underage muay thai channel 4

Lab_Mouse

The cutting edge documentary focus's on and i qoute'the fastest growing martial art in the UK ,child thai boxing':eek:..just wondering if its trying to show muay thai in a bad light and/or is just lazy journalism.

i have a 2 year old,he aint to steady on his feet but has good use of his arms so maybe i should start showing him how to throw a few elbows(and tell him NOT to use it in his creche):)

Its on channel 4 at 9 tonight

dave80

Id say it is going to show it in bad light, but its simlar to amateur boxing only with kicks and knee to the body and any pic or previews ive seen they are all wearing full body armour, shin pads and head gear, its not like there fighting full thai rules!

cowzerp

Kids cant box amateur till 11 years of age.

Baggio...

It should be an interesting one.

Not that I have kids, but I definitely wouldn't let them them get into a ring at that age. Be cool for getting them fit and active - but just no sparring imo.

I'd probably start my kids off with Judo or something like that (bones 'aint too brittle at that age ).

R.

dave80

cowzerp wrote: »

Kids cant box amateur till 11 years of age.

wasnt aware of this my bad!

Judomad

from the ads on tv for it, it looks really really bad, it was in teh paper thismorning too, and its saying whats worse is that the parents are shouting at the encouraging them, i have a feeling it is going to try to put a very very bad look on Muay Thai.

RedRaven

Lab_Mouse wrote: »

just wondering if its trying to show muay thai in a bad light and/or is just lazy journalism.

Id say both.

paddyc

its not supposed to do us any favours... loads of people asking us all to take youtube footage of kids fightin off the net....

Lab_Mouse

I honestly wouldnt think a geniune trainer would allow let alone train a 4 year old to fight even if he is heavily padded up .Is there a age limit in ireland?Its an excellent sport for fitness and the competive side of it is an incentive to keep traing.I would love for my son to get involved in it but definitely not that young

paddyc

I suppose it be okay to let them fight if there was plenty of betting going on at it

ahem joke ahem


paddy

Lab_Mouse

lol..never thought of that!The weight classes would have to be changed..heavy weight at 20kilo?:D

Khannie

I'm bringing my young lad to the local boxing club on Monday (he's been hounding me for months). No harm in starting young once you're properly padded up IMO. You have no power and feck all coordination.

In the UK the kids I saw fighting weren't allowed blows to the head (they still had headgear on of course).

In thailand I saw two kids fight (they looked around 10-12 years of age). Big huge gloves on. Half way up their arms. In the 2nd round one of them got a teap in the solar plexus, bent over, started crying, fight over. No harm done.

Once the kids aren't forced into it, I think it's healthy enough.

RedRaven

Well considering that in every school yard across the world kids practice wrestling moves on each other because they are over exposed to WWE and the like,yet nobody seems too bothered by that, in my opinion that is far move dangerous than a controlled ring sport, I mean which would you prefer a DDT on a concrete footpath or a slap of a 16oz glove, I know what I would pick!!

paddyc

teap

whats that?

Power Chords

Teap= flying spinning 360 backflip heel kick.
Them 12 year olds and their crazy moves, and all that with 16oz gloves.
It's the parents at competitions that are the worry some get very aggressive.
I reckon more kids should be involved from an early age, I was training a school team a while ago and some of the u14's lads couldn't do a press up and didn't have the co-ordination to do a jumping jack. Bad state of affairs health-wise.

Khannie

paddyc wrote: »

whats that?

You gonna start correcting my spelling now bud?

Paddy "spell checking nazi" Clint.

Roper

It'd make you sick.

Not kids involved in a sporting endeavour from an early age, but the fact that people are now so desperate for "real-life, hard-hitting" documentaries that they will literally respond to any Joe Duffy type phone show caller's concerns.

I've seen some of the footage from this online, and from what I've seen, it's 2 kids fully padded up, aged probably about 6, trying to hit each other with giant gloves. That was the clip I saw, and if it's the same documentary, it seems harmless enough.

EDIT: This is NOT the documentary I saw! I'll reserve judgement on it until tomorrow!

I've been to "semi contact" tournaments where the kids wear dipped foam gloves, skinny cloth shin pads and crappy foam headgear that doesn't cover the face. Then you've parents and coaches crowding the mats, roaring in their ears, occasionally mocking the opponent (seen it happen with 7 year olds). But hey, they all wear white suits and they bow before and after so it's okay right? Cos that's martial arts, not a ring sport.

Of course, this isn't Muay Thai coaches giving the kids they coach an opportunity to compete at an early age so that they can develop in the sport, it's CHILDREN IN BRUTAL BLOOD SPORT SHOCKER!

cowzerp

Personally i'll wait to see it to comment, if its malicious with young kids i'd be annoyed but if its tame and a learning process i would be cool about it, its probably going to be somewhere in between though! otherwise there would be no show.

Siamdragon

Just to clear a few things up before you all watch this Show on Ch 4 tonight which is only trying to put a bad image on the Sport of Muaythai to get viewer, media and other people watching
I have to say is a disgrace,
Buts it’s MEDIA
Muaythai in England is not regulated by the British Government, so it has not got the same high safety and regulations as the stander of Mauythai in Ireland
Muaythai in Ireland under the Irish Muaythai Council is one of the safe sports in the country it has all the worlds highest safety standers in place set out by the world governing bodies for sports , such as the IOC , GAISF, i.e. as well as the Irish Sports councils regulations,
All competitors are licensed and have full medicals in place, and are check by doctors before and after competitions,
The Rules and regulations go on for ever so I am not going to go on and on but what I will say is if any of you are considering taken up Muaythai or putting your Children in any IMC gyms practicing this great Sport rest assured they will be well looked after and benifit greatly in many areas of life in and out of the gyms

SJP

phoenix-MT

Think theyre running out of things to make documentaries about.

buck65

The docu wasn't too bad, the parents looked like twats, especially when the dad started contesting the decision in the ring when his young lad was put on his arse 3 times at least.
There was an insane ammount of pressure on the little lads for their age. It is no harm training and sparring at that age but in front of a boozed up crowd it was way too much for kids.
The skills of the lads were impressive and if they don't get burnt out they will make great fighters, but I have a feeling after a couple of years of their fathers living vicariously through them, they will probably quit and play a game they actually enjoy with less pressure.
I was impressed by the way there was no lecture from the makers they just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Khannie

I just watched this last night.....

buck65 wrote: »

The docu wasn't too bad, the parents looked like twats

This was my overriding perception as well. The mother of the kid "Thai" (holy jesus, get a life) just came across as an absolute mentaler. Thought the single mother came across ok.

Some of the kids had some serious skill. Connor and Thai in particular were very impressive.