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Apprentice Tournament

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this was one of the few chances that students at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant had to actually practice their fighting techniques in real combat. The tournament was held on a regular basis, especially during the early stages of the Clone Wars, as a way to give students more experience in fighting before they were dispatched to farflung planets to combat the Separatists. It was open to those students who were at least ten standard years of age who had either been exposed to combat as a Padawan or were physically stronger than their peers. It was also open to students who were not yet Padawans, since these students had the most time to prepare. The tournament was basically a test of the combatants' lightsaber skills, but they were allowed to use any advantage provided by their surroundings. Hand-to-hand fighting and the use of the Force were allowed, since they were available to a fighter in the real world. The only things that were off-limits were injuries or threatening positions to spectators. Each match was decided by one of two events: three touches with a lightsaber, or one combatant yielding to the other. Often the initial rounds were held in controlled environments, while later rounds provided students with more realistic fighting circumstances.