The Structural Architecture.
Walked through honestly.
How LSMAF governs three disciplines, why the regulatory infrastructure exists, and what the World Games petition pathway actually requires. 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.
Eastern Regionals
The first officially 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 World Games Pathway
The path from a national governing body to international recognition unfolds in stages. The Federation is executing that path.
Foundation Laid
Virginia SCC Articles of Incorporation drafted. Nonprofit structure established. Founding Masters of the Federation named. 45 governing documents complete: Constitution, Bylaws, Competition Rulebook, Anti-Doping Policy, all F-series operational forms, Technical Committee Charter, Referee Certification Standards, National Rankings System.
National Federation Active
Federation school and athlete registration with the national governing structure is underway. Eastern Regionals. Connecticut (June 30, 2027) is the first sanctioned competition on record, with every sanctioned competition, registered athlete, qualified referee, and international participant from that point forward building the Federation's documented competition record. That international record is already building: the Federation's international expansion tour, and co-principal Sifu Julliana Armstrong's selection to Team USA for the GSBA World Championship (Germany, 2026), place a Federation principal on the world stage ahead of the petition.
International Recognition Ahead
Formal international membership application, backed by complete governing documentation and competition record. International representation is already established through academies in Japan and expanding regions. From there: competition at internationally sanctioned championships, then formal petition for World Games event inclusion. With a multi-national athlete base and standardized international rulebook in place.
Federation Structure
45 Governing Documents. Built for the World Stage.
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, records them nationally, and connects them to the World Games process. The 45 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 certified 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.
The AcadevoFit app tracks performance, recovery, and progression across the full LSTA athlete community, from Recruit through Elite. Competitors preparing for sanctioned events use it to track training consistency, curriculum advancement, and readiness. The wellness data that moves athletes toward competition comes through this layer.
Electronic scoring backed by Century Martial Arts. Three certified competition formats. 45 governing documents. National rankings. A documented pathway to the World Games. 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.
The complete LSTA academy business and operations curriculum. 12 volumes covering every system an Academy Commander runs. Referee certification, competition management, school partnerships, and national registration are all documented in the curriculum. The Federation's operational standards are built into the same system that builds the academies feeding it competitors.
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.