This past Saturday, I attended a coaching seminar in preparation for the AAU regional qualifiers next week. I was really surprised to hear that 14-17 year old black belts have the option of either competing in a dividion with adult rules (full ocntact to the head basically) or in a division using junior safety rules (light head contact). I sat there thinking "what a fantastic idea!"
Here's my situation, a few months ago, I had the difficult experiencing of telling my son (who I also help coach) that he was not ready to spar at the USAT Junior Nationals in San Jose. You see, he's 13 and will have to compete in the 14-17 y.o. division under full contact adult rules. Zak is pretty good. but he's not a great sparrer...but he loves competing. The concerns the coaches (myself included) had were that under that ruleset...the competition would be too dangerous...he'd literally get his head knocked off. Theoretically, my son (14) could end up facing a more experienced, faster, stronger 17 (maybe almost 18) year old.
My son's reaction was that he would train harder and bring his game up so that he could fight. We (myself and the head coach) pointed out that there is no one on the team who we would willingly let fight in that division right now. In fact, all the past comp team memebers who were really good all quit around the time they turned 14...either because they did not want to compete under this rulset or because they tried but got knocked out.
As a parent and as a coach, it would be very irresponsible of me to put my son in there when he is clearly not ready for that level of competition. However, it was very hard to see him say he was going to some how bring his game up...even though realistically, it wasn't going to happen. Ultimately, we gave him a goal...he had to dominate (consistently) another comp team member (someone who is much better than him) before he would be considered to be allowed to spar at nationals. He's trying, but it's not going to happen.
My frustration is, if USAT had a rule like in AAU that would allow someone like my son to spar under Junior safety rules...there would be no problem. I mean, there is a huge difference (physically, mentally, etc.) between a 14 year old and a 17 year old...hell, between 14 and 15 year olds for that matter.
That's my rant, but here's a question...how do you more expereinced copaches deal with this issue? Does this even come up? I'm concerned that my son will lose "momentum" if he doesn't have nationals to look forward to...then again, he needs the time to mature and gain more expereince and groqth before going into the "headhunters" division. While it would be nice to have new rules...they aren't there in USAT at the moment.
Peace,
Erik
Here's my situation, a few months ago, I had the difficult experiencing of telling my son (who I also help coach) that he was not ready to spar at the USAT Junior Nationals in San Jose. You see, he's 13 and will have to compete in the 14-17 y.o. division under full contact adult rules. Zak is pretty good. but he's not a great sparrer...but he loves competing. The concerns the coaches (myself included) had were that under that ruleset...the competition would be too dangerous...he'd literally get his head knocked off. Theoretically, my son (14) could end up facing a more experienced, faster, stronger 17 (maybe almost 18) year old.
My son's reaction was that he would train harder and bring his game up so that he could fight. We (myself and the head coach) pointed out that there is no one on the team who we would willingly let fight in that division right now. In fact, all the past comp team memebers who were really good all quit around the time they turned 14...either because they did not want to compete under this rulset or because they tried but got knocked out.
As a parent and as a coach, it would be very irresponsible of me to put my son in there when he is clearly not ready for that level of competition. However, it was very hard to see him say he was going to some how bring his game up...even though realistically, it wasn't going to happen. Ultimately, we gave him a goal...he had to dominate (consistently) another comp team member (someone who is much better than him) before he would be considered to be allowed to spar at nationals. He's trying, but it's not going to happen.
My frustration is, if USAT had a rule like in AAU that would allow someone like my son to spar under Junior safety rules...there would be no problem. I mean, there is a huge difference (physically, mentally, etc.) between a 14 year old and a 17 year old...hell, between 14 and 15 year olds for that matter.
That's my rant, but here's a question...how do you more expereinced copaches deal with this issue? Does this even come up? I'm concerned that my son will lose "momentum" if he doesn't have nationals to look forward to...then again, he needs the time to mature and gain more expereince and groqth before going into the "headhunters" division. While it would be nice to have new rules...they aren't there in USAT at the moment.
Peace,
Erik