Sporting Violence: The Parents, Coaches, and Child Exploitation

The following is the second in a three-part series examining violence in sports, and its role in society.

This past weekend I attended an amateur mixed martial arts (MMA) event.

Overall, it was great. Three of my friends competed, two against each other. They all performed well, and nobody was seriously hurt. They had some minor bumps and bruises, but they were all adults and their wounds healed in a few days. Heck, one of them even trained with us the next day (you’re crazy, Steven). 

But there was one part of the event that really disturbed me. Prior to the MMA matches, there were a number of kickboxing contests, in which the combatants wore the larger, softer gloves (16-ouncers). One match involved a 13-year-old boy. Along with his big gloves, he was wearing shin guards and head gear. 

His opponent, on the other hand, was only wearing the big gloves. Absent on him were the shin guards and head gear.

Turns out, this 13-year-old’s opponent was an adult. They were the same size, probably around 100 pounds. However, I heard the adult was 20. Whatever his exact age, he was clearly more muscular, had crisper strikes, and was much more explosive. 

Not too far into the match, the adult combatant had grazed his younger opponent’s head with a roundhouse kick. The match continued as I watched silently in disgust.

Shortly thereafter, that same roundhouse kick connected squarely with the 13-year-old’s head, knocking him to the mat. He failed to get up immediately and laid on the ground for about a minute, rolling side to side, as the referee stopped the match. 

I was furious. I wanted to make a scene and yell, “Why was this allowed to happen?!” I wondered what coaches would allow this? What parents would allow this? What state legislators would allow this? But it was allowed.

The youngster eventually got up. As he walked back to the stands, head down and looking at the ground, he feebly shadowboxed, gloves still on, and appeared to me as though he was on the verge of crying. 

Some may be thinking, “Geeze, that so-called sport of MMA or kickboxing disgusts me!” But this article is not about MMA. It’s about sports in general.

What I witnessed this past Saturday is merely indicative of what happens across the world when parents and coaches care more about youths’ success in sport and less about the youths themselves. 

In the 1970s, our sporting culture began a drastic shift. Sports became big business. Although professional athletics certainly existed before this, sports historically considered amateur for youth, were, in reality, becoming more and more professional in terms of long-term objectives. 

Youth soccer, basketball, football, and hockey leagues were being increasingly defined as breeding grounds for future pro athletes, rather than as organizations that taught fair play and provided a safe place for having fun and making friends. 

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