Kids MMA

[Tiger1962]

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.

I'm not against contact as long as it's made clear up front and if its concerning young kids, the parents should be made to sign a waiver to allow it & the kids must not be forced to do it.

That being said, any kind of contact in the dojang should be done with protection. You want to be able to walk out of there while you're learning how to defend yourself. The kids this age in the video are too young to be going at it full force. I'm not against kids sparring but this particular kind of sparring is not for kids this age.

[bushido_man96]

I think that the kids could learn some good things from MMA training, concerning conditioning, pad work, strategy, technique, etc. However, I don't think that they should necessarily be fighting this young.

[tallgeese]

Yeah, this is a bit over their head at this point. I'd agree with bushido man here. Pads, conditioning, ect. I'd even consent to sparring, but it's too much at this level for kids this young.

[joesteph]

I think that the kids could learn some good things from MMA training, concerning conditioning . . .

However, I don't think that they should necessarily be fighting this young.

I'd even consent to sparring, but it's too much at this level for kids this young.

You both have a lot of experience to fall back on regarding kids and sparring. At about what age do you think sparring on this level can be done? Just a ballpark figure.

[bushido_man96]

I think you can introduce various levels of sparring at different intervals.

If it were me, for example, I would have them just do grappling/submission wrestling at first. Just like a Kids' Wrestling set up, but with an MMA aspect. They could do this for years and not get hurt, as long as control is there. Kids start Wrestling at around 4 I think, and this could start about the same time, I think.

Now, they could add in Boxing/Kickboxing at around ages 13, I think, but with all the protective gear, and in very controlled sparring sessions; not competitive sessions. If you wanted to get them some competition experience at this point, TKD or Karate style tournaments might be the way to go.

Once they get to high school, I think the actual competing and more serious training could start.

[tallgeese]

I'm of about the same feel for the numbers bushido man gave above.

I'd add karate-type point sparring younger. I had a group going touch contact at about 8 ish once. That worked out ok. I personally used a continous round model for this and had them using more boxing style stikes and guard, but with touch contact only.

I'd say high school is just about right for serious competitive training, I'd add that it's actually about the same time frame that you should start doing serious sd training as well. Eye rakes and such, you can really start working their mindset here, where as before I think that anything beyond escape and avoidacne is not really age appropriate.

[bushido_man96]

Yeah, teaching a kid to eye-gouge might have an adverse effect on his psyche early on.

I agree that some point style sparring could start earlier, but it will be somewhat different than the total MMA approach. We have our TKD kids spar in class once they hit orange belt level, and can compete in tourneys at this point, too. I do think that in class at that time, though, drills to bring stand-up, clinch, and ground can come together more, especially including transitions.

[joesteph]

A New York Times article (today, November 18th) on MMA in a Massachusetts high school is available online, and with a video as well. The URL is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/sports/othersports/18mma.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

You'll see that it's composed of teenagers, is properly supervised and, as for a description of MMA, this is from the article:

 

To succeed, a fighter must acquire the skills of four separate combat sports — boxing, wrestling, kick-boxing and submission grappling — and combine them.

 

It may only be available today, November 18th, in that it's under the "Today's Paper" heading. Sometimes they put it in accessible archives for the general public; other times, you'd have to be a subscriber, but the web site of the New York Times is:

http://www.nytimes.com

The name of the article is "Mixed Martial Arts Makes Its Way to High School" and it's by Justin Porter.

[bushido_man96]

That sounds like a great setup there. They went about setting it up the right way, and although I think that they could get away with making some contact with sufficient protective equipment, it is a great way to introduce this great art to a new generation of practitioners.

Maybe more high schools will get into this, too.

[TheArtofDave]

The age limit for most school that will allow teens to compete in MMA training is 16 & up. With all the protective gear and the right kind of supervision that it requires.

I hope this catches on. I would love to be offered to help teach this at my old school.