Criteria

Judging criteria

Priority #1

Who initiates?

The aggressor who forces action gets the nod. Counter-attacking, even when successful, carries less weight. This is the single most important criterion — everything else is secondary.

Also weigh

  1. Judge the entire matchNot just overtime. All of regulation counts toward the final decision — a dominant first half still matters.
  2. Initiation trumps secondary factorsPositional control, sub attempts, and all other grappling factors are weighed — but whoever forced the action gets the nod.
  3. Fake initiations don't countA half-hearted shot you never committed to is not initiation. The aggressor is the one who made the opponent react.
  4. Coordinate with the refereeJudges award points, warnings, and penalties. Make eye contact with the ref periodically and signal 5–10 s before the points timer ends.
  5. Passivity progressionACTION call is a push for activity, not a warning. WARNING PASSIVITY is the official call. After 2 warnings, the next passivity goes straight to a negative point.
  6. Penalty procedureFor negatives, the ref halts action briefly to inform both the athlete and the coach before resuming.