The match starts after the two competitors bow to the centre judge, to each other, shake hands, and assume their fighting positions. Majority rules on the call. Since our sparring formats are not very regimented, I think people get a wide range of experience with point fighting and informal sparring. However, I think point fighting sometimes suffers at our club because there is less emphasis on it compared to sparring in a variety of ways. So, people who point fight in tournaments will train on their own outside of class as well to make up for that.
All safety equipment is mandatory for fighters in tournaments.
The two competitors spar in a taped off ring area. Again, there is a center judge, with either two or four corner judges. Majority rules in awarding points, although a center judge can disallow a point if there was inappropriate contact. Scoring is similar to to how my club does it, and does vary from tournament to tournament. As a rule, scoring techniques are the same as my club, although some tournaments allow sweeps.