Weight Categories and the Scale
Weight category names are yours to choose. What the weigh-in station can check against them depends on the optional minimum and maximum you set, and this article lists exactly which values are read and when the warning appears.
Weight Categories and the Scale
Applies to: Organizers
A weight category in Hajime is a label plus two optional numbers. The label is yours: call a band "-70kg", "Medi", "Cadetti B" or "Open" and nothing breaks. The two numbers are what the weigh-in station reads back on the morning of the event, so it is worth knowing exactly what they do.
The name is free text
The category name is a label and nothing more. It never restricts who can register, and it can be:
- left off a speciality entirely, if that speciality does not split by weight
- a single catch-all band that every athlete registers into
- any wording your federation already uses on paper
Nothing in the event depends on the name being readable as a number.
Minimum and maximum: the values that get used
Each weight category has an optional Min kg and Max kg. Fill either or both, and the weigh-in station compares every recorded weight against them:
- a weight above the maximum is reported as over the limit
- a weight below the minimum is reported as under the minimum
- a weight exactly on a bound is inside the band
The warning is advisory. It never blocks a weigh-in, never changes the athlete's status, and never moves anyone on its own. The weight is stored exactly as the operator read it off the scale.
[Screenshot placeholder: weight category editor with the Min kg and Max kg fields filled in]
If you leave them empty
With no numbers to go on, the station reads the category name instead. It recognises two shapes, and ignores spaces, capitals and the letters "kg":
| Name you typed | Read as | Warns when the athlete weighs |
|---|---|---|
-70, u70, 70kg, -70 kg, 70 |
upper limit of 70 kg | more than 70 kg |
+100, o100, 100kg+ |
lower limit of 100 kg | less than 100 kg |
Open, Assoluta, Medi, anything else |
no limit at all | never |
Decimals work with either a point or a comma: -66,5 and -66.5 are read the
same way.
A name in the third row is not an error. It means the station has nothing it can read, so it stays quiet rather than guessing. Guessing "over the limit" from a name nobody wrote as a number would train your staff to click past the warning, which costs you the one case where it was right.
Which one wins
The numbers you typed always win over the name. If a category is called "-70kg" but carries a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 75, the station uses 60 and 75. That is deliberate: an explicit band is a decision you made, and a pattern match on the label should not overrule it.
Turning the warning off
Each speciality has a Warn at the scale when a weight falls outside its category switch, just under its weight categories. It is on by default.
Turn it off for a speciality whose categories are indicative rather than enforced: a grading day, a friendly, or a bracket where you sort athletes by hand after everyone is on the mat. The station will record weights normally and simply say nothing about the categories.
The switch is safe to change at any point, including after brackets are drawn and on the morning of the event. It only affects what the station says, never who competes where.
When the warning does appear
The station shows the reading, the bound it crossed, and a Move to another division button. Choosing it opens the same move you would make from the registrations list: the athlete changes weight category, the payment stays attached, and the change is written to the event's audit trail.
Moving an athlete in or out of a division whose bracket is already drawn leaves that bracket out of date. Hajime does not rebuild it for you, because rebuilding discards any manual adjustment already made to the draw. It reports the drift instead, and an organizer regenerates the bracket from the brackets page when they are ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to fill in minimum and maximum?
No. They are optional on every category. Without them you simply get the name-based reading described above, or no warning at all.
Can I set only one of the two?
Yes. A top band such as "+100kg" usually has a minimum and no maximum, and a bottom band often has a maximum and no minimum. Only the bound you set is checked.
Why did an athlete under the weight get a warning?
Because the category has a minimum. A band written as "-70kg" in a federation catalogue is often really 66.1 to 70 kg, and an athlete at 64 kg belongs in the lighter band. If that is not how your competition works, clear the minimum on that category, or turn the warning off for the speciality.
Does the warning stop anyone from competing?
No. It is a note to the operator at the scale. Only an organizer moving, withdrawing or disqualifying an athlete changes what happens on the mat.
Where do these categories come from when I import a CSV?
A CSV import creates categories by name only, with no minimum or maximum. Add the numbers afterwards in the speciality editor if you want the station to check against them. See Specialities & Templates.
Related: Categories & Divisions · Event Morning
Last updated: August 2026