Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Choosing a martial art for your child
How many fathers have had to figure out what martial art will help out their son? How many sons figured out late that they didn't choose wisely?
My dad tried his best to find a martial art for his son, who was getting picked on in middle school by "boys" who for some ungodly reason already had facial hair and were at least a foot taller.
We saw the Tae Kwon Do guy, we saw the judo guy who talked about jiu jitsu, we saw the Jeet Kune Do guy.....
They all promised they could help. The Tae Kwon Do didn't help at all, which is where I went first. Since I had long legs a friend of his recommended that that art would be great for me.
Too many people start martial arts with Tae Kwon Do or Karate, and many of the schools that teach children are more like a daycare with a build discipline and self confidence curriculum. Helping you defend yourself against bullies or child predators? Not by a long shot.
Here is one BIG fork in the road: Am I looking for something to help him deal with the bully in his class or the child predator who is going to try and kidnap him?
Another big question...If you really teach your child to be able to "kick some real ass," are you worried that he might get out of control and use it on your wife or become a bully himself? Or maybe just hurt someone way more than is called for given the situation?
I don't know the answer, but at least if you identify which situation you are trying to prepare for it might help you find the best art.
I'll post a million times on it but most martial arts have been evolving towards sport for a long, long time. So if you take him to a school with a bunch of trophies around, that should tell you something. The more rules they have, the less it is about really winning a real fight with an opponent who is unknown and unpreditable. The Tae Kwon Do guy in a tournament knows what blows might be thrown and how. In real life you have no idea.
For dealing with bullies or even the child predators, I recommend looking up Bill Kipp at http://www.fastdefense.com He teaches a quick and dirty course that gets you or your child up to speed quickly on trying to avoid the fight before it happens and also how to handle it if it does happen. His teachings are compatible with any style.
For dealing with a bully at school, maybe Wing Chun is amoung the best choices out there. Maybe american boxing as well. It depends on how young, but both of these arts are good at defending yourself in some semblance of a "fair fight" which is what you expect in school at least in some of the early years(how things change). http://www.ebmas.net
There are some other choices but that is what I would recommend at this point. But no, I'm sorry the sport Tae Kwon Do stuff... nope I can't recommend it. It isn't made for the real deal. Sorry to offend you. The ranks of experienced martial artists are FULL of people who started with a sport oriented Tae Kwon Do or Karate school and then figured it out and moved on. Some sort of kickboxing type stuff is a great improvement for a fair fight scenario...
Here is the $100,000 question...How come you guys teach the hand on the hip thing and then when you try and spar for real, you don't hardly ever do that? (I know why, but I want YOU to think about it.) Why do they teach one thing, but then when trying to put it into some kind of real application, they don't do what they teach.
As for a child predator... well, it is time to pull out the weapons, special tactics and dirty tricks.. and any old mean stuff. Let loose the dogs of war. These same tactics may prove to be too much if he uses them at the bully at school though.. so I hesitate to even go into it.
However, I do also want to say that one of my instructors in the past had a great deal of real fighting experience which I thought of as a big advantage over the sport guys I started with. I was somewhat wrong. Real fighting helps you figure out some stuff maybe you thought would work but didn't, but on the other hand, I want to find someone to teach my son to get out of fights, avoid fights but be able to defend himself if he has to fight. You have to wonder what is wrong with someone who is constantly getting into fights. The more you fight the more you get hurt or into some sort of trouble.. at a certain point it might be better not to know how to fight then become some idiot who wants to "throw down" everytime someone looks at him funny.
I hope to give you some more direction but if you at least think first of the problem you are trying to solve you may be ahead of the game.
My dad tried his best to find a martial art for his son, who was getting picked on in middle school by "boys" who for some ungodly reason already had facial hair and were at least a foot taller.
We saw the Tae Kwon Do guy, we saw the judo guy who talked about jiu jitsu, we saw the Jeet Kune Do guy.....
They all promised they could help. The Tae Kwon Do didn't help at all, which is where I went first. Since I had long legs a friend of his recommended that that art would be great for me.
Too many people start martial arts with Tae Kwon Do or Karate, and many of the schools that teach children are more like a daycare with a build discipline and self confidence curriculum. Helping you defend yourself against bullies or child predators? Not by a long shot.
Here is one BIG fork in the road: Am I looking for something to help him deal with the bully in his class or the child predator who is going to try and kidnap him?
Another big question...If you really teach your child to be able to "kick some real ass," are you worried that he might get out of control and use it on your wife or become a bully himself? Or maybe just hurt someone way more than is called for given the situation?
I don't know the answer, but at least if you identify which situation you are trying to prepare for it might help you find the best art.
I'll post a million times on it but most martial arts have been evolving towards sport for a long, long time. So if you take him to a school with a bunch of trophies around, that should tell you something. The more rules they have, the less it is about really winning a real fight with an opponent who is unknown and unpreditable. The Tae Kwon Do guy in a tournament knows what blows might be thrown and how. In real life you have no idea.
For dealing with bullies or even the child predators, I recommend looking up Bill Kipp at http://www.fastdefense.com He teaches a quick and dirty course that gets you or your child up to speed quickly on trying to avoid the fight before it happens and also how to handle it if it does happen. His teachings are compatible with any style.
For dealing with a bully at school, maybe Wing Chun is amoung the best choices out there. Maybe american boxing as well. It depends on how young, but both of these arts are good at defending yourself in some semblance of a "fair fight" which is what you expect in school at least in some of the early years(how things change). http://www.ebmas.net
There are some other choices but that is what I would recommend at this point. But no, I'm sorry the sport Tae Kwon Do stuff... nope I can't recommend it. It isn't made for the real deal. Sorry to offend you. The ranks of experienced martial artists are FULL of people who started with a sport oriented Tae Kwon Do or Karate school and then figured it out and moved on. Some sort of kickboxing type stuff is a great improvement for a fair fight scenario...
Here is the $100,000 question...How come you guys teach the hand on the hip thing and then when you try and spar for real, you don't hardly ever do that? (I know why, but I want YOU to think about it.) Why do they teach one thing, but then when trying to put it into some kind of real application, they don't do what they teach.
As for a child predator... well, it is time to pull out the weapons, special tactics and dirty tricks.. and any old mean stuff. Let loose the dogs of war. These same tactics may prove to be too much if he uses them at the bully at school though.. so I hesitate to even go into it.
However, I do also want to say that one of my instructors in the past had a great deal of real fighting experience which I thought of as a big advantage over the sport guys I started with. I was somewhat wrong. Real fighting helps you figure out some stuff maybe you thought would work but didn't, but on the other hand, I want to find someone to teach my son to get out of fights, avoid fights but be able to defend himself if he has to fight. You have to wonder what is wrong with someone who is constantly getting into fights. The more you fight the more you get hurt or into some sort of trouble.. at a certain point it might be better not to know how to fight then become some idiot who wants to "throw down" everytime someone looks at him funny.
I hope to give you some more direction but if you at least think first of the problem you are trying to solve you may be ahead of the game.
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