MMA and Young Children

ESPN's Outside the Lines ran a story this morning (Sunday, July 20) on the growing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts and its effect on young children joining the sport. This prompted a great opportunity to debate the ethics of introducing kids to such a violent sport at an early age.

Mixed Martial Arts is the new boxing. It is gaining mass popularity within the male 18-35 demographic. I admit that even myself, a passive, nonconfrontational guy has found some mild interest in it. I would prefer watching it over boxing for example. There is something appealing about guys beating their brains in although I would never want to do it myself. I also have a little person on my shoulder telling me there is something wrong about it.

The ethical argument regarding MMA in general is one I choose not to blog about here. Instead I'd like to reflect on the ethics of youths' participation in MMA. There are physical and mental/emotional questions to be answered regarding this subject.

For example in terms of the physical aspects of MMA, do we want to allow our children to participate in an activity in which the risk of injury is high? The injuries could also be very serious. The types of stress and movement required are not good for growing, developing bodies. But we promote football which is a physical sport. Also, with obesity among our youth and general population in the U.S. on the rise along with the number of hours we all play video games or watch tv instead of doing physical activity, shouldn't we be looking for more active experiences for our children? Isn't MMA another avenue to pursue? Many kids don't like sports but enjoy this kind of activity. So why disallow it?

Mentally and emotionally, are kids ready to handle the brutality of beating another human being to a pulp and intentionally hurting them or submitting them? Is it a good thing to teach this aggressive way of thinking? Don't we want to avoid that and limit or discourage that behavior in our society? But doesn't violence already exist anyway and the best way to avoid it or handle it is to be prepared to defend or protect yourself? If done right, doesn't this provide a structured way to educate youth how to handle confrontation and build confidence that they can handle a confrontation appropriately no matter how it ends up? See Karate Kid.

Obviously there are two sides to this issue. Quite frankly, the guy representing the pro-MMA side didn't convince me with his argument at all. That could be because there is no substantial evidence or reasoning to prove to me that MMA is good for young kids. So after watching the so called debate on OTL with Bob Ley, I felt the same way I did going in. Once again, I am riding the fence.

I love the idea of providing more excuses for youth to exercise and get involved in an activity. Studies have shown for a long time that getting involved in things is generally positive for kids whether it is swimming, football, drama, band or any other organized group. My wife and I (as well as my daughter's mother), intentionally get my daughter signed up for various things for this reason. Socialization is important. Exposure to different interests is positive. Learning different skills is a bonus. There is that fine line between exposing and pushing too hard that my wife and I are trying to walk with her but we feel we do this by not forcing here into anything and not requiring success. We also have valued variety through soccer, swimming, skill building, speech, library visits, zoo visits, amusement parks, parks in general, bike riding and more as we plan to enroll her in dance, tumbling and other varied activities.

So I like the angle that it gives an physical activity for kids to enjoy. I also like the "idea" of teaching self-defense and using this avenue to teach methods of handling confrontation without violence first. But this is where things get blurry. Many forms of martial arts have already been doing that for years, decades, centuries I would think. MMA is taking those art forms and infusing the violence, not teaching how to avoid it. The proponents can try to work the Martial Arts angle of self-defense all they want, but really...who's buying it? I am not. Granted, I have never set foot in a MMA match or gym so I have no idea what really goes on in there. It could be liked wild, caged dogs trying to kill each other (a la Mike Vick) or it could be instructors teaching the values of self-defense as a last resort. I tend to lean more to the violent approach.

I also worry about the physical harm we are risking with our youth when we have them perform the moves and holds that are part of MMA. The bones are not yet fully grown. The muscles aren't mature. The brain is yet to develop fully. The physical abuse and wear and tear grown adult fighters go through is bad enough. The last fight I saw had one guy bleeding profusely from his head to the point that the mat was soaked in red. It was kinda cool, but brutal. I couldn't imagine a child dealing with that.

I think it is good to teach kids the value of discipline, training, setting goals, dealing with scary situations, working hard, gaining confidence, exercise, keeping a healthy body and handling defeat or victory with honor. These are important things. I think sports in general do this. While I agree that MMA can help promote and teach these, it borders on using the wrong methods to do so unleashing a monster along with these values. Kids may not comprehend what is being taught correctly and become more likely to grow into violent, aggressive, egotistical meatheads that handle everything with physical intimidation, the lowest of intelligence.

Once again, I think things come down to the parenting of the child. I am not going to judge parents who are trying to do what's right. I understand there can be positives taken from this, but it is absolutely critical that the parents are highly involved and making sure the kids are not taking this the wrong way. I worry that won't happen. I worry that most parents allowing their kids to be in MMA at a young age are doing it for the wrong reasons. But that happens in other sports too. Football is glorified while displaying many of the same problems that I am claiming MMA will.

There should be an age requirement for the safety of the children. Or there should be major limits put on what is allowed and not allowed in competition. These are musts in my mind. Coaches or instructors should really teach alternative methods to handling confrontation and promote it and value it legitimately and seriously. Again though, I just worry that the two can't go hand in hand despite what the proponents of MMA say.

MMA is not going to go away. It is growing and hasn't even peaked. But if we are going to allow our kids to get involved, it needs to be regulated in a major way. And our kids who join need to be more mature and grown that we are allowing now.