Mile High Karate Intramural Tournaments are the organization’s own in-house competitions, held for Mile High Karate students since 1985. Students from every Mile High Karate school compete in forms, sparring, weapons, board breaking and team divisions in front of their families, judged by Mile High Karate instructors to Mile High Karate standards. Grand Master Stephen Oliver, who founded Mile High Karate in 1983, created the program two years after opening the first school. On September 26, 2026, Mile High Karate held its 125th Intramural Tournament.
What is a Mile High Karate Intramural Tournament?
An intramural tournament is a competition held inside one martial arts organization rather than open to outside schools. At Mile High Karate that means every competitor trains in the same curriculum, every judge is a Mile High Karate instructor, and every division is scored against the same standards students are taught in class. A white belt competing for the first time is judged by the same rules their own instructor uses every week.
That shared system is the point. Mile High Karate regional developer Robert Lewis explained in a published interview that the internal format lets instructors reinforce in competition the respect, discipline, focus and confidence taught in class. He described students and families making friends across schools, friendships that often carried on all the way through Black Belt testing.
1985: the first Intramural Tournaments
Mile High Karate opened in Lakewood, Colorado on August 6, 1983, and grew quickly into a network of schools across the Denver metro area, six of them within its first 36 months. The first Intramural Tournament was held in 1985, as those schools multiplied, to bring their students together in one place.
By the late 1980s the tournaments were held quarterly and drew roughly 500 to 800 students per event. Grand Master Oliver’s own published writing from the period records internal tournaments with as many as 750 students competing. These were some of the largest martial arts gatherings in Colorado at the time, and every competitor on the floor was a Mile High Karate student.
1989: the intramurals lead to the Mile High Karate Classic
The Intramural Tournaments came first. After four years of running large internal events, Grand Master Oliver decided in 1989 to promote a national open tournament as well: the Mile High Karate Classic, which held NASKA World Tour status from 1989 to 1999 and drew competitors from across the United States and abroad. His archived marketing newsletter describes that sequence directly: large internal student tournaments, then the decision to promote a national event.
The two events served different purposes and ran side by side. The Classic brought the country’s top competitors to Denver. The intramurals stayed focused on Mile High Karate’s own students, from first-time white belts to senior Black Belts, and continued long after the Classic’s last year.
Part of the path to Black Belt
Intramural Tournaments are not optional extras at Mile High Karate. They are a training requirement. The school’s student requirements describe Intramural Tournaments held three or four times a year, announced two to three months in advance, with participation required of all Mile High Karate students. Under that version of the program, a student could expect nine to twelve tournaments between their first class and their Black Belt, and all of them were required. The Boulder school’s posted student expectations listed “attend all intramural tournaments” alongside arriving early, keeping a clean uniform and showing respect for Mom and Dad.
The reason is educational, not competitive. A tournament asks a student to prepare a performance, step onto a floor in front of an audience, accept a judge’s score, and win or lose with good manners. Those are the same qualities a Black Belt candidate is tested on later, and the tournament gives every student a chance to practise them several times a year.
The nine-to-twelve figure comes from that historical requirements document and reflects the curriculum at the time; the number of events a student attends today depends on the current schedule and how long their Black Belt journey takes.
2004: the Activities Pass
By 2004, Intramural Tournaments were so central to the program that Mile High Karate changed how families paid for them. Effective for new students from September 1, 2004, the Mile High Karate Activities Pass rolled tournament and event costs into a monthly fee of $19.97, covering participation in all Intramural Tournaments, spectator passes for family members, and spectator tickets to the Black Belt Extravaganza.
The announcement explained the reasons plainly. Intramural Tournaments were a testing requirement, and missing them could have serious consequences for a student’s progress, especially at brown belt, Black Belt preparation and Black Belt levels. Some families had been missing events because of the timing of a one-time fee, and instructors were spending too much time processing registrations. Spreading the cost across the year solved both problems, and the school said it expected close to 100% of its students at each event. The pass’s annual cost comparison was built on four Intramural Tournaments a year. (Those are 2004 prices.)
What happens at an Intramural Tournament
A Mile High Karate Intramural Tournament runs like a full competition day, scaled to the whole student body:
- Warm-up together. Students of every rank warm up side by side before competition begins.
- Divisions by rank and age. Beginners compete against beginners, and Black Belts against Black Belts, so every student has a fair chance to place.
- Forms, sparring, weapons and breaking. The core events of the Mile High Karate curriculum, judged by Mile High Karate instructors.
- Musical forms and team divisions. Demonstration-team and team-form competition, which Robert Lewis singled out as a highlight for students and families.
- Medals and recognition. Placing competitors receive event medals; each one carries the tournament’s number and date.
Just as important is who is in the room. Beginning students watch advanced Black Belts compete in the same gym on the same day, and senior students help run the event. For a new white belt, seeing a Black Belt division take the floor is a picture of where their own training leads.
Growing with the school network
As Mile High Karate expanded through franchising, its franchise materials listed regional Intramural Tournaments among the benefits available to participating schools. A single school could bring its students into a larger event supported by the wider organization, giving even a new location’s students the experience of a full tournament with hundreds of peers.
The 125th Intramural Tournament, September 26, 2026
The numbered medals and programs give the tradition its own milestones. The 105th Intramural Tournament was held on Saturday, September 22, 2018, and Mile High Karate marked it with a commemorative photo collage of the day’s judges, rings and competitors.
Mile High Karate held its 125th Intramural Tournament on September 26, 2026, twenty tournaments after the 105th. That is 125 tournaments across 41 years, about three a year since 1985, consistent with the three-to-four-per-year schedule set out in the school’s student requirements. The tournament’s medals, designed for the occasion with an autumn Colorado mountain scene, read “125th Intramural Tournament, 9/26/26.”
Photographs from the Intramural Tournaments
Scenes from Mile High Karate Intramural Tournaments in school gyms, outdoors and at large regional events: beginners walked to their rings, Black Belts coaching and competing, judges at work, and the families who fill the stands. Click any photograph to enlarge it.
Timeline
| Year | Event | Record |
|---|---|---|
| August 6, 1983 | Mile High Karate opens in Lakewood, Colorado | Founding record |
| 1985 | First Mile High Karate Intramural Tournament | Founder’s account |
| Late 1980s | Quarterly tournaments of roughly 500–800 students; internal events of up to 750 students recorded | Founder’s published writing; 2024 Go2Karate profile |
| 1989 | Mile High Karate Classic launched as a national open event, following the intramural program | Archived marketing newsletter |
| 1989–1999 | Mile High Karate Classic holds NASKA World Tour status; intramurals continue alongside it | NASKA, Mile High Karate records |
| Early 2000s | Three to four tournaments a year, required of all students; nine to twelve expected before Black Belt | Archived student requirements page |
| September 1, 2004 | Mile High Karate Activities Pass introduced at $19.97 a month, covering four Intramural Tournaments a year | Activities Pass announcement |
| September 22, 2018 | 105th Intramural Tournament | Commemorative photo collage |
| September 26, 2026 | 125th Intramural Tournament | Event medals |
Help us complete the record
The Intramural Tournaments have run since 1985, but no complete ledger of all 125 events survives. The gaps include the date and venue of the very first tournament, early registration forms and programs, the venues used over the years, division lists, results and photographs. If you competed at, judged at or attended a Mile High Karate Intramural Tournament, Mile High Karate would like to hear from you, especially if you have flyers, programs, medals, trophies, photographs or video that show the tournament number, year or venue. See the Mile High Karate archive to share materials.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Mile High Karate Intramural Tournament?
It is Mile High Karate’s in-house competition for its own students, held since 1985. Students from the Mile High Karate schools compete in forms, sparring, weapons, breaking and team divisions, judged by Mile High Karate instructors.
When did Mile High Karate’s Intramural Tournaments begin?
In 1985, two years after Grand Master Stephen Oliver opened the first Mile High Karate school in Lakewood, Colorado in 1983.
How many Intramural Tournaments has Mile High Karate held?
The 125th Mile High Karate Intramural Tournament was held on September 26, 2026.
Are Intramural Tournaments required?
Yes. Participation is part of the Mile High Karate path to Black Belt, and the school treats the tournaments as a testing requirement, especially at brown belt and Black Belt preparation levels.
How are the Intramural Tournaments related to the Mile High Karate Classic?
The Intramural Tournaments came first, in 1985. Their success led Grand Master Oliver to launch the Mile High Karate Classic in 1989, a national open tournament on the NASKA World Tour through 1999. The intramurals continued alongside the Classic and after it.
How can my child take part?
Every enrolled Mile High Karate student takes part. To start classes at Mile High Karate Thornton, see ThorntonMHK.com for the schedule and enrollment.