Kids MMA

[DWx]

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5615095

What are all the opinions on this? I've only watched about 2 minutes of it (with the sound off because I'm at work ) but I'm shocked at the fact that these kids appear to be going full contact without minimal protection. They all seem to be taking a right beating. I would have expected that they'd had on some head gear and maybe some chest gear at that age. As a rule I'm not against kids in MA but looking at this they just can't handle it.

[tallgeese]

Suprisingly, I'm not a big fan of the idea.

Kids are too young, from a development standpoint, to be competing like that at that age. Physically they are not mature enough and mentally and emotionally they can't even begin to be prepared for that.

Grappling, fine compete away. My 5 year old can do pretty good on the mitts. That's all good, those are skills that you can build on later to make a competent ma-ist. I don't even mind sparring at a young age. But it has to be contact appropriate and more importantly, mindset appropriate.

Kids get exposed to too much violence already. We don't need to speed the process along. I sure don't want my 5 year old thinking the way I do. This is just another step along the path to making them grow up too early.

Now for adults, the mma guy is right- there's no reason to wait much past the second lesson to start sparring. But these are kids, it's a different ball game.

[DWx]

I've just watched it properly and from 1st school they showed the guy asks one of the girls if she's angry yet because the other kid messed up her hair. Sure a bit of anger is good to have but at that age linking anger to fighting to sport is not not good. If I had a kid I would much rather put them in the play MA even if it isn't that combat focused, broken bones at that age just aren't worth it.

[joesteph]

. . . I'm shocked at the fact that these kids appear to be going full contact without minimal protection. They all seem to be taking a right beating.

I remember when Power Rangers first came out, DWx, and then Halloween came along. Kids not only wanted to dress up as Power Rangers, they wanted to act out the roles, too. Schools that had Halloween dress-up days encountered enough problems to prompt them to announce, the following year, that Halloween dress-up day would be held again, but no Power Rangers.

So here I've described a situation that adults discovered needed to be addressed for the safety of the children, while the video presents an MMA forum created by adults so that kids can wail the tar out of one another with their parents' approval.

[bushido_man96]

I don't care for it too much, either. It reminds me of the kids in Thailand that start fighting at such a young age, too. Kids should just not be exposed to this level of competition yet.

Even Pop Warner football league don't get that rough.

[Zanshin]

Not right.

No head gear (for little heads that are still developing), insufficient gloves and a floor that doesn't look very well padded.

Nasty stuff, but I bet their parents are proud of them

[BLueDevil]

Yeah thats interesting, especially because I have alot of respect for Shark Tank and Eddie Millis. Honestly Im ok with kids training BJJ at around age 6 in a controlled enviroment and Im for kids learning kickboxing at around the same age in the same kind of situation, seperately. And it does go back to kids in Thailand learning muay Thai at a really young age so by 15 they are competing for world championships, btu of course Thialand is very different from the US.

But this, I dont know, personally I wouldnt put my kids through it like that but I guess since noone has gotten hurt yet theres not much you can argue with(another debatable point though). We also dont know what kind of long term effects tis has on the kids since this is relatively new. In my opinion they should atleast have more padding (head gear, some kind of body gear etc) and theres no way they should be sparring that early(second lesson ). And honestly competition should be way later then that (ATLEAST 15 years old).

To me it seems Millis is teaching these kids to reflect himself like that other guy was saying so I cant say I agree with this method.

[Adonis]

MMA drills sure, but not competion until later on.

[crazyferret]

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5615095

What are all the opinions on this? I've only watched about 2 minutes of it (with the sound off because I'm at work ) but I'm shocked at the fact that these kids appear to be going full contact without minimal protection. They all seem to be taking a right beating. I would have expected that they'd had on some head gear and maybe some chest gear at that age. As a rule I'm not against kids in MA but looking at this they just can't handle it.

MMA is great for kids.

Coaches, however, can really mess it up if they are morons.

Same problem exists in kid's Folk Wrestling, kid's Football, kid's Soccer.

The problem of "Bad Coaches for Kids' Sports" is nothing new at all.

[joesteph]

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5615095

I would have expected that they'd had on some head gear and maybe some chest gear at that age. As a rule I'm not against kids in MA but looking at this they just can't handle it.

MMA is great for kids.

Coaches, however, can really mess it up . . .

The problem of "Bad Coaches for Kids' Sports" is nothing new at all.

I didn't like what I saw; no, not in the least. Concern for children's safety in a martial art should be at the top of the list. The question isn't actually if children should do MMA so much as what they are allowed--if not encouraged--to do, based on their instructors and their parents.

MMA, to me, demands greater supervision; this is not a case of lax but of improper supervision--and "Parental Guidance Suggested" is out the window from what was presented.