Train Kids in the 4 Olympic Combat Sports

[MasterKiller]

I was talking to a guy this weekend who said this is what Bas Rutten suggests for a kids program:

• Boxing
• Olympic TKD
• Olympic Wrestling
• Judo

That way, they get full-contact training in the safest possible environments, with standardized competition rule sets already in place.

I thought it sounded pretty solid.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Agreed, to get that all in one place would be great.
As it is most times you need to be in 4 different gyms for that.

[cjurakpt]

I agree - however, I would suggest doing it in this order: wrestling, judo, boxing, TKD; you could also say BJJ as sort of a middle ground between the first two...and at the end of that sequence, I'd add fencing

my rationale is that a) from a developmental perspective, you develop as an individual from the ground up, so to speak, and this sequence follows that progression in terms of where the skill sets are emphasized, as well as being relatively eqaul building each side of the body to progressively more unilateral; b) from a "practical" standpoint, I think that if a kid has to use something one day to defend themselves, it is more likely he / she will be able to be effective with stuff like wrestling / judo, considering most playground tussles go to the floor - if nothing else, he won't go into shock the first time someone knocks him / her to the ground; c) I think that it's more acceptable in the eyes of school administrators that your kid pinned someone to defend themselves then punched / kicked them in the face...

but I absolutely agree that, early on, kids should work in established, standardized venues, that ostensibly have a greater degree of quality control than your solo-owned martial arts gym (the exception would be a legitimate BJJ school, which as a stand alone organization fits that bill; I might also suggest Tiger Schulman's schools, given what I have heard about their curriculum and instructor quality control, but their business approach is something that I know has turned off a number of people, so that needs to be taken with a grain of salt);

[MightyB]

I was talking to a guy this weekend who said this is what Bas Rutten suggests for a kids program:

• Boxing
• Olympic TKD
• Olympic Wrestling
• Judo

That way, they get full-contact training in the safest possible environments, with standardized competition rule sets already in place.

I thought it sounded pretty solid.

their parents should train them with a good spank'n.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I agree - however, I would suggest doing it in this order: wrestling, judo, boxing, TKD; you could also say BJJ as sort of a middle ground between the first two...and at the end of that sequence, I'd add fencing

my rationale is that a) from a developmental perspective, you develop as an individual from the ground up, so to speak, and this sequence follows that progression in terms of where the skill sets are emphasized, as well as being relatively eqaul building each side of the body to progressively more unilateral; b) from a "practical" standpoint, I think that if a kid has to use something one day to defend themselves, it is more likely he / she will be able to be effective with stuff like wrestling / judo, considering most playground tussles go to the floor - if nothing else, he won't go into shock the first time someone knocks him / her to the ground; c) I think that it's more acceptable in the eyes of school administrators that your kid pinned someone to defend themselves then punched / kicked them in the face...

but I absolutely agree that, early on, kids should work in established, standardized venues, that ostensibly have a greater degree of quality control than your solo-owned martial arts gym (the exception would be a legitimate BJJ school, which as a stand alone organization fits that bill; I might also suggest Tiger Schulman's schools, given what I have heard about their curriculum and instructor quality control, but their business approach is something that I know has turned off a number of people, so that needs to be taken with a grain of salt);

I agree with grappling first and then striking arts, simple because grappling is easier and more natural.
I think I would start with judo first though, beside being a far superiour art to wrestling , it is more "street" applicable (clothes) and teaches breakfalls.

[MightyB]

Years ago, I filled in as the kid's instructor at my kung fu school for four days while the regular instructor took a break... that was enough of that shuzbut for me. Not all, but most were kids with parent's that had discipline problems. You know the "I'll enroll my kids in martial arts to get some discipline" types. So you get the hyper-active kids that have no respect for adults 'cuz mommy and daddy were too afraid to show a little tuff love. Sorry- not for me to do.

Now as I rapidly approach shodan status in my second martial art which is one of the aforementioned olympic styles- I say keep your darn problem kids at home 'cuz I have better things to do than babysit- my practice time's too limited for that shiznit.

[bodhitree]

I think judo is great for kids, and a lot of kids who train judo end up wrestling in high school. In high school they are still young enough to adapt to the new rules of wrestling and not carry over habits from one sport to the other. Whatever the sport is, if they are active and training at a young age, that will hopefully be a habit they carry with them for the rest of thier life!

[MightyB]

Judo and gymnastics.

Judo just works- and gymnastics would make them super strong, plus that foundation would be great for wrestling or tkd.

[Becca]

The problem with my oldest wasn't a lack of behavior type discipline; he didn't want to finish what he started. He loved wrestling untill the first time working as hard as the coach told him to made his legs hurt the next day. Same thing for my younger son. And same for both of them on most aspects of kung fu, gymnastics and swimming. I think Jake might do well with boxing, but I am not willing to put him in it right now.

[sanjuro_ronin]

LOL !
If he thought that wrestling was tough, wait till he gets a taste of his own blood from a broken nose or the taste of his own vomit from a left hook to the liver.
Grappling arts are a walk in the park compared to full contact striking arts when it comes to pain.

[ngokfei]

Olympic Boxing,
Olympic TKD,
Olympic WRestling,
Olympc Judo

are all great avenues to Discipline.

also they receive more public and private support so that almost everyone can train.

"MMA All The Way"

[Yum Cha]

Drop one of the fighting arts, add stick fighting and pistol shooting and make it the modern modern pentathalon....

I think it all sounds good in theory about kids, but my feeling is kids don't have the attention span, retention and discipline to train 4 arts at once.

Maybe judo for pee-wees, wrestling next ( more punishing holds), boxing third (before they can trash eachothers brains) and tae kwon do for teens, bringing the boxing in with some fancy footwork?

[Becca]

LOL !
If he thought that wrestling was tough, wait till he gets a taste of his own blood from a broken nose or the taste of his own vomit from a left hook to the liver.
Grappling arts are a walk in the park compared to full contact striking arts when it comes to pain.

True. But he never had a problem getting hit sparring, just from the muscle soreness that goes with working a muscle groop to failure.

[MightyB]

Bas was wrong-

Biathlon is the way to go:

Biathlon (not to be confused with duathlon) is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Another popular variant is summer biathlon, which combines cross-country running with riflery.

[Water Dragon]

LOL !
If he thought that wrestling was tough, wait till he gets a taste of his own blood from a broken nose or the taste of his own vomit from a left hook to the liver.
Grappling arts are a walk in the park compared to full contact striking arts when it comes to pain.

Thank goodness for tatami.