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(NaturalNews) I received quite a bit of feedback to my recent article that asked whether children should train and compete in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Most of the feedback was critical of my advocacy of children's involvement in this sport, and while I greatly honor the comments and criticisms I receive from readers, some of the responses were based on the same common myths about MMA that are repeated by the mainstream media. So to clarify my position about what's really going on with MMA and children, I decided to write this follow-up piece.
First, let me clarify the main point of that article (http://www.naturalnews.com/022995.html), which is simply that I am a strong advocate of children's involvement in sports of all kinds, including martial arts, wrestling, football, baseball, kickboxing, gymastics and many others. I also argued that the most dangerous thing for a child is not involvement in a sport where injuries occur, but rather the obesity, diabetes and other diseases that come from a child sitting on the couch, engaged in no real exercise at all. It is the LACK of exercise that harms children, not participation in exercise!
In other words, involvement in sports makes children healthy -- even when injuries occur! But a lack of exercise is extremely harmful to children, and I believe that children who are denied opportunities to engage in sports are in fact suffering harm to their health as a result.
Mixed Martial Arts is far safer than GymnasticsMy second point in the previous article was that Mixed Martial Arts is no more dangerous than other sports where injuries occur. In fact, gymnastics is far more dangerous than any type of martial arts. In gymnastics, children are often paralyzed from severe injuries sustained while training in various floor exercises. In fact, not far from where I live, a teenager was paralyzed just two years ago at a gym where I trained for years. It happens all over the country.
In contrast, I don't know of a single child in the country who has been paralyzed by training in martial arts (I'm sure there may have been some, but I'm confident they are nowhere near as frequent as serious injuries sustained in gymnastics). Sure, there have been injuries to elbows, knees, wrists, ankles and shoulders. But these heal. Active children will always suffer injuries from time to time, regardless of what sport they play: Football, basketball, baseball and even track and field (just ask some former pole vaulters about that...). You want to keep your child completely safe? Teach 'em ping pong, and hope they don't get smacked in the eye by that little plastic ball.
So far, then, what I'm saying is: 1) The health benefits of being involved in sports greatly outweigh the risk of harm from injury, and 2) Mixed Martial Arts is no more dangerous than many other sports, and is in fact less dangerous than gymnastics.
Mixed Martial Arts is not "Violent" (even though it may appear to be)Now to the third point: The "violence" of Mixed Martial Arts. This was one of the areas where readers were critical of my original article on this topic, and I admit I did misstate my views in the original article (or I failed to explained them completely). One reader said I was "promoting violence" by supporting children's involvement in MMA. This is where that reader's inexperience becomes relevant to the discussion.
I've trained alongside many children in a Mixed Martial Arts studio. The truth is, children who train in martial arts are less violent than those who don't. Do you know which kids start the fights these days? It's the kids who have no discpline, no training, and no self esteem. But kids who train in martial arts -- any form of martial arts -- tend to become more responsible, more mature and far less likely to engage in any sort of violence. The very process of going through a program of intense exercise, stretching, hand-eye coordination and paying attention to an adult instructor makes kids more intelligent and more responsible. Sure, there are a few exceptions to this, but by and large, martial arts training makes children less violent, not more violent.
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Saturday, April 12, 2008
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