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  All students are expected to know and follow the rules and conform to the expectations of our school.  Parents and other responsible adults are requested to help their young person to understand, follow, and meet these expectations.  
   A solid working knowledge of thse rules is required for advancement to the rank of Companion.  
Deliberate violation any of these expectations constitutes grounds for suspension or revocation of membership, at the discretion of GKA staff.

Rules of the Lists:
All students are expected to take responsibility for their own behavior, both on the field of combat and off, and bear the rewards and consequences of all of their actions.
No student shall engage in combat, fast or slow, with anyone outside of the Green Knight Academy, or at a GKA-sponsored event, with real weapons, wasters, or boffers of any kind.  Practice with a waster, by oneself or against a pell, is allowed, as long as such practice is conducted in a safe manner by the student.
Combat with real weapons or wasters is forbidden at any time, as is the threatened use of such weapons.
Students are forbidden to bring any weapons of any kind of their own to GKA or to GKA-sponsored events.
No student shall engage in combat without all required armor and physical protections, nor shall he or she fight with any weapons or equipment not specifically allowed by GKA.
Students shall behave in a knightly and chivalrous manner at all times, and fight in accordance with GKA's Conventions of Combat.
No weapons shall be thrown at any time.  This prohibition refers to weapons in combat, or thrown in a hostile manner.  It does not apply to "tossing," as a way of transferring a weapon from one combatant's grasp to another's, or of removing a weapon or piece of equipment from a combat area.
No student shall engage in any activity with the deliberate intent to inflict injury.

Conventions of Combat:
Striking an opponent with excessive force is forbidden, and considered an unchivalrous act.
Students are expected to maintain control over their tempers at all times.
All participants shall obey the instructions of GKA staff and marshals, or face consequences up to and including suspension or revocation of membership.
Upon hearing the call of "HOLD," all fighting shall stop immediately.
Participants shall not engage in any GKA activity while impaired by any substance such as medications, drugs, or alcohol.  
Any behavior that takes deliberate advantage of an opponent's chivalry or safety-consciousness is prohibited.
No combatant shall strike a helpless opponent.
Any combatant that asserts an unfair advantage by repeatedly becoming "helpless" may, at the discretion of the marshals, be forced to yield the fight to his opponent.  The onus of this is on the marshals, not the opponent.  The opponent is permitted to ask that the fight continue.
Weapons shall be used in accordance with their design.  For example, only weapons designed for thrusting (i.e. have a an appropriately-padded tip marked in red) shall be used for thrusting.
The blade of a weapon shall not be grasped at any time, nor may it be trapped in contact with the fighter's body as a means of preventing one's opponent from using the weapon.
Grappling or wrestling with one's opponent is strictly forbidden, including grasping of any part of the opponent's body, weapon, shield, or other equipment.  This prohibition does not apply to "shield-hooking" or "shield-pressing," involving the manipulation of the opponent's shield with one's own shield.
Deliberately striking an opponent's body, limbs, or head with a shield is forbidden.
The effectiveness of any blow struck is determined exclusively by the person who was struck, not the person who threw the blow, or any observer.  The standard by which fighters shall judge blows that strike them is as follows: if the weapon were real, and you were wearing real armor, would it have penetrated that armor and hurt you?  If so, the blow was "good," meaning it was effective.
A "good" blow to the head or torso shall be judged as fatal or totally disabling, preventing the fighter from further combat.
A "good" blow to either arm above the wrist shall render that arm immediately useless to the fighter struck, and cannot be used for either offense or defense.  Any blow that strikes a useless arm shall be treated as if the arm was not there at all.
A "good" blow to the leg above the knee shall render that leg useless.  The fighter struck then has the option to either hop on the other leg, or to drop to one's knees, immediately.
A "good" blow to the hip joint shall cause the fighter to drop to one's knees immediately, and that fighter shall not rise up on his or her knees for the remainder of the bout.
A blow that includes the dropping of a weapon need not be counted.
Fighters are not permitted to raise a leg in order to cause a blow to land low (called "target substitution").
When one fighter is kneeling and the other is standing, circling the kneeling fighter (called "corkscrewing") is forbidden.
It is considered courteous to turn a kneeling fighter so that he or she is not facing into the sun or other bright lights.
Intentionally running over or pressing a kneeling fighter in such a way that the kneeling fighter cannot straighten his upper body perpendicular to the ground is forbidden.
Intentionally targeting the groin area is considered unchivalrous.
Students are expected to extend the utmost courtesy to their opponents upon the field, as each fighter does the other honor by meeting in combat.  Should there be a question of honor upon the field (such as the strength/effectiveness of any blow), fighters are encouraged to extend to their opponents the benefit of the doubt.