Saturday, May 15, 2010

How safe is karate? Is it a dangerous sport and is heavy contact prohibited?

I want to put my 5 year old son in it but I am worried about him getting a broken nose or getting hit in the eyes or something like this. Does it get more dangerous as get to the black belt?|||Well I am sure you will not like my answer, I do not accept students under the age of 8, I am also a USA certified Youth Hockey Coach.





One time a woman (and her husband) complained about my son checking her boy into the boards. I told her that this conduct is part of the sport of Hockey and kids sometimes will get knocked around, and some get hurt. If you want you child to participate in sports try Golf, it%26#039;s a non contact sport.|||Usually, our students are required to wear full gear, and be at Yellow Belt or above before sparring. Our older students use caution in sparring younger students.|||I am sure you have seen the movie Karate Kid. Unfortunatlly there are instructors that I call hard core or ones that are not good for teaching kids who are better adept at teaching prison guards or police officers and allow rough training. Watch a class or two and see how the instructors conduct their classes and what they allow for contact. In my studio ALL my students work on developing their %26quot;control%26quot; (how hard they actually land a kick, punch, or strike) and work on developing their %26quot;touch%26quot; (how far to go in executing a hold, joint lock, or choke)-not just the adults. Some techniques we will not even teach younger students until they have risen in rank and shown that they have the proper maturity, and understanding for it and what it may do to someone else. Ask for a copy of the studio%26#039;s rules or if you can read them. Hard contact is for the street or adult full contact type fighting-not children. A good studio and a good instructor will have a copy handy and also have it posted since most martial arts insurance companies require that.


Also look at how students are matched or paired up in sparing and other contact or semi contact type training situations like self-defense. If I pair a rough, agressive child with the smallest, most timid, lowest ranking kid in the class I am literally placing that timid child at risk of injury and asking for trouble. A good instructor will keep that student as his own partner or pair him with at least a more advance student that can help maintain things and keep them on a positive course.


Injuries do occur but they are no higher than in other sports that your child may particpate in except in those cases where rules of safety, good discipline, and good order are not imposed or followed.


At my studio I have had mixed martial artists, professional boxers, kick boxers, sport karate fighters who compete on the national level. Good fighters/good martial artists try to avoid training injuries and a good school and instructor will have those rules posted, set the tone for what is acceptable and enforce those standards so that injuries don%26#039;t occur for anyone-including children and I have never had a child at my studio get anything more than a slight bump or bruise. Safety gear is mandatory-hands, feet, head gear, mouth pieces, and groin cups and for children 16 and under no contact to the head or face. While sometimes accidents do occur this along with the idea of control and the tone that is set has kept my studio injury free for 5-16 year olds for over fifteen years.|||Any style of Martial ART trained in dojos across the land are all very little to no contact, now days. You son, in the right school, could go from day one in class all they way to black belt (abt. 3yrs) and never get touched one time. The bulk of martial arts training, now days, are kata. This is the practice, by yourself, of pre-arranged tech. in a specfic order. At best, if you get into point sparring, a game of tag, there may be almost contact, but that%26#039;s about it. The martial arts are very safe for your 5 year old and if you get into the right style, won%26#039;t mention TKD, your son could be a black belt before he%26#039;s in double digits.|||Your son shoulding do any full contact sparing until he is at least 16 years old, that means he will have less of a chance of getting injured than in most other sports since the only sparing he will do is non-contact (no touching) and there isnt much running around in karate





there isnt more danger to getting to black belt, he will have to train and learn more but unless the karate style teaches some really advenced, uber complicated kata (or forms) where you have to do flips or something, he should be in no more danger going for black belt|||there are strict rule about the target zones being from above the waist to below the neck. in tae kwon do we have really soft boxing gloves, that cushion the blow whenever we hit some one. you have nothing to worry about., when your son gets older he will have more experience with his reflexes and he should hold his own. we usually are divided by rank or weight/height, so your son should be fine.|||I would say go for it and be supportive of your son for as long as he wants to participate in it. I am 32 yrs old and have been in the martial arts since I was about 12. In younger students the contact is highly controlled as much as it can be. After he progresses to the point of sparring, depending on the style and school he attends, the contact should be light and become heavier as he progresses. Some styles don%26#039;t require sparring as a prerequisite to testing. After you find a dojo talk to the instructor and find out all the details. Only do what you are comfortable with for your son. I have just recently suffered injuries from sparring and this is after 20 yrs of doing it. I have received a broken rib, a cracked sturnum with torn cartilage, and a broken toe. This is ONLY because I chose that level of contact. I personally have not known of any little children having any major injuries such as these. Karate can be very beneficial in the developement of many aspects of a childs life. Good luck in your search for a martial arts program for your son.|||karate is safe it all depends on what school you are in and also what you want from karate i do karate for fitness and disipline and i have hardly ever hurt myself





you could get hurt walking down the street why not take the chance and have fun and instill some good values like working hard and the importance of fitness?|||Dear Wendy, if your son is really interested in karate, I%26#039;m sure there are some junior leagues you could put him in. And not to worry you, but yes, as your son works his way up to the black belt, the foghting styles do get more advanced, and he will have SOME change of getting hurt.I am only 14, so I can%26#039;t really tell you what would be best for a younger child. However, I do have a 5 year old little sister, and a couple friends in martial arts, One just started doing Bak Yong Kong Su Do, and there has been no combat or advanced moves yet. Also he has just started, and picked up the yellow belt. for more info feel free to visit my advice web site at www.xanga.com/red_bird_1. Good Luck! sincerely, Aaron|||Hi, I%26#039;ve practiced both Karate and Taek won do. I think u should definitely put your son in karate. Children who are in karate are usually disciplined, responsible, polite, focused,etc.


Little kids who practice karate or any other martial art hardly ever get injured. The adults and teenagers are the ones who are prone to injuries. I think that it doesn%26#039;t get more dangerous when u become a black belt, all the opposite as the students progress, they learn how to perform their techniques in a controlled manner. In taek won do( at least the olympic style) little kids are not allowed to kick to the head to prevent injuries. Karate schools have different policies about the level of contact when they spar or fight. Some schools go full contact and other schools go light contact. It%26#039;d be a very good idea if u ask the karate instructor about the contact level when it comes to sparring. I%26#039;ve practiced martial arts for about 3 years(I%26#039;m seventeen years old) and I%26#039;ve never gotten a broken nose, I%26#039;ve gotten a bloody nose numerous times but never a broken one. I%26#039;ve also gotten swelt testicles %26#039;cause I got kicked down there-karate students are not allowed to hit their private areas, it was a foul-. Bruises are very common. But once again your child will probably start getting %26quot;little injuries%26quot; when he%26#039;s about 15 yrs. old. U have to take in consideration that karate is contact sport so injuries are common just like in football or wrestling. If u want your son not to get hit, put him in ballet or something like that(no offense). I%26#039;ve been lucky though my instructor almost die in a full contact tournament and my friend got a broken finger, but once again they are adults. So I%26#039;m not gonna lie to u, people do get injured in martial arts, but they are usually adults.By the way football is more dangerous than karate.





Hope this helps!|||I just received my orange belt in karate. I%26#039;ve had bruises, but I%26#039;m in college and get hit harder. The dojo has a pee-wee (your son%26#039;s age) jr, and adult class. He will spar, but they wear gloves and they aren%26#039;t allowed to hit in the face. They teach the kids control so they don%26#039;t get hurt. In tournaments missing the face by a couple of inches counts as a hit because you stop yourself, however, they do get hit in the stomach, but it%26#039;s a light touch and won%26#039;t cause any problems. If you%26#039;re worried about getting him hurt, he can wear a helmet and they work quite well. As far as danger goes in increasing rank, they learn more moves which can hurt more, but they also have more control. I know I have improved from the beginning of the year and can punch in the face without hitting someone.|||That%26#039;s easy...it depends who he trains with. Each school %26amp; instructor are different. However, oftentimes what we are deeming Karate is really not Karate. It is a modern sport with an emphasis on social ethics. True Karate while beneficial to character development and spiritual enlightenment was a dangerous %26amp; powerful martial art. The purpose of the waza (techniques) is to destroy your opponent with a single attack (defense). It was not a competitive sport, it was a way of survival for people under the restriction of not being able to possess shinken (live katana). So, really what 99.9% of what is being done in society today is not true Karate.


In any event, he will train with various individuals with different motivations and skill sets. Accidents also happen, so yes it is benignly dangerous. But, so is baseball.|||If your at a good school they will encourage the use of control, espicaly in the higher ranks. Your son is going to get hit but with him only being 5 right now its probably not going to be hard enough to hurt him too badly. i%26#039;ve been in Tae Kwon Do for a little over a year and an half and i%26#039;ve pulled mucles and brused bones but i%26#039;m also 16. you also have to remember that as he gets highter he knows more stuff, so he knows how to defend himself form the more dangerous attacks used.|||Karate is a full contact sport so he will get hurt he won%26#039;t reach black belt for years it takes hard work, discipline, %26amp; dedication i would try to find him a novice (beginner) class!





Good Luck!


鈾? : ^)|||no karate isnt dangerous i started when i was 7 years old and now i am a 2 degree black belt. to spar they have to use protective gear ( head, cup, mouth, chest ,feet,and hands)heavy contact is not allowed it is always light contact even in tournaments. as your son grows older he will become used to sparring nad it will make him physically stronger to the point to where it might be hard to hurt him. injuries rarely occur|||I am an assistant instructor at the top karate school in the state of Illinois, and we just recently enrolled a 3 year old boy in the satellite school I assist at. Karate is only dangerous if used improperly, and so long as you choose a good school, your child, and all of his classmates, will be taught the proper control and discipline for it to be perfectly safe. Also, many schools do not allow sparring for children under a certain age, and you should be sure to check that if sparring is allowed, that the school you enroll him in does not allow full-contact. As far as getting more dangerous as you get to black belt, the answer is yes, in some styles, and no in others. In my style, in order to become a black belt, you must be proficient in the use of three weapons--the bo staff, the sai, and the kama. You can also check with the schools you look at to see when/if they allow children to even become blackbelts. My school does not allow anyone under the age of 16 to handle kama, because they are a highly dangerous weapon if used improperly, and even at 16, the parents must allow it.





Basically, if you are worried about something, ask the karate schools about it, because in a good school, you don%26#039;t have to worry about it.

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