Blues Criteria

Cambridge University awards 'blues' to sports participants whose performance meet set criteria. The criteria for karate are detailed below.

Competition Categories

(1) For the purpose of the Blues criteria, there will be 2 categories of competitions, listed below:
  1. Category A competitions:
    1. KUGB Nationals
    2. Shotokan Cup
    3. BUCS
  2. Category B competitions:
    1. KUGB Student Nationals
    2. KUGB Central Regions Championships

(2) These categories may be amended by unanimous agreement between the Chief Instructor, the President, and both Captains of CUKC.

(3) Any amendment must take into account the level of karate experienced at the respective competitions, and the need to uphold high standards for the awarding of a Full Blue.

Half Blue

(1) To qualify for a Half Blue, a karateka must compete in both kata and kumite in varsity, where either:
  1. He/she is part of a winning team; or
  2. He/she is not part of a winning team, but has personally won a kumite match, team kata match, or be placed in the top 4 in his/her respective category for individual kata.
(2) The term "winning team" refers to the Men's A team, Women's A team, or Mixed B team. It does not refer to an overall title won by CUKC.

Full Blue

(1) To qualify for a Full Blue, a karateka must fulfil the criteria for a Half Blue (see above) and medal in a senior individual event in BUCS, KUGB Nationals or the Shotokan Cup.

Discretionary Full Blue

(1) Where a karateka has fulfilled the criteria for a Half Blue but not a Full Blue, he/she may make an application to either Captain of CUKC for a Discretionary Full Blue, which can be awarded for outstanding performance in areas outside the scope of the Full Blue criteria.

(2) An application for a Discretionary Full Blue will be considered in the following circumstances:

  1. Medalling in a senior individual event at a competition of equivalent or higher standard to a Category A competition;
  2. Medalling in a senior team event at competition of equivalent or higher standard to a Category A competition;
  3. Winning in a senior individual event at a competition of equivalent or higher standard to a Category B competition;
  4. Winning in a senior team event at competition of equivalent or higher standard to a Category B competition.

(3) Such an application requires unanimous agreement by the Chief Instructor, the President, and both Captains of CUKC, before it can be submitted it to the respective Blues Committees for approval.

(4) If the applicant in question is either the President or one of the Captains, he/she will be excluded from the discussion.

(5) In awarding a Discretionary Full Blue, the quality of the karateka as a whole will be taken into account, especially for applications based on team participation.

(6) There is no obligation to award a Discretionary Full Blue:

  1. Even if the circumstances in Paragraph (2) of this section are met.
  2. To all members of a team event, even if some members receive the award based on that respective team performance.

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