Kids Playing Rough

Remember “Little Hercules”? He was that vaguely disturbing 12-year-old with better muscle definition than most athletes that was -- for as long as puberty was avoided -- a staple of Ripley’s-type media coverage. “Can you believe this kid?” they’d ask. Better question: can you believe his parents?

Projecting your interests on your children is not a recent phenomenon, but when your cultural leans drift to MMA, it can become something that flirts with abuse. In a recent Vancouver Sun story, an adolescent MMA league was outed for allowing “controlled” hooking punches to the side of kids’ heads. That’s a lot of nuance for a rule that basically amounts to an ugly boilerplate summary: kids being grounded-and-pounded. Film at 11.

Not having seen the event in question, it would be irresponsible to comment on whether or not the action amounted to pitter-pat simulations or whether children had to be restrained from channeling their inner Lesnar. But I can say that ambiguity is the last thing you want where the welfare of a child is concerned. The event requires headgear and heavily-padded gloves? So what? Concussions are often rotational injuries, a situation where headgear can actually increase the weight of the head being jolted. The kids “pull” punches? Kids are sadistic little maniacs. I wouldn’t trust anyone under the age of 12 with a fork, much less the restraint to stop hitting a defenseless opponent.

Having said that, it’s possible this tournament isn’t any more grueling than pee-wee football -- which features children slamming heads -- or youth boxing, which is undiluted by grappling. But attacks to the head are inevitable in either sport; ground-and-pound is not a necessary component of juvenile martial arts training. For appearance’s sake alone, save the rougher stuff for adolescence.