What does it mean to have
an American Sambo Association membership?

Membership in the ASA does not automatically grant one expertise, skill, or a credential in the Sambo community. Rather than a ranking organization, the ASA is a training based association of like-minded martial artists (both trained in Sambo, and not). While many individuals and clubs do join the ASA with the goal of learning or competing in Sambo, many others join to support our cause and gain some insights which may benefit their own martial art training. We do not rank our members in Sambo and do not support any particular Sambo ranking system that may exist (with the exception of the Russian Master of Sport rating system and our ASA competitor Master Sportsman ranking system).

In the end, Sambo is about active and on-going training. We do wish to distinguish between our members who join to support our cause and those who actively train Sambo. While the ASA does not grant ranks or certifications to individuals in our Association, we do want to acknowledge member clubs that have actively continued to train and increase their Sambo knowledge through training, mat time and sweat equity since joining the ASA.

Our Affiliate and Professional Member Clubs are rated in the following manner (This does not apply to individual ASA members or clubs run by our ASA advisors or officers):

All ASA member clubs are eligible to receive the following labels: "Bronze Medal Club", "Silver Medal Club", or "Gold Medal Club".

A member club can achieve this distinction by documenting with the ASA any Sambo seminars and trainings which the club has hosted or the chief instructor has attended since joining the ASA (or shortly before, if done during the period of time when the club was courting the ASA for membership).

A training log link will appear under each club listing. This log will document any Sambo training via private/class instruction or seminar the club or head coach has hosted or attended. Each log will list the training date(s), topic(s) covered, coach, and total number of hours trained. These seminars need not only be ASA seminars. The ASA will accept seminars and instruction offered by any noted Sambo coach. If we are not aware of the Sambo coach in question, the ASA reserves the right to inquire about the coach or delay listing of the hours until the coach is verified.

Once a club reaches 25 hours or training, the club (not the individual) will receive a Bronze Medal listing. At 50 hours a Silver Medal listing will be awarded. At 100 hours a Gold Medal listing will be achieved.

Please note that these ratings do not reflect any training a member may have had prior to joining the ASA. Prior experience will be listed in the club’s biography. Nor do these rating make any statement about skill level. What these ratings do denote is a member club’s level of activity and intention to learn and master Sambo.