There is a lot of hype in the media this morning about Cage Fighting Kids or children fighting in cages. Firstly I need to point at that the Samurai School is a non-competitive practise of martial arts. The purpose of our training is for personal development and self defence only.
Anyone who knows me knows that I now do and teach martial arts for personal development. That being better than someone else doesn’t necessarily make me a better person. In fact if I recall my fighting days, inside the arena I felt immensely confident and in control. Yet outside the dojo I quite often felt lost an unable to deal with challenges because I wasn’t allowed to use my fists to solve them. When I did use my fists I landed myself in trouble; with parents, with teachers, and with the law.
Some people argue that competition is necessary to test martial arts ability, in order to test its validity in self defence – but I disagree. Someone who learns to fight will undoubtedly have more ability than they would have had, had they never learned. But the best fight (with regards to self defence) is the fight that never took place. Many champion martial artists have died in the streets, and many more have ended up in jail – losing through victory.
Having said that, just because we don’t do martial arts for sport, doesn’t make it wrong. If you want to do a sports orientated martial art then of course you have to spar and you have to compete; that is its purpose.
The Cage Fighting for Kids articles and TV footage that I have seen today showed no real danger to the children. Apart from societies ever increasing and disappointing lust for violence (ie. the spectators) this appeared as nothing more than a demonstration of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or European wrestling. Something you could perhaps expect to encounter in any sports martial arts dojo every night of the week.
It is true that children are still developing at this young age but all sport, all activity, puts some kind of strain on the body; we cannot grow strong without some resistance. If we use another martial art to also illustrate my point, the art I started in and still love, the celebrated and ever popular Judo is a great example of this. Judo is a great martial art for children, but Judo randori (sparring), and especially competitions, can be far more aggressive and strenuous than what I saw in this report.
The problem is that Mixed Martial Arts or Cage Fighting has received a great deal of hype in recent years and escalated into a multi-billion dollar industry. It is the Rock and Roll Wrestling of Martial Arts. Selling itself as no holds barred, no rules, ultimate fighting contests. But there are rules to protect the fighters, otherwise only one man would leave the arena.
If you look at the media footage of the Cage Fighting Kids, they are only wrestling – no punches and no kicks. This could have been nothing more than a demonstration. Something often seen in intervals between boxing and kick boxing contests, something I took part in myself as a child.
If you look at this recent media hype for what it is – Show Business – then perhaps feelings towards Cage Fighting Kids might mellow. I don’t like it myself, I don’t believe children should be exposed to such an environment, but if I am honest I didn’t see any real danger to the children competing.
My fear of course is the damage it could do to martial arts and where this could eventually progress if left unchecked. A bunch of adults standing around, enjoying watching children beat on each other, is perhaps another debate.
For me though the martial arts are still a great activity for all those involved; young, and not so young anymore.
