Re: What's the best martial arts?

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 02:56:54 UTC, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Malcolm)
wrote:

>You should allow your child to choose which martial art is best for
>them. 

        Wow, that's like, so profound!  

        Of course, there is this small problem with having absolutely
no experience to compare one MA against another.  So what do you
suggest?  The child spends one year in a different MA for the first
decade, then decides which is '...best for them.' ?

        And, on top of that, instructors in a given style will always
give (prospective) students a fair and balanced comparison of  their
style against others. It's obvious that a child can objectively rely
on that adult's opinion.

</sarcasm off>

        What planet are you from?  One which pushes the idea of
parents abrogating their resposibility to their children?  One in
which you value your own judgement as inferior to that of an infant?

        I was lucky - my father was a Judo nut, but that was after
knocking around a while - and he decided Judo was an appropriate style
- along with the local school also being appropriate - for a young
child (4).  Three plus decades later, and having tried numerous other
styles, I agree with that judgement.
        
        There are a number of things I look for in an MA, and would
use the same criteria for children - practical, safe to train in, and
attitude.  The first consideration rules out one heck of a lot of
styles - everything from TKD to Kendo.  The second also scratches a
lot of styles - and, more importantly, a lot of schools :  I love Muay
Thai, and the training is the closest to injury-free of any style I
know of ... but there are schools that have more of an emphasis on
actual ring fighting, and do sparring ... and that is something I
don't want any part of - and wouldn't want a kid participating in,
either.  The third, well, I think most of us have encountered
schools/instructors/students that we wouldn't want to associate with
.... it's often said the most important part of a fight is avoiding it
in the first place, and there are some styles (e.g. boxing) which seem
to indoctrinate their students with exactly the opposite attitude.
Then there's the 'Our style is superior!' crowd.  Boxing (to use the
example again) and Aikido seem to suffer from this ... mostly due to
the fact that they only train against others in their own style.
        As an adult, I have walked into schools, watched a class, and
then walked out, because of violations of the above three rules.
Young teenagers knocked cold.  Vitriol spewed against other styles,
often against those that I have taken, often degenerating into
outright lies.  Avoid _any_ school that refuses to let you watch a
classs ... I've made that mistake just once (and left the instructor,
the 'regional champion' in that 'style' on the mat after deciding to
show his students a/ how to ridicule someone for the folly of taking
another style and b/ the superiority of his style over Muay Thai.

        I don't expect a child to know this stuff.  It's taken me
decades to get to where I am, and I expect to learn more as I go on.
But I will not throw my child into something which goes against my
core beliefs because they 'like' it.  
        (I also refuse to let my son play American football ... with
two parents who live by their brains, I refuse to let him bash his out
on the field (there are plenty of studies showing that - apart from
the real and serious injuries endemic to the sport - continued playing
lowers your IQ).

>If you force them into one they may hate it and you will never
>find there true potential.

That's also true for piano lessons.  Nothing terribly profound there.
BTW, it's 'their'. 


Leslie