Dad won't let me compete!

[soul fighter]

I have a few untrained friends who are planning to put together a "Backyard MMA" event. I'm considering fighting in it, but if I get injured, my parents would go CRAZY

[White Warlock]

What do you mean, "if?" You WILL get injured in it.

 

SF, there's nothing to learn by getting pummeled by a bunch of people who don't know what the hell they're doing. Well, other than how long it takes to heal from it.

 

Again, and as it has been said before, just continue training in the safety of a dojo. When/if you are ready, your parents and the instructor will agree to have you experience competitions. But... and this is important, it doesn't matter whether you are better than someone else... it matters that you are better today than you were yesterday.

 

MMA competitions are good to see what you don't know, or whether you've been deluding yourself on what works and what doesn't work, but it is not the place to see whether you are better than someone else. Noone is better than anyone else... they either have more skill applicable to the type of competition presented, they are better prepared, in better shape, or have less distractions, but you could still wipe the floor with them on a math test. Point made here is... improve upon yourself, in all areas and be happy with what you are able to accomplish each and every day. If you fail to do this, you will never be at peace.

[ramymensa]

Backyard MMA fights?

 

Have you considerred a solid set of rules, precautions, protective gear, referees . ..

 

Anyway I don't think it's a good idea from the start. I know tourneys are not always the best thing on earth due to fees, unfair ruling and so on. Still there are rules, medics and someone to be responsible for anything that happens to you. The fighters are used to the rules and know how to act on such ocasions.

 

So just stay and watch.

[soul fighter]

Yeah, we've got rules

 

And most of the kids are friends from my wrestling team.

[The Saint]

well just a little word of advise....If this back yard MMA does happen you could be held legally responsible if anyone gets seriously hurt. I realize that your at an age where you want to compete with the best and proove how successfull you can be. Backyard competition is not the best way to go about his. If your dad has an opinion that all martial artist are unskilled, try to change his mind by asking him to take some classes. Lastly, if there is a backyard fight you coluld be sued and held responsibly for any injuries.

[Synaesthesia]

a tournament will NOT give you a measure of if you're any good or not.

 

I don't agree. They at least give you A measure: dealing with adrenaline, pain, faking, blocking, advancing, delivering blows.

[TheDevilAside]

The first rule of Fight Club is... you don't talk about Fight Club.

[SevenStar]

first of all, a tournament will NOT give you a measure of if you're any good or not. Why? Because tournaments have rules, referee's and as close to a "perfect fighting environment" as they can get. Meaning mats, safty equiptment, etc. With taht in mind, a tournament is only a measure of that competitors ability to score a point faster than his opponent.[/b]

 

That opponent is another trained fighter. If I can hold my own against a trained fighter, It's safe to say I will do well against an untrained one. Sure, you can bring up weapons and multiple attackers, but do you train both of those full speed and power at your traditional school? If not, then the point is moot...

 

in a real fight, there are no ref's calling points, and I have seen thousands of technically good "points" scored in tournaments, taht on the street wouldn't have done a thing to their opponent.

 

That's the beauty of MMA - full contact. The sloppy points you see in point fighting will not amount to squat in a full contact match.

 

I do well in sparring, but I don't go 100% in sparring, and most of my training partners are much bigger than me.

 

Again, read what I said above on that. That's sparring, not a street fight. HUGE differance there.

 

But how do you train that difference? Are you kicking to the groin and eye gouging with full power and resistance? Are you really breaking bones? You have a ruleset just like a sport fighter does.

[aefibird]

SF, backyard wrestling is definately NOT the way to go, especially if its with the 'kids' from your wrestling team. A bunch of inexperienced kids together having a free-for-all (which is what it would be) is a sure fire recipe for disaster.

 

Get plenty of training in the dojo and up your skill level there BEFORE going and entering competitions (or else you're gonna get your butt whipped again). If you train hard and seriously it might show your parents that you are prepared to take MA seriously, and not just be like a whiney little kid who sulks cos he can't have is own way...

 

I know you're only young but you have to try and be mature about the whole thing.

 

So your parents won't let you compete at the moment? Well, it isn't going to affect your whole martial arts career is it? Try and keep a sense of perspective on the whole thing.