Tournament FAQ

Unfortunately that can’t be done online. Please email us at registration@tapcancerout.org with your necessary changes and we’ll take care of it. Remember that the LAST DAY for changes is the WEDNESDAY before the tournament.

We use the age the competitor is on the day of the tournament. So if your child is 13 years old on the day of they’re tournament they’ll fight in the 12-13 year old division, even if they turn 14 the next day, week, month. Kids may always fight in an older age bracket if they so choose for more of a challenge.

If an adult is 29 on the day of the tournament they must compete in Adult, even if they’re turning 30 later in the year.

Absolutely not. Any competitor 16 years or older may compete in the Adult division. That’s an open-age division.

Only competitors who are 30 years or older on the day of the tournament may compete in Masters, but they may compete in Adult instead (not both).

Only competitors who are 40 years or older on the day of the tournament may compete in Adult, but they may compete in Masters or Adult instead (not both).

We do not currently offer Masters or Executive divisions for women or any male brown or purple belts. Not all tournaments offer Executive divisions.

BRACKETS:

We never post the brackets. The reality of our charity BJJ tournament is that we never disqualify anyone (unless they show up AFTER their division has already launched). So when someone shows up and miss weight or realize they’ve registered for the wrong division (ahem :: parents) we have to move them to the proper division. This disrupts not only the bracket they’re joining but the bracket they leave as well. If a competitor is left alone in their division because of this, which happens often, we have to move THEM too. Plus, people straight up don’t show up because we offer registration with no up front cost (our FUNDRAISER ticket option) so people use it as a loophole to register and then bail without letting us know.

So the brackets are always in flux and we can’t be 100% sure they’re accurate until moments before we launch it to a ring.

COMPETITOR LISTS:

We do, however, post competitor lists. These are created one week prior to the tournament and emailed directly to registered competitors as well as posted on the tournament’s Facebook Event Page (another reason to RSVP). They are NOT updated in real-time as new people registered. Because our fundraising platform (which is where our tournament website is hosted and all registration is handled) wasn’t tailored for BJJ, exporting and creating the competitor lists is a manual process. We literally export the competitors to Excel and have to manually sort them into divisions. For this reason, we update the competitor lists daily and email them to competitors daily as well.

The competitor lists are ONLY updated through the Thursday before the tournament, after the last day for changes has passed. After that they’re uploaded into our tournament management system (which is why all changes need to be made before then).

You weigh-in as soon as you arrive at the tournament (NO LATER than 90-minutes BEFORE your division is scheduled to start). Please see the schedule to understand when the scales open for your specific division. All competitors under 16 can start weighing in as soon as we open the doors.

For some (not all) tournaments we’ll have a night-before option. If that’s the case for your tournament, you will be notified ahead of time on the Facebook Event Page and via email. Otherwise, it’s day-of weigh-ins.

You do NOT need to weigh-in with your Gi on.

You do NOT need to weigh in with the Gi on.

You WILL receive a 1 lb allowance for margin of error.

No.

All non-competitors must pay a $10 spectator fee.

Exceptions:

• ONE parent per competing child is free
• Kids under 12 are free
• 2 Coaches MAX from each team may also enter for free. 

Spectator tickets are available online as well as at the door for $10.

Of course!! It just means that we don’t separate Black and/or Brown belts by age. Everyone fights in the same age division. Whether 4 years old or 94 years old, you’re welcome at a Tap Cancer Out BJJ Open!

This is a Gi-ONLY tournament.

It’s round-robin (everyone fights everyone) for all kids, juniors, and teens divisions ONLY. Adults are single elimination only. Depending on tournament size you are not guaranteed a third-place match.

You will have an option to switch divisions or get your money back right there on the spot. Do note that we reserve the right to combine divisions to make for a more compelling bracket.

We release the schedule no later than the Thursday before the tournament (usually earlier). It’s emailed to all competitors, posted in the Facebook Event page, and added to the tournament website. However, all our tournaments run in the same format, with kids starting the day at 10am (youngest to oldest) and then the adults kicking off sometime in the early afternoon starting with black belts and ending with white belts. Adult White Belt males will be the final divisions of every tournament. All fighters should be in the building 90 minutes (or more, preferably) before their division is scheduled to start and should be in the bullpen 60 minutes before.

No, unless for specific medical reasons.

Gis must match in color (top / bottom) and be properly sized.

As of 2021, the wearing of rashguards is OPTIONAL for all competitors. This is one of the few rules that does not align with the IBJJF rulebook.

Spats / Leggings under the Gi pants, however, are NEVER allowed.

All our kids, juniors, and teen divisions combine males and females. This gives us the best chance to offer your child the most matches. Dividing them would lead to countless small or single competitor brackets.