Quintet teams

Quintet — team grappling

Two teams. One athlete from each side starts. The winner stays on and faces the next athlete from the opposing team. A team wins when every athlete on the other side has been eliminated.

Building a team

• A team is up to five athletes, entered in the running order you choose when you sign up. Position 1 goes out first.
• Men's teams: 948 lbs (430 kg) combined or under. Women's teams: 617 lbs (280 kg) combined or under.
• What matters is the team's total, not its head count. There is no individual weight limit.
• There is no weight tolerance. The team is under the cap or it is not.
• A team of four that makes weight is a legal team. If your five are over on the day, drop athletes until the team is under the cap — a dropped athlete is out for the event and that slot is gone.
• Teams are men's or women's. No mixed teams.
• Anyone the team picks may enter it and pay the buy-in — captain, coach, or whoever handles it.
• The running order may be edited until registration closes. It is final from that moment and is confirmed at weigh-ins.
• Every athlete weighs in before the team's first match. Weigh-in times are announced before the event.
• 16 and over. Every athlete signs the participant waiver when they register. Athletes under 18 need a parent or guardian to countersign that waiver.
• Mouthguards, cups and rashguards are optional. Come clean, with short nails.

Uniform

Quintet is usually no-gi, but a division may be run in the gi. Which it is this event is declared in the division listing.

• No-gi: shorts, spats, or shorts over spats, with no zippers, buttons or pockets. A rashguard is optional. Gi pants are allowed but may not be grabbed.
• Gi: a clean, undamaged gi of any colour. Normal gi grips are legal.

Matches

• 8 minutes, submission only. No points, no advantages, no decisions.
• Where two opponents differ by 44 lbs (20 kg) or more on men's teams, or 15 lbs (7 kg) or more on women's teams, the lighter athlete chooses whether that match runs 8 minutes or 4. Weigh-in numbers decide the difference.
• That choice is made once both athletes for the next match are known and the table has confirmed the gap. It is declared to the referee before the match starts and is then final. If the lighter athlete does not choose, the match runs 8 minutes.
• A draw eliminates both athletes. Stalling costs your team a body as surely as a loss does.
• Stalling: first offence a warning, second offence a warning, third offence a disqualification. Only the offending athlete is eliminated — the opponent is credited with the win and stays on.
• A winner who stays on gets one minute before the next athlete comes out.
• Coaching is allowed from the designated corner only.
• If the referee or medical staff stops a match for injury, the injured athlete is eliminated and the opponent stays on.

Forfeited slots

If an athlete listed in a team slot does not appear, was dropped to make weight, or cannot compete, that slot is forfeited. It may not be filled or reordered. When the running order reaches it, the opposing athlete is credited with a win and stays on, without a match.

A team with no eligible athlete remaining has lost the match. That includes a team reduced to zero by weight-cap drops, forfeited slots, injuries, disqualifications or eliminations.

A team that does not appear at all forfeits: the opposing team advances on a walkover and the buy-in is not refunded.

If both teams are wiped out

Both teams can go out at the same moment, when the last athlete from each side draws.

1. The team with the most submission victories takes it. Only wins by submission count — draws, disqualifications, injury stoppages, forfeited slots and walkovers do not, and the drawn match that wiped both teams out gives neither team a submission. 2. If those are level, each team names one athlete. Any athlete on the submitted roster who is present, made weight and is medically cleared, whether or not they have already competed. An athlete who was dropped at weigh-in, disqualified or withdrawn is not eligible. 3. That match starts in 50/50 and runs to the first score under the Flow State points system, below. The referee sets both athletes in the position and confirms it before starting, and restarts them there after any interruption that produced no score. 4. A submission also ends it. So does a disqualification or an injury stoppage, in the other athlete's favour.

The Flow State points system

Nothing is scored during a normal match in either format. This settles a deciding match only — the Quintet wipe-out decider above, and a superfight overtime restart.

Points are awarded after three seconds of control. There are no advantages and no partial scores.

Prize

The winning team takes a fixed prize, announced for each event. It is not funded from the buy-ins and does not vary with the number of teams entered.

Legal techniques

The Flow State allowable-techniques chart governs. Each row adds to the rows above it.

Ordinary takedowns are legal at every level. Scissor takedowns are brown and black only. Slams, and any takedown that spikes an opponent on the head or neck, are illegal for everyone.

Also always illegal: small-joint manipulation, striking, eye gouging, hair pulling, biting. Aoki locks are treated as heel hooks.

Flying submissions and slams. An intentional slam is illegal. Where an athlete attacks a legal flying submission, the opponent has no duty to prevent a slam — the referee decides whether the opponent's return to the mat was a legal defensive takedown, an unavoidable fall, or an illegal slam. An illegal slam is a disqualification.

When athletes of different ranks meet, the lower rank's allowances apply to both. Rank is self-declared.

Any technique the referee judges to be applied with intent to injure rather than to submit ends the match immediately in favour of the opponent, judged within reason and within the bounds of normal BJJ competition.