“Violent ‘cage fighting’ craze reaches children”

Children’s cage fighting…  This just seems like a terrible idea. I saw a TV news report on this topic, it showed video of a 12 year old girl fighting with her bother.

Violent ‘cage fighting’ craze reaches children

By Tom Leonard in New York
Last Updated: 2:03am BST 31/03/2008

Children as young as six are taking up the controversial sport of “cage fighting”, alarming medical experts and sports officials.
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Violent ‘cage fighting’ craze reaches children
Parents of young cage fighters insist the sport is not dangerous and that it teaches children to respect their peers

The violent sport, also known as “ultimate fighting” , combines martial arts, wrestling and boxing but with few rules often looks like little more than a brawl.

The Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, has described it as “human cockfighting” but the popularity of the sport, which usually takes place in a cage, has spread to young American children.

Egged on by parents who regard it as character-building, the children fight two minute bouts in small cages. They are required to wear head gear and padding.

They can kick, punch and grapple with each other but are not allowed to use elbow blows or hit to the head when the opponent is on the ground.
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Experts say the child version of the sport is growing along with the popularity of the adult equivalent, now showing on cable television and even in a new film, Never Back Down.

Last month, CBS became the first of the big television networks to announce a deal to broadcast prime-time fights. Regardless of any psychological harm, medical experts believe young bodies cannot withstand the pounding.

“It’s dangerous from a physical standpoint,” said Dr Lisa Thorton, a paediatrician with the University of Chicago Hospitals.

“It can cause significant injuries to the neck and bones, and if they’re being taught that fighting is a way to solve problems that is obviously very negative for any child.”

Joe Miller, administrator of the Oklahoma Professional Boxing Commission, said cage fighting used a lot of arm and leg twists to force opponents into submission. “There’s too much potential for damage to growing joints,” he said.

However, parents of young cage fighters insist the sport is not dangerous and – like conventional martial arts – teaches children to respect their peers.

Jennifer Swinehart, whose sons – aged 10 and 14 – are members of the Garage Boys Fight Crew in Joplin, Missouri, said: “It’s wonderful. They build such good character and good friendships, and that’s what you need to further yourself in life.”

Tommy Bloomer, father of two more of the Garage Boys, said the sport was no more dangerous than youth wrestling.

He said: “We’re not training them for dog fighting. As a parent, I’d much rather have my kids here learning how to defend themselves and getting positive reinforcement than out on the streets.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/28/wcage128.xml

I’m gonna part with you on this one, Faust.

I’ve participated in amateur Pride Fighting and, when regulated properly, is a great sport. This type of fighting solves many a dispute in the Marine Corps and I’ve never been so close to any other group of men in my life. I’d happily die for any one of the guys that have kicked my narrow a** up and down Camp Lejeune.

Keep in mind that the media has referred to it as “cage” fighting to garner a reaction. It’s not as if you’re stuffed in a pen and forced to brawl to stay alive (such is the case with cockfighting or dog fighting. That comparison is completely left-field). A participant may, at any time, withdraw from the competition by tapping his opponent, simply stating a desire not to fight or to quit the fight, or walking out of the ring. Trainers may at any time throw in the towel if they believe their fighter is too far gone. As a fighter, I have personally, on more than one occasion, had to plead with a fight official to let the fight continue when he believed (in error) that I was too hurt to fight. This isn’t Thai stick fighting, folks.

When it comes to our sons, did you ever stop to think that we’re in the position we’re in socially because we’ve grown weak? This “Oh, dear me! My poor baby is bleeding! Where’s the Neosporin?!” crap is the reason White children are terrified of black children. Put the boys in the in the ring, if they’re willing. If they’re not willing, push ‘em a little. I fell off the tobacco barn when I was 10. Broke my arm, 2 ribs and my collar bone. Do you think my daddy scooped me up and powdered my butt? Nope. I’m still here, in spite of it. If I came home beat up and my daddy or brothers had any reason to believe I didn’t make a good showing, I got it again. I turned out to be a pretty decent guy, I like to think. I’m a man.
Have we gotten so GQ/Broadway Musical/Metrosexual that we’ve forgotten it’s ok, it’s good, to be a big, muscular, hairy, brawling man’s man? Our people ruled this Earth when a woman was a woman and a man was a man. Now what? Our population is in a tailspin, our children are assaulted daily by the children of our fathers’ slaves, and we bend over backwards to avoid offending savages. Are you serious, man?!

There’s a definitive line between abusing your children and making them men. Don’t turn them into the flaccid, terrified, repentant people that many among us have become.

My Brothers Keeper - 18 April 2008 12:11 AM

I’m gonna part with you on this one, Faust.

When it comes to our sons, did you ever stop to think that we’re in the position we’re in socially because we’ve grown weak? This “Oh, dear me! My poor baby is bleeding! Where’s the Neosporin?!” crap is the reason White children are terrified of black children. Put the boys in the in the ring, if they’re willing. If they’re not willing, push ‘em a little. I fell off the tobacco barn when I was 10. Broke my arm, 2 ribs and my collar bone. Do you think my daddy scooped me up and powdered my butt? Nope. I’m still here, in spite of it. If I came home beat up and my daddy or brothers had any reason to believe I didn’t make a good showing, I got it again. I turned out to be a pretty decent guy, I like to think. I’m a man.
Have we gotten so GQ/Broadway Musical/Metrosexual that we’ve forgotten it’s ok, it’s good, to be a big, muscular, hairy, brawling man’s man? Our people ruled this Earth when a woman was a woman and a man was a man. Now what? Our population is in a tailspin, our children are assaulted daily by the children of our fathers’ slaves, and we bend over backwards to avoid offending savages. Are you serious, man?!

There’s a definitive line between abusing your children and making them men. Don’t turn them into the flaccid, terrified, repentant people that many among us have become.

MBK,

I have to say I agree with you on this one; my big quibble with it, however, is the inclusion of girls, as the article mentioned. Strong men are a good thing and a sign of God’s blessing to a society; strong, beyond self-defense and hardiness to work, women are a sign of something else, call it what you might.

I have noticed in recent years an increase in the number of boys who are participating in traditional wrestling; as they grow in strength, they do seem to grow in a kind of grace and friendship you don’t see very much otherwise. These are not the students who tear down others verbally; they are respectful to their peers and their teachers.

Faust, if the sport was like Thai Stick whatever or dogfighting, I would be against it. But a fighting sport with rules I don’t have anything against. Just not for the ladies.

God bless,
Laurel

I agree with MBK on this as well, a good fight never hurt anyone.

My Brothers Keeper,

I understand your point, boys will knock each other around. Maybe I am jumping the gun to attack this sport. I remember me and my cousins knocked each other around quite a lot as children. Children do need to stand up for themselves. I spent several years in 2% white school. And after a few years I would attack anyone who looked at me crocked like a rabid dog it was the only way to deal with those animals. I am not a big fan of “ultimate fighting,” and the WFF, and other such things with all “trash talk’ and other nonsense. At least in the past boxing tried to be an honorable sport, but did not stay so very long once the Africans took over.

Laurel,

Yes, it does not seem lady-like. I would rather see these girls getting into shooting if the want to take up a sport.

Part of an article from 2004 on the same family from the article and TV news report:

“Shelby Swinehart,8, is the only female wrestler in the 35-wrestler program. “You get to work a lot,” Shelby, a first-year wrestler who is using the wrestling experience to prepare for football next year. Larry Sr. said its OK for girls to wrestle boys until the sixth grade. “When they get to sixth grade, it’s time for girls to stop,” Larry Sr. said. However, he said Shelby could continue her wrestling in another organization such as the United States Girls Wrestling Assoction. “If she wants to, we’ll give her the opportunity,” Larry Sr. said.”

http://www.wrestlegirl.com/gnews1120.htm