As anyone watching cable TV knows – ultimate fighting is all the rage on pay-per-view. So it was only a matter of time until some parents decided their Âkids needed to ‘train’ to participate in this ‘sport’:
Ultimate fighting was once the sole domain of burly men who beat each other bloody in anything-goes brawls on pay-per-view TV. But the sport often derided as “human cockfighting” is branching out.
The bare-knuckle fights are now attracting competitors as young as 6 whose parents treat the sport as casually as wrestling, Little League or soccer.
The kids wear some protective equipment and helmets, but you just know the rationalization that’s coming…
It looks violent until you realize this teaches discipline. One of the first rules they learn is that this is not for aggressive behavior outside (the ring),” said Larry Swinehart, a Joplin police officer and father of two boys and the lone girl in the garage group.
Riiiight. Now my child does Tae-Kwon-Doe and not only trains on how to spar (hand to hand fighting), but also knows how to wield a sword, nunchaku, and a bo staff very well. Next up is training with weapons called tonfas (like a police baton), and kamas (scary looking!). But the training is very strict, with respect drilled into them constantly. They are constantly reminded that what they learn is kept off the streets and weapons training is limited to the more senior students who have exhibited the proper discipline in class, etc.
But equating cage fighting training with other sports that are dangerous, if proper discipline and restraint aren’t taught, is crazy. Do you really think these kids are all going to be in proper training environments? Besides that, you are training kids for little more than all out fist fights. TKD centers around personal discipline, form, precision, and focus. Ultimate fighting is all out fist fighting. I love this snippet:
Lindsey said the children wear protective headgear, shin guards, groin protection and martial-arts gloves. They fight quick, two-minute bouts. Rules also prohibit any elbow blows and blows to the head when an opponent is on the ground.
Emphasis mine. You’ve got to be kidding. Just wait until one of these kids hauls off and beats a classmate to a bloody pulp with the skills they learned in a neighbor’s garage training for their next cage match. Yes, the same thing could happen with a TKD black belt, but TKD has much more history as a discipline – fighting is only a part of what you learn. And discipline is drilled into them from the start.
These parents are delusional if they think this ends well.
March 28th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Your premise is wrong. My children all participate in martial arts, as do my wife and myself. My 12 year old won the state grappling championship in ’06, which is essentially the sport you are describing.
The discipline, and fearlessness he has acquired via his martial arts training is turning him into a respectful, controlled, successful young man. He was recently attacked in middle school and only used the amount of force necessary to control the, much larger, aggressor. Once he controlled the aggressor, he utilized his jusitsu skills to encourage the fellow to accompany him to the principal’s office and turn himself in.
You must be one of the Neville Chambelains of our time who believes we must all be disarmed and untrained to defend ourselves. Wake up, the world is a rough and un-civilized place no matter what your delusion. Those who are not prepared to defend themselves will become serfs, subjects or slaves.
Sincerely,
DSS
March 29th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Devo,
Clearly you didn’t read my post very closely. One of my kids trains in Tae-Kwon-Doe for forms, sparring, and weapons. He is learning discipline and how to defend himself – something I think is great. If I was a Neville Chamberlain as you note, I wouldn’t have my son training with weapons like kamas and swords.
My point in this post was training kids for cage fighting is just training them to fist fight. ‘Mixed Martial Arts’ is BS If you’ve ever watched ultimate fighting, they aren’t doing any kind of martial arts. They’re just beating the heck out of each other with punches and kicks. That’s why I think this is delusional. TKD and other martial arts place a lot of emphasis on discipline and form. Training for a cage match, not so much. I’m sure a few trainers will drill into the kids that they must only use their training in the ring. But it’s not easy to get 8-10 year olds to know when and where they should do certain things. I think in many cases, with kids training to street fight in their garages – it’s going to lead to major problems down the road.
Next time before you call me out as some waif afraid of violence, read what I write a little bit closer and you’ll realize how wrong you are. But I’d rather see kids trained to defend themselves as a part of a broader discipline like TKD then cage matches where the only goal it to beat the opponent into submission. Wrong lesson.