Frank Borelli on the Value of Contact Sports

[Hissho]

There is a lot of truth here - I have found the same to be true of LE tactical units, though not of LE in general. I think it presents a fundamental dichotomy in combatives/martial arts training:


http://www.borelliconsulting.com/art...tactsports.htm

[Robc]

Good article, Kit. His conclusions jive with my experience and many of my workmates.

[X_plosion]

Interesting, as is the linked article on learned helplessness. Will be re-reading both more closely.

Thanks for sharing.

[Hissho]

More re: contact sports from Brian Stann - MMA fighter and Silver Star winner:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/156...03/index.jhtml

[Martyn van Halm]

HOW MUCH our parents freak out about those bumps and bruises can have a serious impact on how well we deal with such things later in life.

My son, Tycho Thelonious, will be three in November. My wife and I are both real proud on his independence and general fearlessness, coupled with a friendly attitude and polite behaviour.

We get quite a few comments from outsiders about Tycho's mature behaviour as compared to many children his age. There is a notion among some parents that they want to keep the children 'little' - they relish their child's dependence. We stimulate our son to try everything first by himself and assist him if he has trouble performing tasks.

He goes to daycare, and I notice that it's a good thing he has a father who is actively involved in raising him. Even my wife, who is not overly protective, has trouble dealing with the violent/aggressive/daring side of little boys - I allow him to do much more daring exploits. Of course that means bruises - if you see his legs they're never free of discolorations - but I have been training him when he started walking on how to fall.

My method was this: I have judo mats in my living room. Tycho would run around me and I swept a cylindrical pillow around. When it connected with his shins he would let himself fall over the pillow onto his hands. I kept doing this faster and faster until I swept his legs straight out from under him and he would be in the air, falling onto his hands and yelling 'again, again'. For him it was a game, but now, every time he trips while running he catches himself with his hands. Teaching young children basic self-protection skills like that can change a lot about their attitudes later.

[P. Hval]

Hello: That is a lovely photo and good story about your son. Would that we could all approach life as fun, even the tough parts, and get up smiling.

[Martyn van Halm]

This is the room I'm talking about:

[P. Hval]

A quiet room, nice! 4.5-mat size? The hanging red and green items are like acrobatic chairs? Is that a kimono displayed with wisteria pattern? (Nosy like a cat, sorry)

[Martyn van Halm]

The mats are 1x2 meters, except the middle one which is 1x1 meter.



The hanging red and green items are hammock chairs - the big ones for adults, the small one is for children.





They can be used for acrobatic endeavours.




The 'wisteria' cloth is just a temporary drape to cover the window until we figured out what we want to hang there.

[P. Hval]

Don't you want to see out that window, let natural light in? Or is concentration easier when covered?

[Martyn van Halm]

It's ground floor - we leave the curtain up when we're just relaxing, but there are times when you don't want to be watched.

[Shindai]

Like when you're tripping over your kids xD Would hate to see how neighbours would react if they looked in to see that

That's a great set up you have in that room Martyn, I've wanted a room like that for a long time but don't have the space.

It's great how you got your kid started like that (and happy birthday to him for this month), what I'm wondering is how did you get started in that? How did you initiate "the game"? I ask because I'm big on martial arts, and intend to have kids one day, and I too want to get them on to things like falling safely (I know I would have avoided many trips to casualty between the ages of 3 and 10 if I knew how to fall lol) but can't imagine how I could get started in such training.

Also just wondering how big is that room overall so that you can fit the mats in and have space around it for those awesome hammock seats?

Thanks for sharing such sweet pics too

Dan