Does Martial Arts Training Really Help Your Child Fight?

Since the karate craze of the 1970s, countless armies of children have pounded, kicked and shouted “hello, yes!” Dojo malls and community centers provide martial arts lessons throughout America. Martial arts training builds discipline, builds fitness and removes hair from your child for a couple of hours a week. But as a parent, you may be wondering: Does this kind of teaching really help children to resist when they need it? Is a child who owns the Fujian 12 White Crane Karate Kata more likely to resist a bully in the schoolyard than a child who instead opted to go to a racquetball class at School Y? And if so, which of the many fighting styles is most effective?

Martial arts teaches your child not to fight

According to renowned martial arts expert Mr. Miyagi at Karate Kid II , “Best Block Don’t Be There,” and all but the craziest young martial arts instructors will agree. You really don’t want your child to crave a fight, and your local Sensai will almost certainly teach your child to avoid physical conflict outside the ring. However, fights do happen, so to understand how martial arts training works in real life, you must philosophize about violence itself.

Long Beach photographer Todd Sharp has worked as a bouncer in Akron, Ohio for many years and has seen more than enough fights to better understand them. Sharpe does not think that the punches, kicks and blocks of a martial artist are of great importance in real combat. “A fight in the schoolyard is a lot of posturing and intimidation,” Sharpe says. “Bar fights are based on this to some extent, but if you add alcohol, it’s a lot more dangerous. When it comes to bar brawls, there is no style. It has no form or beauty. No Black Belt ^105-th degree. All this shit goes out the door. It’s a merciless fight fueled by emotion and booze. “

Reflexes and readiness

Even if your child’s graceful tap kick probably won’t make a difference in a high school skirmish or later in life in a saloon brawl, that doesn’t mean martial arts training is potentially useless in real-world combat. Even a little training in some kind of martial art can potentially help, even if it’s just reflexes, to block an unsuccessful punch. “Good school and good art train your behavior, so when you see attack stimuli, you have a ready answer,” says Raffi Gabriel, instructor at Combatives Academy in Burbank, California.

But what is the best martial art?

As for the intricacies of choosing the type of martial arts, according to Gabriel, the attitude of the instructor is more important than the specifics of the art itself. “Parents should look for an instructor who really loves teaching children, someone who is passionate about teaching good etiquette, good morals and good ethics,” says Gabriel.

In addition to choosing a caring instructor, in terms of overall usefulness in a school fight, Gabriel recommends grappling-based martial arts rather than vertical styles like karate, mainly because holding someone down makes someone less likely to be serious. will suffer. “Most people are inexperienced, and when bodies collide with each other in a fight, they end up on the ground,” explains Gabriel. “So Brazilian Jiu Jitsu would be one of the first items on my list for a kid. It could be sambo, and even wrestling. You want something that emphasizes control, position, and sometimes submission without hurting anyone. “

Miyagi was right

Even with years of trick-based martial arts training, no one can be guaranteed a “victory” in fistfighting. Real human violence is too random and chaotic to be predicted. There might be weapons involved that change the dynamics a lot, and there probably won’t be a level playing field to start with. “Where I grew up it was never a fair fight, even in high school, it was not a one-on-one fight,” explains Gabriel. In a situation with multiple opponents, you are likely to get hurt, unless you are very lucky or run very fast.

So in the end, Mr. Miyagi was right: “Better block, don’t be there,” but if your child can’t help but be present, it’s always better to mitigate the situation than get into a fighting stance and throw punches. It is no coincidence that it is the discipline, confidence and dedication required to avoid combat that is what most youthful martial arts rely on most.

“I think martial arts are almost secondary,” says Gabriel, “kids really should learn martial arts to get discipline, hard work, the ability to work with other people, learn to get along … Training over the years makes you lose your ego … He tests you because you can’t hold out if you train because of your ego. There is always a bigger fish, someone more experienced. “

“The best thing to teach kids was patience and ego control,” says former bouncer Sharp. “It’s always about reducing escalation and empathy. It’s about treating people like people, even if they don’t treat you like a person. You shake their hand, say hello, ask their names. This happens, be it a fight, drunk, mentally unstable, or a bully. Everything works the same. It’s all about sympathy. “