Machida Karate!
dhughes - Where can you find youth wrestling programs? The Central Florida YMCAs don't offer it. I'd like to get my kid involved but don't know where to look.
Appreciate any suggestions.
a quick google query found this..
"There is a great club in Oviedo FL. North east of Orlando 40 minutes. 15 minutes NW of UCF.
The practices are on Wednesday nights at 6:00-8 at Oviedo High School."
not sure where that is, but they could probably point you in the right direction.
dhughes - Where can you find youth wrestling programs? The Central Florida YMCAs don't offer it. I'd like to get my kid involved but don't know where to look.
Appreciate any suggestions.
http://www.floridausawrestling.org/
Go to clubs there will be plenty in your area. Good luck!
Under 12 - Judo or wrestling. There's a good kids Muay Thai class nearby also.
I like Robbie H's post about BJJ being first but one thing I worry with submissions is the control required to safely submit the opponent.
With wrestling and GnP, boys that age will probably start crying after the first takedown and some smacks on the face. Both boys can go on with life. If the boy slaps on a choke and accidentally kills the boy(which has happened before), there is nothing anyone can do.
Escrima is something I don't have experience with but I think its vital for a child to repel child predators, which would be virtually impossible with unarmed MA, IMO. Sure, you might have a 12 year old 180lb Mike Tyson as a child but for the rest of the normal kids, weapons training is probably the only chance they have against a fully grown child predator.
My son started swimming at 6 months, gymnastics at 12 months. He's going to be in good shape by the time I put him in Judo at 5 or 6 years old. I'm not sure when I'll add in any striking.
bigwignj - Im from new jersey. My kids will be wrestling before they can walk. I like the gymnastics idea kirik mentioned. But i would make him take judo. Sick wrestling and decent judo. Let someone try to clinch with him. Dumped on your head for sure.
My kid ran into an awesome NJ 10 year old wrestling in the finals of Cliff Keen Eastern Worlds. Kareem Askew he wrestles with Scorpion in NJ. We are from FL (so not quite up to snuff compared to other wrestling states) and after my son beat this years runner up from Tulsa Nationals he was feeling pretty good going to the finals but Kareem was just awesome.
I dont know about different areas of the country but in the northeast if you are not wrestling at a young age forget getting on a middle or highschool team. There are tons of youth wrestling programs around here most start aound 5 years old
Karate at some mcdojo. Thats what I did when I was 5. I had fun and its easy and seems really cool when you are 5 and watch too many crappy fighting movies. Plus it got me into the other stuff. If he/she likes martial arts then go from there.
Dhughes,
There was a great seminar yesterday in winter park. Henry Cejudo was there as were forum members and MMA Fighter Seth Petruzelli and Tommmy Lawlor.
We wanted to go but my father had to go in from back surgery after a spill so missed it. It was only 25 bucks too.
BuddyRevell -12 - you gotta go with bjj 1st,if your kids burns out,finds other things to do,music,art,bb,baseball he will get the most out of it.bjj is so easy to turn into a game,sumo push the kids out of the sq,bull riding.wrestling needs way to much strenght and conditioning.He ever get burnt out on jj when he was a kid at any point, or did he just go all the way through with no breaks?
i love wrestling,and what it stands for,i just know wrestling without bjj loses everytime.if you dont mind your kid losing and if he has the fire,wrestlings perfect to start in the 9th grade.
this is how it went with my kid,but he's no ball of fire.
just an average kid.
he never did bjj during the wrestling season.he did 4yrs of varsity ,but that burnt him out.wrestlings hard,every kid on the team always seemed happy the season was over.
I would go with wrestling, mainly due to the fact you need good grades to compete for your school's team. The wrestling base is great for fighting later on, if that's what he wants to do. All the competition will have him ready for action if needed plus the hard nosed mind set they instill will be there and that will win most fights. You learn how to drill and the importance of drilling plus a great work ethic. He could also be driven towards college just so he could wrestle longer.
that kid would wreck me lol
We're talking about CHILDREN yes? Wrestling.
I don't know if you people have gotten into fights as a prepubescent but they ALL turn into wrestling matches.
But fuck all that, the point isn't what MA your kid can use to be a street fighter it's about development as a person and no other MA produces the caliber of athletes that wrestling does, it's not even close.
From my experience in teaching/coaching kids, I've found the grappling arts (wrestling/judo/bjj) tend to be MUCH easier for them. As my old BJJ instructor used to say, "jiu-jitsu is just educated horseplay". They get to roll around, expend some energy, and have a great time. You make games out of it, and little by little steer them into the "right" direction (attaining the mount, sidemount, etc.), and as they continue to do it, the philosophy becomes engrained.
On the opposite hand, I've seen arts like karate, tkd, kung fu, and other such stuff turn out to be nightmare sessions, because the kids are just too young and attention-challenged to stand for long periods of time and remember lengthy katas and forms.
That's just been my experience.
Wrestling, Judo, BJJ and Kyokushin Karate. Plus, some Gymnastics, Rock Climbing, Surfing and plenty of Pop Warner Football.
Wrestling and boxing.
Wrestling already has an established program to develop kids. Judo doesn't allow submissions for kids so why not just wrestle.
Boxing so he knows how to throw down correctly more so than wanting him to be competitive and fight other kids.
I would start him off with gymnastics at a very young age (helped with strength and flexibility in my case).
When he gets a little older, I'd get him to start wrestling. When he gets to be about 8-10 years old, I'd try to get him to take up boxing or Muay Thai. Then let him figure out on his own what he wants to do in high school, but I'd encourage him to join the wrestling team.
A traditional one most likely. As a parent a child's discipline, self discipline and respect are more important then anything else. I also believe they need to have fun and you will probably get that with a TMA like TKD.
Strung56 - I would start him off with gymnastics at a very young age (helped with strength and flexibility in my case).
When he gets a little older, I'd get him to start wrestling. When he gets to be about 8-10 years old, I'd try to get him to take up boxing or Muay Thai. Then let him figure out on his own what he wants to do in high school, but I'd encourage him to join the wrestling team.
I'd start off with gymnastics at a very young age as well. Then either wrestling or judo (choosing based on the club rather than the style), and boxing.
Definitely encourage them to join the wrestling club at high school, for a variety of reasons (including social).