Anyway, I would love to hear all your thoughts on this one.

As a martial artist (and now a father), I think MMA is a great sport...I plan on introducing martial arts to my son. The problem, IMHO, is that most 'lay' people see these kids fighting and that is what causes the "Shock factor", that raises the questions like.."Oh my GOD, what are you teaching our kids"....

Its like anything else, people fear what they don't know....they pass judgment before they know the details!!!

What these lay people do is basically "Judge a book by its cover"....The cover of the book being the kids fighting in a ring and most people see just that!!! Look inside the cover people!!!....look inside and you will find a lot more to it than just "Barbaric" natures!

You will find that MMA and fighting will teach these kids many things:
-Respect, Discipline, Humbleness, a way to defend themselves, competitiveness...and soooo much more!!!

I've had people ask me, "How can you watch this stuff? These guys beat each other up, bloody and broken and then they go and shake hands! "What is this crap..if that was me I would be so pissed and want to kill them!"

Well, to me that says it all....my answer to this is that "You just don't get it, do you!!"

My head is racing right now because I got so excited about this topic I'm having trouble getting my point across! But I think most "Non-Lay" people" will understand what I'm saying-I hope...

I pose this question to the "Nay sayers"-

"What would you rather have your kid doing? Playing a MMA video game munchin on chips and being a brain dead zombie, or actually participating in MMA and gaining knowledge to defend against bullies etc.., discipline, exercising, and ultimately(when all is said and done) gaining respect from, and giving respect to another human being!!!!!"

I think this warrants some Bruce Lee quotes:

"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer."

“If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.”

quote:

---

he makes sense, pop warner football is friggin brutal , kids boxing and kid kickboxing is just as tough

---

Ron Kosakowski
Practical Self Defense Training Center
847 Hamilton Ave. (RT 69)
Waterbury, CT 06706
203-596-9073
info@psdtc.com
http://www.psdtc.com
http://www.traditionalfilipinoweapons.com

Rick

quote:

---

I eally don't want kids fighting full contact or doing joint locks on undeveloped bones. Picture the same kids with head gear on and boxing gloves. Are you okay with this?

Rick

Self Defense and Over-coming Fear
http://kirkhamsebooks.com/MartialArts/Martial_Arts_Videos/

---

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein

quote:

---

Check this out http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/03/31/ufc-president-dana-white-mma-for-kids-as-safe-as-pop-warner-foo/
My son has been preparing for this since he could walk.

Anyway, I would love to hear all your thoughts on this one.

Ron Kosakowski
Practical Self Defense Training Center
847 Hamilton Ave. (RT 69)
Waterbury, CT 06706
203-596-9073
info@psdtc.com
http://www.psdtc.com
http://www.traditionalfilipinoweapons.com

---

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein

A great many of the students in a typical Dojo think they really know how to fight and are quite sure they can be the "bad ass" if need be. Trouble is they have never really hit someone or been hit either. They have mile high trophies to show for their tournament competitions but none of the bruises etc. that we endured in the "old days". I know what it feels like to take a really well delivered full contact kick to the ribs and how to heal broken fingers, toes and noses. It made me a better fighter and helped me conquer my fears. Now I don't wish anyone an injury, especially a young person and that is why I stress the safe training and safe fighting aspect. Our equipment and attitudes have evolved sufficiently to allow this type of fighting in the proper setting with competent concerned instructors.

My kids did not grow up in front of the television, I did not allow it. They studied martial arts with me, went to Boy Scouts, played other sports, fished, hunted and camped out. I kept them busy, entertained, educated and tired. In return they are drug and alcohol free, hard working, and respectful young men who I am proud of. They are manly men who know how to fight, shoot, find food in the woods, and nail two boards together to make something. In short they are not the feminized (no insult to women intended here) couch dwelling rolls of dough I see every day in my town.

Young boys especially need to roll around and "scrap" with each other it is their nature. Only when we try to stop this normal, natural behavior do we wind up with problems. The Ritalin line at the Nurses station of a typical school is longer than the one at the hottest nightclub on the Strip. Shootings at school have shocked us, and locally in Baltimore violent assaults on teachers are at the rate of 100 per year (of course the kids go unpunished, another big mistake) and acts of random violence are the results of restraining natural behaviors. I wish I had a nickel for every time I got the sh-t beat out of me after school because I was the new kid, or the tall kid, or just in the wrong place kid. But guess what, there were no school shootings and no one would ever dream of assaulting a teacher; we toed the line. Our biggest fear was the very large paddle with the holes drilled in it that hung on the Vice Principal's wall and was used liberally when needed.

I was on the school rifle team (all the local schools had ranges in their basements) and I used to ride the bus on match day with my trusty Marlin .22 rear peep sight tube fed rifle. Guess what, no one ever DREAMED of shooting another human and we learned how to respect firearms. Could you imagine this today? What changed? Society's permissive attitudes and victim mentality have been mainstreamed and we are the worse for it.

Obviously the reporter in the video was fishing for some negatives and taking the "party line" that fighting is bad, bad, bad. Locally we have been getting the same headlines "Should Children Be Able to Beat Each Other Senseless in a Steel Cage". Searching for sensationalism is the modus operandi of today’s media.

Bottom line, kids are kids; they are like puppies, baby bears, kittens, lions, and every manner of animal when they are young. They need to bite each other on the ear and chase one another up a tree. That is how they learn, build muscles and learn to judge themselves. When we ignore the fact that we are not far removed from our furry and feathered earth travelers we suffer for it. No matter how hard the liberal wackos in this Country try to unisex us they can never succeed and that drives them crazy. I say let the kids learn, let them fight but lets' do so with the same concern and safety we have always demonstrated in our teaching.

quote:

---

I have been teaching martial arts to adults and children for 37 years. Beginning with Karate (before the days of safety equipment) and continuing through with JKD, Grappling, Kali/Escrima, JuJitsu Boxing and Kickboxing. My prime directive has always been to teach safely, to promote respect and safe interaction with fellow students. If the MMA is taught with those same concerns I see no reason to exclude young men and young women. In fact it may correct what I consider to be the worst thing to happen to Martial Arts; the false sense of security that has developed in today’s MA schools with the advent of no touch point sparring.

A great many of the students in a typical Dojo think they really know how to fight and are quite sure they can be the "bad ass" if need be. Trouble is they have never really hit someone or been hit either. They have mile high trophies to show for their tournament competitions but none of the bruises etc. that we endured in the "old days". I know what it feels like to take a really well delivered full contact kick to the ribs and how to heal broken fingers, toes and noses. It made me a better fighter and helped me conquer my fears. Now I don't wish anyone an injury, especially a young person and that is why I stress the safe training and safe fighting aspect. Our equipment and attitudes have evolved sufficiently to allow this type of fighting in the proper setting with competent concerned instructors.

My kids did not grow up in front of the television, I did not allow it. They studied martial arts with me, went to Boy Scouts, played other sports, fished, hunted and camped out. I kept them busy, entertained, educated and tired. In return they are drug and alcohol free, hard working, and respectful young men who I am proud of. They are manly men who know how to fight, shoot, find food in the woods, and nail two boards together to make something. In short they are not the feminized (no insult to women intended here) couch dwelling rolls of dough I see every day in my town.

Young boys especially need to roll around and "scrap" with each other it is their nature. Only when we try to stop this normal, natural behavior do we wind up with problems. The Ritalin line at the Nurses station of a typical school is longer than the one at the hottest nightclub on the Strip. Shootings at school have shocked us, and locally in Baltimore violent assaults on teachers are at the rate of 100 per year (of course the kids go unpunished, another big mistake) and acts of random violence are the results of restraining natural behaviors. I wish I had a nickel for every time I got the sh-t beat out of me after school because I was the new kid, or the tall kid, or just in the wrong place kid. But guess what, there were no school shootings and no one would ever dream of assaulting a teacher; we toed the line. Our biggest fear was the very large paddle with the holes drilled in it that hung on the Vice Principal's wall and was used liberally when needed.

I was on the school rifle team (all the local schools had ranges in their basements) and I used to ride the bus on match day with my trusty Marlin .22 rear peep sight tube fed rifle. Guess what, no one ever DREAMED of shooting another human and we learned how to respect firearms. Could you imagine this today? What changed? Society's permissive attitudes and victim mentality have been mainstreamed and we are the worse for it.

Obviously the reporter in the video was fishing for some negatives and taking the "party line" that fighting is bad, bad, bad. Locally we have been getting the same headlines "Should Children Be Able to Beat Each Other Senseless in a Steel Cage". Searching for sensationalism is the modus operandi of today’s media.

Bottom line, kids are kids; they are like puppies, baby bears, kittens, lions, and every manner of animal when they are young. They need to bite each other on the ear and chase one another up a tree. That is how they learn, build muscles and learn to judge themselves. When we ignore the fact that we are not far removed from our furry and feathered earth travelers we suffer for it. No matter how hard the liberal wackos in this Country try to unisex us they can never succeed and that drives them crazy. I say let the kids learn, let them fight but lets' do so with the same concern and safety we have always demonstrated in our teaching.

morgan thomas

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

I have been teaching martial arts to adults and children for 37 years. Beginning with Karate (before the days of safety equipment) and continuing through with JKD, Grappling, Kali/Escrima, JuJitsu Boxing and Kickboxing. My prime directive has always been to teach safely, to promote respect and safe interaction with fellow students. If the MMA is taught with those same concerns I see no reason to exclude young men and young women. In fact it may correct what I consider to be the worst thing to happen to Martial Arts; the false sense of security that has developed in today’s MA schools with the advent of no touch point sparring.

A great many of the students in a typical Dojo think they really know how to fight and are quite sure they can be the "bad ass" if need be. Trouble is they have never really hit someone or been hit either. They have mile high trophies to show for their tournament competitions but none of the bruises etc. that we endured in the "old days". I know what it feels like to take a really well delivered full contact kick to the ribs and how to heal broken fingers, toes and noses. It made me a better fighter and helped me conquer my fears. Now I don't wish anyone an injury, especially a young person and that is why I stress the safe training and safe fighting aspect. Our equipment and attitudes have evolved sufficiently to allow this type of fighting in the proper setting with competent concerned instructors.

My kids did not grow up in front of the television, I did not allow it. They studied martial arts with me, went to Boy Scouts, played other sports, fished, hunted and camped out. I kept them busy, entertained, educated and tired. In return they are drug and alcohol free, hard working, and respectful young men who I am proud of. They are manly men who know how to fight, shoot, find food in the woods, and nail two boards together to make something. In short they are not the feminized (no insult to women intended here) couch dwelling rolls of dough I see every day in my town.

Young boys especially need to roll around and "scrap" with each other it is their nature. Only when we try to stop this normal, natural behavior do we wind up with problems. The Ritalin line at the Nurses station of a typical school is longer than the one at the hottest nightclub on the Strip. Shootings at school have shocked us, and locally in Baltimore violent assaults on teachers are at the rate of 100 per year (of course the kids go unpunished, another big mistake) and acts of random violence are the results of restraining natural behaviors. I wish I had a nickel for every time I got the sh-t beat out of me after school because I was the new kid, or the tall kid, or just in the wrong place kid. But guess what, there were no school shootings and no one would ever dream of assaulting a teacher; we toed the line. Our biggest fear was the very large paddle with the holes drilled in it that hung on the Vice Principal's wall and was used liberally when needed.

I was on the school rifle team (all the local schools had ranges in their basements) and I used to ride the bus on match day with my trusty Marlin .22 rear peep sight tube fed rifle. Guess what, no one ever DREAMED of shooting another human and we learned how to respect firearms. Could you imagine this today? What changed? Society's permissive attitudes and victim mentality have been mainstreamed and we are the worse for it.

Obviously the reporter in the video was fishing for some negatives and taking the "party line" that fighting is bad, bad, bad. Locally we have been getting the same headlines "Should Children Be Able to Beat Each Other Senseless in a Steel Cage". Searching for sensationalism is the modus operandi of today’s media.

Bottom line, kids are kids; they are like puppies, baby bears, kittens, lions, and every manner of animal when they are young. They need to bite each other on the ear and chase one another up a tree. That is how they learn, build muscles and learn to judge themselves. When we ignore the fact that we are not far removed from our furry and feathered earth travelers we suffer for it. No matter how hard the liberal wackos in this Country try to unisex us they can never succeed and that drives them crazy. I say let the kids learn, let them fight but lets' do so with the same concern and safety we have always demonstrated in our teaching.

morgan thomas

---

Morgan, I could not have said that better. I see the news how you guys in the US get school shootings. That is crazy to me. We do not get that here. You are right in the fact that kids are lazy today. tney all want to be gangster looking and watch TV or play video games with no kind of workout routine. The US will go down hill if something is not done about it. Your media hops on every little ache and pain which in turns people away from activities kids need to be involved in. I'd say you get that changed by parents getting more involved with their kids like Morgan and obviously Ron with his son and the future of the US will not be in trouble. I can see the media trying to change it around with Dana White making it look dangerous. Dana spoke well about it. I would have liked to hear more. Was this shown all over the US?

As for whether I am for it or against it. I am all for it.

---

quote:

---

You are right about our media Nik, it is one of my pet peeves. They seem to get great pleasure in highlighting any violence in our society. However they are a little lax in reporting the 2 million times per year that citizens actually successfully defend themselves with personal firearms; almost always without a shot fired.

At any rate I only wish that I had started martial arts training when I was younger, like Ron's son and my boys. I was 19 when I started and there were damn few Karate schools in operation then; it was also pretty much adult men participating at that time. When I had my own school we were about 50/50 men to women and the same percentage adult to children. Of course the way I taught was somewhat modified due to fear of litigation that did not exist when I came up through the ranks. Giving kids an outlet and physical conditioning through the martial arts, including MMA has tremendous benefits that can last a lifetime. One of the most important is that they realize how easily someone can be seriously hurt in a fight and they are very unlikely to engage in that type of behavior unless of course it is in self defense. School teachers will tell you that their students who study martial arts are generally the most mildly tempered and respectful students in the class.

morgan thomas

---

Ron Kosakowski
Practical Self Defense Training Center
847 Hamilton Ave. (RT 69)
Waterbury, CT 06706
203-596-9073
info@psdtc.com
http://www.psdtc.com
http://www.traditionalfilipinoweapons.com

they should have fights where like 10 kids take on one adult.

now that would be entertaining.