Child cage fighting ?! Whats next ?

[Patrick]

Cage-Fighting Kids

[Willow]

So if you took the time to watch that report a little over halfway through the dad during training says to his little girl, "Don't be such a pussy."

Anyone else see a problem with this style of parenting?

[Serk]

Anyone else see a problem with this style of parenting?

My initial reaction was a very strong "Yes, I have a MAJOR problem with this." But upon further reflection, her father is also her coach, and in hyper competitive sports that sort of behavior is perceived to be not-uncommon from a coach. So at that moment, was he her father, or her coach? Does he say such things to her outside of a training situation?

...does it matter? SHOULD her father BE her coach at all?

I'll admit this whole thing has my libertarian side and my "Really? We're gonna hafta ban/regulate that because people are too stupid, aren't we?" sides in major conflict.

[specialdose]

Do not want to be judgmental of these parents. My 9yr old grandson has been doing jujitsu and wrestling since he was 6 and loves it. His dad ( my son ) coaches him . He does grappling and wrestling competition , no striking ! My son would never talk to him like that girls father.

[alph]

I have three older brothers, boy does that video bring back memories......  yeah, I kinda disagree with the idea of having kids kick the crap out of each other, there's always one kid that's older, or beefier that kicks the crap out of a smaller one.

[The Anvil]

...does it matter? SHOULD her father BE her coach at all?

Personally, I think coaching your children is a bad idea, particularly in team sports. Coaching requires a degree of objectivity that is hard to maintain as a parent.

As for the fighting part of it, kids have been competing in pugilistic sports for hundreds of years and not just in foreign cultures. I had a friend who started boxing at the age of 8. I myself started in Judo at about that age and moved to Kung Fu at about 11 years old. By the time I was 13 I was competing in full-contact tournaments. The key to safety is well trained, alert officials who know when to stop a match and competent medical staff on hand. In all my years of martial arts I have never seen anyone receive an injury that they would not recover from fully. If my daughters wanted to do full-contact mixed martial arts in a well-regulated organization I would allow it.

Boxing OTOH is something I would never let them do. Boxers take too many repeated blows to the head for my comfort. In that respect I think that MMA is ultimately safer in the long-term for the competitirs than boxing.

[Jess from VA]

I have no problem with a child (some minimum age) taking classes (or gym class) in traditional Tae Quon Do, Judo, wrestling, etc, by certified instructors, and having well coached/monitored matches, but cage fighting with spectators cheering glorifies and sensationalizes the exercise too far for my taste.  Winning a match by the rules should be the goal, not destroying the opponent for the screaming crowd. I realize there may be a fine line between the two, but it's there somewhere.

Just like I think adult WW wrestling with all the BS, dirty tricks, chair smashes, complete UNsportsman like behavior, and screaming-taunting to a packed horde of fans is the worst kind of trash setting a bad example to humankind, esp young people.  Fake wrestling of old was OK, but today it is trash.  JMHO

Those guys should join the Army/Marines and put that testosterone to positive use.  So should some of the fans.