The Structural Architecture.
Walked through honestly.
How LSMAF governs three disciplines and why the regulatory infrastructure exists. Watch this if you're trying to understand what a national governing body looks like before it has international recognition, and why governance precedes legitimacy.
What Is the Federation?
The Light Sword Martial Arts Federation is the official governing body for competitive light sword martial arts in the United States. Incorporated in Virginia as a nonprofit organization, the Federation establishes the rules, certifies referees, sanctions competitions, and manages the pathway toward international recognition.
Without a governing body, there is no sport, only activity. The Federation exists so that every practitioner operates within a legitimate, documented, internationally-legible framework.
The Federation operates three competition formats (Forms, Paired Performance, and Combat), governed by a complete body of rules, certification standards, and documented procedures. The same structural framework used by established international martial arts federations is the model the Federation follows.
Three Formats. One Standard.
Solo Forms
Solo performance of prescribed forms judged on technique, power, rhythm, and expression. Federation competition rules establish specific forms for each rank division.
Partner Performance
Two practitioners perform designated choreographies judged on synchronization, technique, and performance quality. Three prescribed choreographies per division level.
Combat / Saber Tag
Controlled full-contact sparring under Federation Safety Rules with certified protective equipment. Seeded by rank division with structured bracket format.
Northeast Regionals
A sanctioned Federation competition. Forms, Paired Performance, and Combat divisions across all rank levels. Every competitor and every result is officially recorded under the Federation's governing structure.
The Recognition Pathway
Recognition is evidenced, not petitioned into existence. Governance first, a national competition record second, international membership when the record supports it. The full pathway is published at lsmaf.org/pathway.
Foundation Laid
Incorporated in Virginia as a nonstock (nonprofit) corporation. The governing documents published and in force.
National Federation Active
School and athlete registration open, officials in certification, the first sanctioned season set for 2027.
International Membership, When the Record Supports It
The Federation applies for international membership once its competition record and officials corps stand on their own. No step is scheduled before the one beneath it is complete.
Federation Structure
The Governing Documents. Published and in force.
The Federation Is the Compete Layer of WISE.
Every LSTA academy, every Saber Tag X-treme League, and every Shadow Warrior operates inside the Warrior Intelligence System Edge. The Federation is where that system's competitive pathway ends: the governing body that makes results official and records them nationally. The governing documents on this page exist so that when a competitor wins on June 30, 2027, that result means something beyond the room it happened in.
Athletes who will compete on June 30, 2027 have spent months submitting form video to masters for frame-by-frame coached feedback. The corrections returned through the master-review layer are the same technical standard the Federation tests in all three competition formats. There is no gap between how athletes train and how they will be judged.
Electronic scoring backed by Century Martial Arts. Three certified competition formats. Published governing documents. National rankings. This is the structure that makes WISE results official. Every academy, every Saber Tag league, and every Shadow Warrior competes within this framework, even if they never set foot on this page.
Four masters.
The credentials behind every LSMAF format.
A federation is only as legitimate as the people who designed its rules and certified its judges. Here’s who built LSMAF.
Built a landmark U.S. light sword academy · Entrepreneur of the Year · Featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox · Parks & Recreation Contract
3× WEKAF National Champion · NASM-Certified Trainer · U.S. military contracts, Langley AFB & Fort Eustis
2× World Champion · 2004 Olympics Performer · Black Belt Magazine Feature · 2nd-Gen JKD, Bruce Lee lineage
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 · Tenet · The 5th Wave · 101 Stunt Credits on IMDb · JKD · Capoeira · Kempo · Judo
Sport governance is only credible when the people running it have stood on the floor themselves: as competitors, as judges, as builders. These four have.