Kids and head contact.

[NPTKD]

I know that Olympic sparring has the JR. safety rules, but I was wondering if your instructors or yourself follow it in your school. And if you don't olympic spar then do you allow full contact? Have you ever had any problems? Do you wear the full head gear and do you allow punching to the face?

 

[Tez3]

We do TSD with the children and they aren't allowed contact to the head or face, no need at a young age. In MMA here under 16s do amateur rules which means no headstrikes standing or on the floor.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I know that Olympic sparring has the JR. safety rules, but I was wondering if your instructors or yourself follow it in your school. And if you don't olympic spar then do you allow full contact? Have you ever had any problems? Do you wear the full head gear and do you allow punching to the face?

We allow head and face controlled contact. We allow head gear. No face shields unless there is a medical reason.

When we go to tournaments you can see the difference. If one of our kids gets hit in the face it's usualy OK been there done that and I can give as good as I get.

If a kid from another school experiences even light face contact they are often emotionaly and mentaly crushed. Now, what do you think will happen in a dstreet altercation?

Sometimes contact is "Too Hard" spit happens. If it is intentional we put lid on it. BUT I exppalin that getting hit hard can be a great learning experience. You learn that A. You can get hit; and B. It hurts; and C. You can usualy keep going; and D. Payback can be a great experience.

"Pain is a great teacher, but no one wants to go to his class ." (General Choi)

 

[igillman]

We wear the headgear but we say "no headshots" when we are sparring.

 

[Tez3]

Pain may be a great teacher but I'm still not going to let my 4,5 and 6 year olds be hit in the face. They punch and kick hard enough everywhere else to not to whinge ar getting hit, their takedowns pretty good too but we do it for self defence not tournaments.

 

[NPTKD]

You know I can see both sides of it. I understand and agree about it help build confidence but on the other side they are only kids. I was reading manny's post awhile back about stopping olympic sparring and it made me think the same thing. About 95% of my students do not or will not compete. They will do poomsae and breaking, but not sparring. We switch off one week poomsae, next sparring, etc.. At least they are sparring in the school ( its required) but it they are never going to compete olympic style maybe I should change it up? I like the control of it and the fact that the kids understand that it is only a game or sport. I think its easyer for them to take. But on the other hand we are teaching self defense and I see the benifits from allowing punchs & kicks to the head.

 

[NPTKD]

and I also think after reading posts that most people don't like TKD because of the WTF sparring. ( i'm probably not wording it right) They seem to think WTF and KUKKI are the same thing.

 

[NPTKD]

We allow head and face controlled contact. We allow head gear. No face shields unless there is a medical reason.

When we go to tournaments you can see the difference. If one of our kids gets hit in the face it's usualy OK been there done that and I can give as good as I get.

If a kid from another school experiences even light face contact they are often emotionaly and mentaly crushed. Now, what do you think will happen in a dstreet altercation?

Sometimes contact is "Too Hard" spit happens. If it is intentional we put lid on it. BUT I exppalin that getting hit hard can be a great learning experience. You learn that A. You can get hit; and B. It hurts; and C. You can usualy keep going; and D. Payback can be a great experience.

"Pain is a great teacher, but no one wants to go to his class ." (General Choi)

If you don't mind me asking, what types of tournaments are you doing?

 

[terryl965]

We do head shots plain and simple it is part of learning a martial art, some people say it is too brutal and some say it needs to b done. We let every parent know what will be expected during there training they have a choice to do it or find another school. We do both Olympic and point as well as continous point. The head shot a 4-5-6 year does is not enough power to cause any long term effect, they can get hurt more from self defense takedowns and falling from there bike,skateboard, inlines. We tend to be very well at tournaments that allow headshots, mainly because we train for them, even with junior safety rules one needs to practice these very techs. to be effective with them.

 

[Stac3y]

Our kids do light, controlled head contact at all levels. Face contact is allowed only if a face shield is worn. Headgear and mouthguards are mandatory, as is handgear (and cups for boys). Footgear is required for orange belts and up. We provide head and handgear and sell mouthguards and cups. At school tournaments, we also provide face shields and rib guards. Kids have to provide their own footgear, which must cover the toes.

 

[Tez3]

We don't do breaking but we are a fighting club. Our kids are taught to punch and kick hard but parents won't accept their 4 year olds being punched in the face by each other, there has to be a compromise.

 

[NPTKD]

so do most you the people here do point or olympic?

 

[IcemanSK]

I've been trying to figure out when & how to introduce controlled head contact with the kids. I have one parent who, no matter how I tell them it will be CONTROLLED contact, they get nervous. The thing they don't understand (& I've told this kid's folks this, too) their kids hits harder than any other kid his age in my school. These parents just think back to another instructor at another school who taught no control with no pads!

I'm not THAT other guy & I'm not going to let their kid get hurt. But, as has been said, learning what it's like to be kicked in the head is very important to the Art.

 

[NPTKD]

My JR. black belts I let kick to the head (controlled) by that time control shouldn't be an issue. But as far as the rest of the color belt, its, not allowed. Well for now anyway.

 

[ATC]

In the dojang we encourage head contact starting form 8 years and up only for BB. At 14 and up all belts, head contact also.

If you don't practice head contact and you go into the ring and then do head contact you will get knocked out. Simply because you are not use to see it coming and you won't know who to defend it.

 

[granfire]

We don't do Olympic sparring, in training head shots are expected, no contact to the face tho. Light to medium contact, full head gear with mouth piece. If anything we have to tell the kids to aim for the head gear more.

Tourney rules are no hand technique to head, but 3 points if you can hit the head gear with a jump kick. No face contact either.

 

[Gorilla]

If you have kids who do allot of tournamentsand are competing at a high level and have aspirations for future success head shots are a must 7 and up. If they are not doing tournaments and are basically working in the dojang probably 12 and up(you don't want to lose students).

 

[NPTKD]

You know thats the thing I guess I have to weigh the opions. One good kick to the head or punch to the face to the wrong kid...and the never want to come back. And there parents will let everyone in the town know where it happened. They walk away with a bad experance of martial arts. It's one of those things .... do you do it and some of them leave or you don't and the first time they get hit... well.

 

[NPTKD]

The reason I bring all of this up is a young student of mine left due to financial reasons. Good kid around 10 or 11 (girl) she was a little over wieght. Anyway we don't start Sparring with gear until green belt. From white - orange it is all non contact to learn foot work and distance. She had just tested when they left. Anyway a few months pass and I here her parents sign her up at the place down the road that is less then half of want I charge undestandable. So the instructor matches her with a higher belt ( they do full contact not olympic) and she gets knock out! Not just kick in the head,but knock out! Now she does not want to return and that is the end of her training. Now I know this was the fault of the instructor and his school is well.... I'll stop there.

 

[ATC]

The reason I bring all of this up is a young student of mine left due to financial reasons. Good kid around 10 or 11 (girl) she was a little over wieght. Anyway we don't start Sparring with gear until green belt. From white - orange it is all non contact to learn foot work and distance. She had just tested when they left. Anyway a few months pass and I here her parents sign her up at the place down the road that is less then half of want I charge undestandable. So the instructor matches her with a higher belt ( they do full contact not olympic) and she gets knock out! Not just kick in the head,but knock out! Now she does not want to return and that is the end of her training. Now I know this was the fault of the instructor and his school is well.... I'll stop there.

Wow! I see a couple of things that could be considered wrong here.

1. Letting a new student go full contact with a higher belt rank is a no no. All higher belts students must use control when sparing with a lower belt. Also all higher ranked students must help and teach lower belts. This does not mean to knock them out.
2. The instructor of the other schools should have assessed the new students level before allowing her to spar and he should have at the least asked her is she had ever spared with full head contact or full contact period. If not then he should have known not to allow what he did.
If you read my comments posted a little higher up you will see that this is exactly what I stated would happen if you do not allow kids (anyone for that matter) to do head shots. If you never new what at kick or punch to the face or head looked like how can you defend it? You can't.

Head contact training is a must, not only for defending against it but being able to take it as well.

My son only 9 at the time had been training with head contact since 6, my daughter too. But during the 2009 Jr. Olympics he got back kicked straight in the face, hard. He grabbed his face let out a few tears took about 10 seconds or so of time and finished fighting. Most kids would have quit or even went down. When you are use to getting hit in the head they don't faze you so much. Just look at boxers. It takes years to build up that kind of tolerance.

Start practicing head shots; it will pay off in the end.