Is Martial Arts Dangerous for Children?
The idea that mixed martial arts training is “dangerous for children” is farfetched. The real danger to children’s health is sitting on the couch playing video games, drinking soda, gaining weight and getting diabetes. It is these inactive kids who are at the highest risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, low bone density, poor cardiovascular health, behavioral disorders, etc. etc. etc.
The healthy kids are the kids that actively participate in sports. It doesn’t even matter what sport. Track and field, football, baseball, soccer, wrestling, and yes, MMA. Kids that train in MMA are training in a health-enhancing, confidence-boosting activity that will burn calories, build physical strength, teach personal responsibility and will demand rigorous training discipline. It’s like learning a formal martial art (like Tai Kwon Do), except that MMA is actually useful and it doesn’t waste time with demonstration forms or pretty colored belts. A kid that learns MMA is not only healthy but they are also more capable of taking care of themself at school, on the street or anywhere.
A lot of studios that teach MMA to kids also teach self-defense classes for kids based on Krav Maga, which is the Israeli-developed combat system. Kids are taught how to escape an attacker, how to free themselves from wrist holds and strangleholds, and then how to run while attracting attention. These skills might save a kid’s life.
The mainstream media isn’t interested in the actual benefits of teaching these skills to children. They are just interested in the sensationalism invoked by the use of terms like “human cockfighting” and “bare-knuckle brawls!”
The bottom line? Children experience tremendous benefits from participating in any sport, including MMA. Kids who train in martial arts, wrestling, kickboxing or other labeled “violent” sport are actually learning valuable skills and discipline. They’re staying healthy and active, and they are greatly reducing their risk for typical couch-potato diseases like diabetes, depression, osteoporosis and obesity. The real risk to kids’ health today is the risk of diseases caused by a LACK of exercise!
