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To train to win a fight you need sparing. Full contact sparing in boxing, kickboxing, or even karate has dangers. A practitioner has to work up to full contact
by 99_00 5y ago
To train to win a fight you need sparing. Full contact sparing in boxing, kickboxing, or even karate has dangers. A practitioner has to work up to full contact sparing in a controlled way. And even then there is risk of brain damage. I'm not up to date with the latest science, but I wouldn't risk my child's brain on something as unimportant as winning a fight.
On the other hand, with grappling sports like wrestling, judo, BJJ, you can start sparing the first class. And the risk of brain injury (I assume) is less than every other contact sport. So your child will get more time sparing. Which would translate to better real life fighting skill.
In the end, by being in some sort of combat sport your child will probably lose interest in winning fights on the street or playground. Every time they show up to class they are defeating others and being defeated. It loses its emotional charge and they don't need to prove themselves to random people.
- jbverschoor 5y agoThey don’t have to compete in full contact. Uncontrolled bjj will break your arms, elbows etc easily
- 99_00 5y agoYes, I agree. By full contact, I meant in the sport sense (rules allow for physical impact) not in the sense that full force should be used.
- unishark 5y agoFull-contact always implies dangers, hence the need to differentiate it from light sparring or whatever. I once read somewhere that high school wrestling has the highest career-ending injuries of any major sport, at 40 percent. Football was closer to 30. But I agree head injuries are a far bigger concern than elbow/knee etc. And making striking arts safe tends to make them unrealistic. So grappling sports like Judo are a much better combination of self-defense and safety.
- wincy 5y agoI cracked a rib within the first two weeks of BJJ. Dude rolled his elbow into my ribs and all his weight went to that spot. Hurt for months. I didn’t sue and they didn’t charge me anything. That was my BJJ experience at 32
- boxed 5y agoMine as well. At 41. I think this is down to a teacher who doesn't care about injuries.