (active)

Carlos Del Valle (active)

Tom Kagan (active)

Jim Wilson (active)

Richard Crenwelge (active)

Grant Gilliam (active)

Skip Sherer (active)

ASA FRESSTYLE SAMBO RULES

REQUIRED UNIFORM AND EQUIPMENT:

Freestyle Sambo competition uniform must consist of:

A red or blue Sambo Kurtka (please contact the event coordinator if you can't obtain a kurtka)

Matching shorts, wrestling singlet, or strapless trunks

A solid red AND blue belt (no stripes, colors, or markings of any kind)

Wrestling shoes or sambofski

Groin protector

Mouth piece

Knee pads are optional

No t-shirts are to be worn beneath one's Kurtka or Gi in men's division. Rash guards are permitted beneath the Kurtka (must be tight fitting).

AGE/DIVISIONS:  (Depending on #of competitors, weight classes may be shuffled to fill brackets)

Men’s/Women’s Division: Ages 18 — 35 yrs.

Senior Men’s/Women’s Division: 36+ yrs.

WEIGHT DIVISIONS (please note that as of 2013 the ASA has changed our weight divisions to match International FIAS standards):

52kg (114.4lbs)

57kg (125.4lbs)

62kg (136.4lbs)

68kg (149.6lbs)

74kg (162.8lbs)

82kg (180.4lbs)

90kg (198lbs)

100kg (220lbs)

100+kg (250lbs)

Superheavyweight (+250lbs)

Women’s weight divisions will be based on tournament registrations at each event.

DURATION OF THE MATCH AND OTHER TIMING GUIDELINES:

B Division: 6 minutes (stop time)

A Division: 10 minutes (stop time)

Competitors will be given 60 seconds on the ground to execute a submission subsequent to any takedown. If no submission is acquired, competitors will be stood up and re-started in the center of the mat. The time clock will be stopped during any repositioning of competitors, or at the referee's discretion.  In the event of a tie, a sudden-death overtime will be enacted. The winner will be determined by the first point scored.

WINNING THE MATCH:

Freestyle Sambo matches can be won by four possible outcomes:

1) Submission – A player must clearly tap multiple times or yell “STOP” in the event of a submission. Single, soft taps will not stop a match.

2) There is NO Total Victory by throw (ippon).

3) Point differential at the end of match time or 15 point differential.

4) When the referee stops the match.

ILLEGAL TECHNIQUES:

In B Division:

Neck cranks (forearm/knee cross face to control a supine opponent on the ground is legal if no direct pressure is on the nose)

Direct pressure to the nose

Heel hooks or twisting knee locks (toe holds, straight ankle/knee locks are legal)

Striking of any kind (Slamming to the back is not considered striking and is legal from the guard only)

Disengaging after a throw to play points. After a throw or takedown, a player MUST engage grappling.

Eye gouging/fish-hooking

Finger or direct pressure to the windpipe

Pulling or grabbing ears

Pulling hair

Finger or small joint manipulation

Biting

Scratching

Pinching

Use of Vaseline or other similar substances on body

Throws or spikes onto the head

Throws against any joint

Standing submissions - any submission in which one player is standing (submissions may be set up while standing but, must be executed on the mat)

Gripping inside your opponent's sleeve (a player may grip inside his/her own sleeve to secure a choke or submission)

Wrist locks

Gripping the skirt of the kurtka or tails of the belt

Using an untied belt for a submission

In A Division:

Direct pressure to the nose

Striking of any kind (Slamming to the back is not considered striking and is legal from the guard)

Eye gouging/fish-hooking

Finger or direct pressure to the windpipe

Disengaging after a throw to play points. After a throw or takedown, a player MUST engage grappling.

Pulling or grabbing ears

Pulling hair

Finger or small joint manipulation

Biting

Scratching

Pinching

Use of Vaseline or other similar substances on body

Throws or spikes onto the head

Throws against any joint

Standing submissions - any submission in which one player is standing (submissions may be set up while standing but, must be executed on the mat)

Gripping inside your opponent's sleeve (a player may grip inside his/her own sleeve to secure a choke or submission)

Gripping the skirt of the kurtka or tails of the belt

Using an untied belt for a submission

LEGAL TECHNIQUES:

All submissions using or not using the Kurtka except those mentioned in the Illegal Techniques section (in A Division, heel hooks and neck cranks MUST be applied slowly and without sudden force. Malicious application of any submission can lead to a disqualification.)

All throws or takedowns not mentioned in the Illegal Techniques section

REFEREE INTERVENTION GUIDELINES:

The referee IS REQUIRED to stop any match at any time if he/she feels any fighter is in danger of serious injury.

The referee is at liberty to pause the match at any time and request examination of any competitor by the event EMT or Doctor. If the match is paused for a medical concern about a player, the maximum time allowed will be three minutes for the doctor to examine the player or for the player to recover from an injury. If after three minutes the doctor/EMT is not finished, the injured player can't continue, and the injury did not occur as a result of a flagrant illegal technique; the uninjured player will be declared winner.

The referee WILL stop the match and reposition the competitors standing in the center of the ring when one or both competitors are considered out-of-bounds - No Exceptions:

Out-of-bounds for standing competitors is when ANY two feet are outside the identified boundaries.

Out-of-bounds for grappling competitors is when more than half of their COLLECTIVE BODY is outside the identified boundaries.

The referee will stop the match and re-position the competitors standing in the event one of the following escapes occur:

A player stands completely erect and completely lifts his/her opponent of the ground during an armbar or triangle attempt.

A player stands in an erect, balanced position of control over his/her opponent during an ankle lock attempt.

If jumping guard, flying arm bar, flying triangle does not result in bringing the defender to his knees, action will be stopped and both players will be repositioned standing.

The referee is at liberty to eject belligerent coaches or teammates from the mat area or arena.

The referee is at liberty to stop grappling and reposition the competitors standing in the event of inactivity or stalling.

The referee is required to enforce all point awards in accordance with the rules.

POINT SCORING:

In the event a match is not won by submission, the following point system has been designed to award to competitors for standing and ground Dominance. Dominance is defined as: The ability to use technical skill and movement, standing and on the ground, in order to manipulate and control the opponent's actions for the goal of acquiring a throw or submission.

The following points will be awarded for throws/takedowns:

3 points: Any throws/takedowns in which the attacker remains on both feet during the execution of the throw. An attacker may land on the mat with his opponent. (hip throw, shoulder throw, fireman carry, pick-ups, sweeps where attacker remains standing, etc).

2 points: Any throw/takedown in which the attacker drops to one or both knees in order to execute the throw (drop shoulder throws, single legs from the knee, kneeling hooks/trips, etc).

1 point: Any sacrificial throw/takedown in which the attacker intentionally lands on his back (sacrifice throw, pancakes, trips and sweeps which involve sacrificial falls, etc). No points are awarded for pulling guard.

1 point: Awarded to any defender who clearly reverses a throw landing in a sustained top position upon the attacker.

The following points will be awarded for ground performance and can only be scored once per match: Points are not awarded in correlation to any particular ground position, pass, sweep, or submission attempt - only for maintenance of a pin.

3 points: Awarded to any competitor who maintains a pin from top control for 20 seconds (excluding guard and ½ guard). The pin begins once both shoulders of the athlete being pinned touch the mat. From that point on, a pin will continue to be scored as long as the pinned athlete's shoulders do not pass 90 degrees from the mat. Positional changes during a pin are legal as long as the pinned opponent's shoulders do not pass 90 degrees from the mat.

WARNINGS:

Competitors will only be allowed 2 warnings. After the SECOND warning, 2 points will be deducted.

Warnings will be issued for any behavior conflicting with the above stated rules.

Warnings for stalling may include inactivity during stand up or mat activity. For example - intentionally evacuating the mat during grappling to escape a submission, failure to engage gripping while standing, or any behavior which the referee determines an intentional delay of action.)

A fighter CAN receive warnings for the belligerent behavior of his or her coach.

- Malicious or uncontrolled application of any submission can lead to a disqualification.

TO VIEW INTERNATIONAL SPORT & COMBAT SAMBO RULES CLICK HERE


ASA COMBAT SAMBO RULES

Our Combat Sambo rules are based of FIAS International rules with modifications to match with accepted US Combat Sports standards. Click here to download the rules.