A form of combat combining multiple principles, such as MuayThai, Boxing, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, to name a few, is probably not the first thing that springs to mind when entertaining a child – let’s be honest! What regularly gets overlooked are the advantages combat sports may have on your kid’s emotional and physical development.
If your son or daughter is looking for a new activity to try, why not give fight sports a chance? They’re exciting, keep people fit, and come with a ton of benefits – more of which are outlined in this article.
Defending Themselves
Self-defense is an important skill for anybody to learn. Of course, acquiring such a skill at a young age can be a beautiful thing for a parent’s nerves! Still, your child is likely to appreciate this ability as they get older, knowing they can protect themselves if required.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, for example, was created by the Japanese to aid samurai warriors disarmed in battle. It can be translated as “gentle art,” mainly focusing on grappling and nonviolent methods to subdue an opponent. This form of combat tends to avoid striking, kicking, and joint manipulation, making it a completely defensive art suitable for a child. There are multiple principles for your child to take on.
Exercise
Everyone struggles to fit exercise into their routines – even young adults these days spend more time indoors. However, instilling an exercise regime at a young age can help to provide concrete habits for them to take on moving forward, enabling them to maintain fitness and control their weight well into adulthood. For instance, some principles, such as Muay Thai and wrestling, can burn up to 1000 calories during training!
Society is endlessly told how obese children are becoming, but children involved in combat sports can avoid becoming another obesity statistic. Fortunately, combat sports for kids aren’t hard to find; places such as Fight City Gym offer training for youths aged five to 15, teaching them the important arts of self-defense.
Discipline
Mixed martial arts promote discipline; imagine training consistently at a young age and overcoming challenges regularly. This box ticking method to exercise develops the vital skill of endurance at a young age. Children will learn to focus on their goals and prioritize various targets.
Mental Health
The world people live in is stressful, and exercise (proven to help alleviate certain symptoms of mental conditions) is difficult to crowbar into busy schedules. However, having a physical outlet at such a young age can greatly improve mental health as children develop into young adults.
In fact, many schools have begun enrolling students in combat sports to help them with stress management through workouts and breathing exercises associated with the many fighting principles.
Respect
Mixed martial arts are a skill. This skill utilizes competition, throwing children into the mix with many others from different backgrounds and allowing them to bond and build strong relationships.
This level of team building, alongside the physical benefits of exercise, allow a child to develop vital social skills instead of shouting at a microphone online when they’re videogaming in their bedroom. Teamwork is an important skill missing from many children’s hobbies, but exposing a child to teamwork through combat sports can help them learn to respect others and build a healthy love for team spirit.
Conclusion
If you’re interested in encouraging your child to try something different, why not introduce them to combat sports? Given the range of benefits mentioned above – all of which are positive and long-lasting – these sports are a fantastic choice for parents and kids alike.
