Bleacher Report - Articles by D M

Kids and MMA: Review and Commentary on ESPN's Outside the Lines Piece

D M — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:29:21 -0400

(Note: This article was originally posted on MMA: Review and Commentary on ESPN’s Outside the Lines Piece">FightTicker.com)

A Review
As many of you may know, ESPN’s Outside the Lines (OTL) recently aired a story on kids and mixed martial arts (MMA). Since this was a topic Dave Ching and I tackled in our book, I thought I had an obligation to comment on various aspects of the story and bring in perspectives from (1) some of the men we interviewed; and (2) some of the applicable background research we conducted.

To begin with, I feel the OTL story was very well-done and showcased a variety of methods by which instructors may teach children MMA (or certain aspects of it). The OTL piece is a three-part documentary (about 11 minutes), followed by a short debate between Dan Doyle and mixed martial artist Frank Shamrock. Both the story and the debate can be seen HERE.

The OTL documentary begins by showcasing a gym in Southern California that teaches children MMA, and by this I mean almost full MMA. The instructor reportedly allows the child participants to spar with small MMA gloves in only their second class. Children in his class are shown sparring, frequently with no headgear, and some kids are said to be as young as 6 years old.

Within this section of the story, MMA kids tournaments are also shown in which the “watered down” MMA rules only prohibit elbows, knees to the head, and punching above the collar bone.

Children were shown crying, being kicked to the mid-section, and being punched—again with small MMA gloves and no headgear. Yes, parents, coaches, and referees were present. I was appalled.

The second part of the story overviews an alternative method by which children are taught aspects of MMA in which the youthful students essentially play with each other and their instructor.

Again, for the most part, no headgear is worn, but that is because in this example, the youth participants are not allowed to strike each other at all. In striking drills, there is literally no physical contact.

Strikes, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu moves are taught, along with what appear to be fun reaction drills. However, when “sparring” takes place, contact is forbidden. The instructor in this portion of the OTL documentary states the children’s tournaments from the first part are abusive.

In the third part of the documentary (click HERE for written piece), a 14-year-old MMA sensation is profiled, named Drake Dudley, who has been learning various MMA disciplines since he was 4 years old through his father, Kirk, and schools where Kirk takes his son.

Drake has amassed a lifetime record of 403-63, including amateur wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing, and MMA matches. Drake is shown boxing, but with bigger boxing gloves and wearing headgear. And while I disagree with any boxing for children in which head strikes are allowed (even with headgear), Drake and his father appear to have a great relationship. It is clear Kirk takes a great interest in his son and spends quality time with him.

What Mixed Martial Artists have to Say about Kids and MMA
In our interviews for Fighting for Acceptance, we asked amateur and professional mixed martial artists whether or not they felt it was appropriate for kids in high school to learn and compete in MMA (we didn’t even think teaching young children full MMA would be an issue).

Overwhelmingly, the interviewees felt MMA would be inappropriate for high school students. Below are some of their perspectives (some taken from our book, and some that did not make it into the text).

Professional Mixed Martial Artist Bao Quach (Irvine, Calif.)
Interviewer: What’s your opinion on MMA becoming a high school sport?
Quach: I don’t think that’d be a good idea (laughs). In MMA, there’s a lot of joint locks and stuff, and I don’t think it would be too smart to put that in school, you know. People in high school are still young, and I don’t think they’re always smart enough to know like, you know...make (their) own decisions...some kid can probably kill some other kid on the street, and not know.

Mixed Martial Arts instructor Chris Onzuka (Aiea, Hawaii)
Onzuka: ... young kids that box very young, they think it’s safe ‘cause they wear headgear in the ring. They’re wearing big mitts. They can still get head trauma even if they’re wearing head gear. Anything that hits the head, it snaps their neck back. It’s gonna cause some damage. And cumulative damage is the key to anything. I mean Muhammad Ali would be the prime example. I mean that guy, he did the rope-a-dope, you know how much times did that guy really get hit in the head as much as he should have? I mean if that guy can have that, then anybody can have that. I don’t mind having kids fight, but at a certain age, definitely not very small children.

Professional Mixed Martial Artist Travis Lutter (Fort Worth, Texas)
Interviewer: How do you feel about MMA studios training kids?
Lutter: I’m not in favor of it at all. There’s no reason for a kid to train MMA. You know, it’s like, kids don’t have the control. Granted, they don’t hit very hard, but those gloves are really little. And you don’t know, it’s like the effects of soccer. Those kids using their head, you know the brain trauma that happens to those kids ...it’s like, I go to jiu-jitsu competitions where they have kids, and I won’t take my son for the simple reason, losing is such a big deal. And these kids cry and they don’t understand.

Professional Mixed Martial Artist Jason “MayheM” Miller (Hollywood, Calif.)
Interviewer: Do you think it should be a high school sport?
Miller: I think jiu-jitsu could be a wrestling type combination, like tappin’ each other out and that kind of thing ... But like, it would be harder to have MMA with like kicks to the head and that kind of thing. Man, you’d hurt each other.

Professional Mixed Martial Artist Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (Irvine, Calif.)
Interviewer: What do you think about mixed martial arts becoming a high school sport?
Jackson: I just don’t feel like it should be a high school sport. You know, it’s still kind of like fighting. Wrestling is kinda like fighting without punches, but MMA is fighting with punches. Parents won’t be able to, won’t want to see their kids come home with black eyes, and it shouldn’t be a high school sport. It should be something you choose after you turn 18. Cause you can’t be a professional fighter unless you (are) 18. So it shouldn’t be a high school sport at all. That’s ridiculous.

Professional Mixed Martial Artist Dan Henderson (Temecula, Calif.)
Interviewer: So how would you feel about MMA becoming a high school sport?
Henderson: It would probably be a little tough to make it a high school sport. The way it is, I think it’s more of an older person’s sport as far as the striking goes. I think if you can structure it to somehow change the rules a little bit, it could be a high school sport.
Interviewer: What type of rule changes?
Henderson: More of a submission wrestling, but maybe you can add strikes to the body.

Mixed Martial Arts instructor Michael Frison (Irvine, Calif.)
Interviewer: What are those values that you really promote? And how do you promote them (for kids classes)?
Frison: Well, we have what we call a “Star Program.” It’s integrated into their belt ranking. So, they do things like, they have to do chores at home. They have to get good grades. They have to read a certain amount of books. If they don’t, they don’t get promoted. And one of the things is, a lot of the kids will do anything for the belt. And, plus just the attitude, every single day we talk about the class. We spend 10 minutes of the class talking about what it is to be a martial artist. And not only what it is to be a martial artist when you’re in here boxing and when you’re competing, but also in your day-to-day life. You know, respect, respect for your elders. You know, just generally how to be a good person.
Interviewer: Do you feel the MMA community should have a responsibility in promoting that kind of education?
Frison: Yeah, I do. I think it’s an easy task to take responsibility.

Professional Mixed Martial Artist Antonio McKee (Lakewood, Calif.)
Interviewer: Do (MMA) gyms teach kids the right values?
McKee: ... when I’m teaching (kids), and the way that I’m working with them, I let them know that hey, this is serious. This ain’t no joke. You can hurt somebody. If you put somebody in a headlock, and you’re squeezing and choking and laughing and kidding around, and you put this kid unconscious, and he has a brain spasm, he has a seizure and dies, now you got a murder case on your hands.

Some Brief Notes from the Sports Medicine Literature

As can be seen, the interviewees felt full MMA was inappropriate at the high school level, and if adolescents were to partake in MMA training and/or competitions, interviewees noted substantial precautions would need to be implemented—precautions far greater than the minor ones shown in the first part of the ESPN OTL documentary.

Another pattern in the interviewees’ quotes was the danger of striking to the head. As Chris Onzuka mentioned, “cumulative damage is the key to anything.” Onzuka is absolutely right. Medical research has shown that repetitive blows to the head over time cause chronic traumatic brain injury. It is a problem far too many adult boxers, footballs players, and hockey players must cope with as they get older. If children are starting to sustain head shots (with or without headgear and gloves), they are simply beginning the degenerative process earlier.

Furthermore, medical research has shown that youth are more likely to sustain a concussion when struck in the head because their neck muscles, brains, and bone structure (including their skulls) are not finished developing. In other words, the younger a child is, the easier it is for him or her to sustain a concussion from a blow to the head.

Moreover, after a child (or adult) has sustained a concussion, it is easier for him or her to sustain a subsequent one, even from a less acute blow, and subsequent concussions will have a greater chance of being more severe. The fallout of concussions are called “second-impact syndrome,” which can include residual concussive effects, such as being depressed, irritable and unable to concentrate (see here).

And it is not just concussions. Injuries to joints via submission holds are particularly precarious for children. Dr. Johnny Benjamin is Chairman of the Department of Orthopedics, Director of the Joint Implant Center and Director of Medical Specialty Procedures Surgery Center in Vero Beach, Florida. According to Dr. Benjamin, both joint and head injuries are especially dangerous for children. Says Dr. Benjamin (click HERE for full interview):

When we’re born, our skeleton is mostly cartilage – very, very plastic. Over time, the cartilage can ossify or those cartilage models turn into bone. I call that ossification – turning to bone. That becomes very, very strong. Then adolescence – 13, 14, 15, 16 years old – various cartilage models around the joints start turning into adult bone, which makes them much stronger. But, in little kids, that’s not the case.

So, what can happen is that you can snap that cartilage off of the interface where the bone is still cartilage – that can be snapped right off and that’s a growth plate.

The other thing I’d be very concerned about with kids – other than armbars and heel hooks, anything that can put pressure on a joint where you can snap the cartilage off of a joint or hurt the growth plate – is accumulation of blows to the head. Because, we really don’t understand concussions very well in adults. We definitely don’t understand it very well in a growing brain – a child.

Parents, coaches, and state legislators/sanctioning bodies need to know these facts regarding MMA and its dangers for all potential participants, but especially for children.

Social Considerations in Teaching Kids MMA
As Bao Quach noted, children are less apt to have the emotional maturity to learn full MMA. MMA is the closest thing to the complete sport of fighting. Obviously, it is not street fighting. MMA includes rules, a referee, and a sanitized structure that make it substantially different from street fighting. Still, there is obvious overlap.

In any sport, whether it be a team or individual sport (including combat sports), children need to learn the value of respect and the skills to effectively use peaceful conflict resolutions (see also newspaper editorial by David Mayeda, Chris Onzuka, and Mike Onzuka).

As Michael Frison and Antonio McKee advise, there is a bigger responsibility that comes with teaching MMA, and that lies in teaching positive values and preventing injury. When parents argue that by learning a combat sport, their child is learning to defend himself, the parents are missing a far more important perspective.

Parents, coaches, and mentors should be teaching children prevention, how to avoid potentially violent conflicts in the first place. Just as injury prevention is critical in sport, prevention from violence in the street or school is equally important.

I support MMA as an adult sport and the teaching of combat sports to emotionally and physically mature youth, provided the instruction is offered with major precautionary measures and in tandem with the development of pro-social values.

Let kids be kids, have fun, and not have such an extreme macho attitude that influences children to view violence as their primary outlet for problem solving.

David Mayeda, PhD, is lead author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, a sociological and politically-based book based on interviews with 40 mixed martial arts athletes, including Antonio McKee, Randy Couture, Guy Mezger, “Rampage” Jackson, Chris Leben, Travis Lutter, Toby Grear, Cleburn Walker, and Frank Trigg. The book’s Foreword is written by Jason “MayheM” Miller.

(Photo by David Mayeda, of an adolescent being treated by emergency personnel after sustaining a roundhouse kick to the head in an amateur kickboxing competition. He was wearing headgear and still was knocked unconscious for several minutes).

Cleburn “The Spartan” Walker: The Life of a Young MMA Fighter

D M — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:58:21 -0400

In March 2007 while conducting research in Travis Lutter’s gym over in Fort Worth, TX, I had the privilege of interviewing a young man named Cleburn Walker. At the time, Walker was a true MMA novice if ever there was one.

Then 23 years old, Walker had just finished time with the Marine Corps and was forging a possible career in MMA. Despite looking as muscled as any other fighter I’d met, I’m not going to lie, I had my doubts about this young aspiring fighter.

In our first interview, Walker shed light onto his pathway towards MMA, entering his first professional competition with only his military training behind him and literally no formal MMA instruction. Said Walker:

No, no MMA training whatsoever. I had just got out of the Marine Corps, and one of the things we did was wrestled, submitted each other a lot as way of establishing somewhat of a pecking order outside of our rank structure, to fight each other without actually fighting, so I thought I could fight on the ground, and from past experiences, I thought I could fight standing up well enough to defend myself, and I knew I was in shape. So I thought, what the hell let’s just jump in head first and see how it goes.

Although the rookie from Stephenville, TX didn’t come out victorious in his first contest, Walker pushed on.

A year later, “The Spartan” has erased my doubts and proven to be a warrior in and out of competition. This coming Saturday night, July 26, at the Reliant Arena in Houston, TX, Walker will enter full MMA competition again. However, since our interview about a year ago, Walker has gone on to win a string of matches without any losses.

Recently, Walker spoke with me again to talk about how he’s grown as a fighter, balancing life as a single father and pursing his dream of making it big in the MMA world.

After going through some personal issues, Walker moved into his own place with his two young children. He mentioned some of the challenges young fighters can deal with, which we don’t hear about from established superstars who have greater financial resources.

It’s kinda crazy because it’s just me raising them right now, and I can’t afford child care, so I just take them with me everywhere I go. To train, to get groceries, to eat, everything. I am arranging it so that their mom and her parents can watch them on the weekends so I can be more consistent with coming to Travis’ (Lutter) gym to train.

In addition to training under the tutelage of others, Walker is now earning income as an instructor. His combination of teaching and continuing to learn from experts in the industry have given him confidence as he approaches Saturday night.

I teach eight BJJ classes a week (five of which he teaches on his own), in addition to lifting and running...As far as success, I have accrued one sponsor, Choke Combat Gear. I’ve earned the privilege of getting to train with the big dogs at Travis’ like Jeff Owen and Justin Wren. I have won every fight since going to Travis’ with ease thanks completely to the training of Jeff Owen, and I see no reason why I should lose my next fight...

His confidence notwithstanding, Walker keeps a humble attitude. It’s a quality many MMA fighters possess. Unfortunately, the mainstream media rarely showcases this side of those in the fight game, choosing instead to spotlight trash talking and other behaviors that will sell pay-per-views.

But “The Spartan” keeps things in good perspective, knowing that building his name as a fighter means finding financial support through minor sponsors and staying grounded.

As far as the pros and cons of the stress, it only makes me happy because I love to be tested. I get to find out all the time just what I’m made of and how able I am to rise to the occasion. And at the times where I fall short, I get to find out what I need to work on. So it only makes me a better fighter and a better person to be taxed so much.

Walker’s diligent work and steady attitude are paying off. For his first fight over a year ago, he made $300. For his fight this coming Saturday, he stands to make a purse of $1,200 along with per diem and lodging money. While his earnings have been rising with each fight, these are numbers far off from what we are used to seeing from those in the UFC, Affliction, and other bigger MMA organizations.

However, Walker’s circumstances are much more typical of most MMA fighters out there, those who struggle with everyday problems, triumphs, and financial concerns far more than the stars we crave to read about. And what Walker currently lacks for in national stardom, he makes up for in attitude.

In his journey, Walker has learned a great deal about the MMA business and himself and offers the following advice for other young fighters like him trying to make it in a sometimes ruthless business.

I’ve learned that I will always have a lot to learn, so I am always keeping my eyes and ears open. I always consider the source of any advice I get, and if it’s someone I respect I take their advice to heart.

I would say the main thing I’ve learned is that it is a business. Not some surreal dream that you live, but a real life that you live. And just like anything else, diligence, respect, work ethic, people skills, and all that stuff play a huge roll. It’s not just about being showy, but about being someone other people want to be around and work with, in addition to being able to win fights.

Offer your support to this young warrior by dropping him a line or two HERE! He’s a great guy, moving on to big things!

David Mayeda, PhD, is lead author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, the first political book on mixed martial arts, based on in-depth interviews with 40 mixed martial artists, including Randy Couture, “Rampage” Jackson, Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger, Chris Leben, Antonio McKee, Frank Trigg, Travis Lutter, and Cleburn "The Spartan" Walker. The book’s Forward is written by Jason “MayheM” Miller.

Sporting Violence: The Fans

D M — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:54:29 -0400

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

Many have argued that mixed martial arts’ (MMA) recent popularity is an indicator of our society’s demise, that this rising sport is nothing more than a barbaric spectacle that insatiates violent fans’ bloodlust. In fact, when I interviewed mixed martial artist, Travis Lutter, he made it a point to say this about American fans and how they compared to fans from Japan:

Well, I’ve never fought in Japan. I’ve been to two or three Pride (FC) shows with Guy Mezger when he fought (in Japan). I cornered him, and that’s a totally different ambiance, to sit in there and have those guys, they way that they kind of, they appreciate the technical kind of things that Americans don’t. Americans want to see blood, guts, and heads rollin’, stuff like that. Whereas the Japanese, they want to see good technique. (Fighting for Acceptance, p. 142).

As sports fans, do we really hunger for violence? Do violent sports bring out the worst in us?

In most cases—heck, in the vast majority of cases, the answer would be no. Considering the innumerable sporting events that transpire every day and the lack of serious altercations between fans at those events, it’s difficult to argue that an epidemic of violence exists among sports fans.

Perhaps the most glaring example of violence initiated by an American fan occurred in 2004. No doubt, readers all recall that Detroit Pistons fan who threw a drink at then-Indiana Pacer, Ron Artest, prompting Artest to engage in a fairly serious brawl. In the aftermath, Artest was suspended an entire season, while teammates Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’Neal also received hefty suspensions.

While this incident was shocking to Americans, it was far less eye opening for sports fans across Europe, who are more familiar with extreme fan violence. Angry European soccer fans too often riot in inappropriate forms of "protest" that have resulted in mass injuries, and even deaths.

Last year in Sicily, Italy, as fans fought with police following a soccer game, a police officer was killed after being hit in the head by a projectile. According to one report, he was the thirteenth person killed in or around an Italian soccer stadium since 1962. Deaths and riots across other European cities during or just after soccer games were also prevalent in 2007.

But it was not just in Europe where violence among soccer fans erupted last year. In Argentina, a two-week period transpired in which mass fights were exploding every other day, prompting police to use rubber bullets in an attempt to diffuse the violence. According to a Washington Post story, violence in the stands of Argentina soccer stadiums is commonly triggered by organized gangs, known as “barrabravas.”

And this same report noted that in other Latin American countries, such as Colombia, Mexico, and Chile, violence among soccer fans had reached unusually high proportions in 2007.

In the United States, we obviously don’t share such widely spread unruly fan violence, at least not on as regular a basis for any particular sport. Still, sporadic examples are easy to identify.

The importance of high school football in Texas is widely known. In the Dallas, Texas area, a teen was killed by gunfire after a series of Friday night games (Stover, 2006). Fights among adult fans at high school games have been known to be so widespread that the games are actually suspended. Talk about setting a bad example for the youthful players and spectators.

An increase in violence among fans at high school sporting events has prompted school officials to consider having major sporting contests take place during the day on weekends instead of at night, increasing security, and holding stricter admissions policies. It is a sad reality that such measures need to be taken for events that are supposed to help teach children responsibility and build character.

Unfortunately, disturbed fans occasionally surpass security, even at the professional sports levels. Fans have been known to attack umpires in Major League Baseball games—and who can forget tennis star Monica Seles being stabbed by a demented fan in Hamburg, Germany some fifteen years ago? The results of the latter criminal act include improved security measures now being employed on the WTA circuit.

Sports are given so much importance in our society that they create passion. They provoke debate. They stimulate internet sports reporting sites such as the Bleacher Report. They give us an escape from our daily lives, an avenue for us to forget our respective problems.

Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad. What can we really expect when we mix beer, passion, and machismo in an environment with thousands of tightly packed individuals, many of whom are grown men dressed up in costumes?

Whether we really want to see “blood, guts, and heads rollin’,” as Travis Lutter stated, is unsubstantiated. But for all the positive clichés that sports communicate, as fans, it is important to think before acting, and make sure our actions reflect the many positive values sports aim to embody.

David Mayeda, PhD, is lead author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, the first political book on mixed martial arts, based on in-depth interviews with 40 mixed martial artists, including Randy Couture, “Rampage” Jackson, Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger, Chris Leben, Antonio McKee, Frank Trigg, and Travis Lutter. The book’s Forward is written by Jason “MayheM” Miller.

(AP Photo/ARD/CNN TV)

Part I: Sporting Violence: The Injuries

Part II: Sporting Violence: The Parents, Coaches, and Child Exploitation

Non-internet source:

Stover, D. (2006). Combating Violence at School Sports Events. Education Digest, 71, (8).

Sporting Violence: The Parents, Coaches, and Child Exploitation

D M — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:25:59 -0400

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.

This trend in professionalizing youth sports has only intensified over the decades, such that, today, parents and coaches, obsessed with children’s athletic success, often encourage youths to specialize in one sport year-round. Obviously, children’s bones and musculature are not nearly as developed as those of adults.

Still, parents and coaches see exceptions like the Williams sisters in tennis or Tiger Woods in golf, and think their kids should start incessant specialized training in one sport at the earliest age possible.

Experts, however, know that when children engage in the same type of physical movements repeatedly, stress fractures and tendonitis are far more likely to develop and cause permanent damage (Cary, Dotinga, & Comarow, 2004).

And it’s not just in the sports considered stereotypically macho where youthful athletes are abused by parents and coaches.

The 2008 Olympic Games are right around the corner, in which the world will focus in on the hallmark sports of track and field, swimming, and gymnastics. Earlier this week, I noted the danger of gymnastics here.

What the mainstream media spotlights are the heart-warming success stories, but what they often ignore are critical facts about gymnastics (and other sports), buried in academic journals and critical magazines. Many gymnasts, only 10 years old, are forced to train six-to-eight hours a day!

A study carried out by the University of Utah found that 59 percent of elite U.S. Olympic hopefuls in gymnastics admitted to having at least one type of eating disorder. Another study found that 62 percent of college gymnasts (generally considered too old for world-class competition) practiced at least one form of anorexia (vomiting or the use of laxatives, diuretics or diet pills) (David, 1999).

Why don’t we hear these stories, and the other stories of elite gymnastics coaches who abuse children?

Because only 3 percent of the top gymnasts make the Olympic Games. Hence, the multitude of abused athletes (mostly minors) are lost in the sporting machine’s wake, while the success stories are profiled in short “feel good” biographies that draw in mainstream viewers.

And then there are the parents of youths who have yet to make it to the elite sporting levels (and probably never will), the enraged moms and (more so) dads, who try desperately to recreate their own athletic dreams through their children.

Although the most horrific types of violence are not common, homicide and manslaughter have been known to occur when parents of youthful athletes lose control.

In 2000, an enraged parent was so upset about violence occurring in practice that he became violent himself and the supervising coach was killed (Docheff & Conn, 2004; Lord, 2000).

And lesser, though still very serious forms of parental and coaching violence flourish, too often unchallenged by others. Most sports fans can recall examples in which they've witnessed parents and/or coaches publicly demean young children who “fail” in various sporting endeavors.

The bottom line is too many young children are exploited by parents and coaches, who justify their abusive actions by arguing that they are molding the children for future success, stardom, and wealth.

The reality is no matter how hard (or early) an athlete begins perfecting his/her sport of choice, the odds of making the pros are minuscule, especially given the prevalence of severe injuries that can transpire in athletics.

Our laws do not allow children to work, least of all for excessive hours per day, but we venerate parents and coaches who push juvenile athletes to the extreme physical and emotional limits. The abused child-athlete is much like the child physically abused by way of family violence.

It’s common knowledge that abused children frequently blame themselves and will do almost anything to please their parents or other familial abusers.

Likewise, the youthful athlete, still developing physically and emotionally, will internalize his or her athletic failures and do whatever the coach/parent says without complaint, hoping one day to finally gain acceptance via the ultimate symbol of success.

Yet how many athletes in a particular sport or event win the gold medal?

Most of my writing pertains to MMA. For those readers familiar with this rapidly rising sport, think about Joe “Daddy” Stevenson and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin, who, after losing to B.J. Penn and Keith Jardine, respectively, literally sobbed in front of thousands of fans in the arena and millions of viewers on television.

Said Stevenson of his emotions that came to a climax after his loss, “I put everything I had into it, so it was OK” (Acosta, 2008).

Now imagine a young child, who has put everything he or she had into excessive practices in order to please a parent or coach, but subsequently did not get the win. Would he or she be OK, too?

Don’t be silent like I was when I witnessed that young 13-year-old take a brutal roundhouse kick to the head. Ensure that sport is an institution used to promote fun.

Despite the distorted images of sporting success and wealth celebrated on television, hardly anyone makes it to the Olympics or the pros. And you know what? That’s OK.

Let the kids know that’s OK, too.

David Mayeda, PhD, is lead author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, the first political book on mixed martial arts, based on in-depth interviews with 40 mixed martial artists, including Randy Couture, “Rampage” Jackson, Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger, Chris Leben, Antonio McKee, Frank Trigg, and Travis Lutter. The book’s Forward is written by Jason “MayheM” Miller.

Part three, "Sporting Violence: The Fans," will be posted Monday.

Non-Internet References:

Cary, P., Dotinga, R., & Comarow, A. (2004). Fixing kids’ sports. U.S. News & World Report, 136 (20), 44-53.

David, P. (1999). Children’s rights and sports: Young athletes and competitive sports: exploit and exploitation. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 7, 53-81.

Dochefff, D. M., & Conn, J. H. (2004). It’s no longer a spectator sport. Parks & Recreation, 39 (3), 62-70.

Lord, M. (2000). Parents are dying to win. U.S. News & World Report, 129 (4).

(Photo by David Mayeda; note: photo not taken at event described in the beginning of this article).

Sporting Violence: The Injuries

D M — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:51:30 -0400

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

We all know the benefits sports bring to our world. The classic and predictable clichés abound: “Sports build character, teach athletes to bounce back from defeat, and keep kids off the street.”

I’m not denying these and other sayings hold some credence. In many cases, they do. But let’s not kid ourselves: Like all major corporations, sporting institutions have their imperfections.

In athletics, the primary commodity that is labeled with a value is the human body. Bodies are manipulated by athletes themselves and those vested in promoting their commodities in hope of maximizing a financial return.

In other words, get as much out of the body for the longest time frame possible without risking a future loss on that investment. It’s a cynical reality of capitalism, and sports are hardly immune from falling into our economy’s pitfalls.

At some point, we need to ask if our societal obsession with athletics pushed the industry too far. In addition to the outrageous salaries prevalent in some professional sports, we need to question why we celebrate—even revere—various dimensions of violence.

Are our daily lives so mundane and saturated with occupational stress that we come to crave time off simply so we may fall into the foray of sporting violence?

I have to ask myself this question all the time. My fascination with mixed martial arts (MMA) made me question if I was a violent person, sucked into the spectacle of fighting as a sport. But as I entered the MMA world, I came to learn more vividly that sports in general tend to be violent, and, further, that sporting violence does not discriminate. No matter how invincible an athlete may seem, everyone is vulnerable.

Athletes, coaches, and fans generally don’t know how serious or pervasive concussions are in certain sports. Remember former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green's head bouncing fiercely off the ground in a 2006 game, or his head colliding with a Houston Texans lineman’s knee the following year (Battista, 2007)?

Both of those injuries were Grade 3 concussions, the most severe. Research on NFL retirees has shown that those players who sustained three or more concussions during their career were significantly more likely to fall into clinical levels of depression later in life for no apparent reason other than the concussions (Schwarz, 2007a).

And it’s not just at the professional level. About 10 percent of all youths who play football and hockey report sustaining a concussion every year. For kids, suffering from a concussion is especially problematic. If a child sustains a concussion, the younger he or she is, the easier it will be for him or her to sustain a subsequent one, and the next concussion has a greater chance of being more severe (Schwarz, 2007b).

What’s worse, athletes rarely tell others when they have a head injury out of fear that coaches and teammates will ridicule them as weak (Essoyan, 2007), so, actually, the percentage of youth suffering from sporting concussions is higher than we realize.

It’s not just sports that tend to be popular with males, either. Girls and women who play soccer sustain concussions at the same rate as football players, and the rates are very high for girls’/women’s basketball as well (Sokolove, 2008). Not to mention the fact that, in those two sports, the rates of ACL tears for females are disturbingly high. In fact, females are two times more likely than males to tear an ACL playing soccer and three times more likely playing basketball (Arendt, Agel, & Dick, 1999).

And while medical technology has made it easier for athletes to recover from knee injuries, the long-term effects of knee ligament damage can be very detrimental.

“Blowing out an ACL can end a girl’s sports career, but doctors have also suspected that the injury sets the stage for osteo-arthritis, a degenerative joint disease that typically strikes older people” (Fackelmann, 2004, p. 9D).

And even young children are suffering from torn ACLs due to an over-emphasis in sports these days (Neegaard, 2008)!

At the elite levels in gymnastics—a sport that evokes celebrated images of Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug among mainstream Americans—women and girls suffer from ankle, wrist, and back injuries, many of which are chronic. Said one study of gymnastics, “as the skill level increases, the load during the workout will also increase, providing more opportunity for chronic injuries” (Meeusen & Borms, 1992, p. 337).

In fact, one woman I interviewed who's transitioned from gymnastics to MMA says that, although both sports are dangerous, gymnastics was a far more risky sport (Avila, 2008). Even cheerleading can be extraordinarily dangerous.

“Of 104 catastrophic injuries sustained by female high school and college athletes from 1982 to 2005—head and spinal trauma that occasionally led to death—more than half resulted from cheerleading” (Pennington, 2007).

And let’s not forget boxing. Those who recently witnessed Manny Pacquiao pummel David Diaz into virtual unconsciousness for nine rounds must know the vicious brutality of many boxing matches (Mayeda, 2008). However, even matches that do not end via some form of knockout can have horrible lasting effects.

Due to the constant head strikes in competition and practice, 17 percent of all professional boxers end up “punch drunk” (with chronic traumatic brain injury) in their elder years (Lewis, 2006). Not to mention the fact a handful of boxers consistently die each year during or immediately after a match (Newfield, 2001).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge sports fan, and I can see how some may read this piece as a scathing critique of our sporting culture. It’s just that, having been a competitive athlete through college, I have seen the risks.

Some may argue these risks are outweighed by the benefits sports bring to our society by way of promoting pro-social values and providing entertainment. Furthermore, people get injured doing all kinds of fun activities. It is simply important to view both sides of the coin.

Violence is exhibited in many forms. Sporting injuries are merely one manifestation of violence that our society readily accepts and too often celebrates. In 2003, approximately 205,000 children between the ages of 5 and 14 had to go to an emergency room for an injury sustained while playing basketball, and 185,000 for an injury while playing football (Hospitals & Health Networks, 2006).

To say our society does not value the inherent physical violence of some sports would be remiss. It is critical that parents, coaches, administrators, and athletes know the risks that accompany strapping on a helmet, lacing up athletic shoes, and putting on combat sport gloves prior to competition.

Injury prevention means preparing for the risks beforehand. And, to be frank, we need to value athletes’ health more than we value the violence permeating our sporting world.

David Mayeda, PhD, is lead author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, the first political book on mixed martial arts, based on in-depth interviews with 40 mixed martial artists, including Randy Couture, “Rampage” Jackson, Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger, Chris Leben, Antonio McKee, Frank Trigg, and Travis Lutter. The book’s Forward is written by Jason “MayheM” Miller.

Part two, "Sporting Violence: The Coaches and Parents," will be posted Wednesday.

Non-Internet References:

Arendt, E.A., Agel, J., & Dick, R. (1999). Anterior cruciate ligament injury patterns among collegiate men and women. Journal of Athletic Training, 34 (2), 86-92.

Fackelmann, K. (2004 October 7). Girls’ knee injuries have later consequences. USA Today, p. 9D.

Hospitals & Health Networks. (2006). Youth sports: a trip to the injured lists? H&HN: Hospitals & Health Networks, 80 (9), 22-22.

Lewis, R. (2006). Why haven’t we banned boxing? Neurology, 6 (23), 5-6.

Meeusen, R., & Borms, J. (1992). Gymnastics injuries. Sports Med, 13 (5), 337-356.

Newfield, J. (2001 November 12). The shame of boxing. The Nation, p. 13-22.

Schwarz, A. (2007a May 31). An answer to help clear his fog. The New York Times, p. D7.

Schwarz, A. (2007b October 2). Girls are often neglected victims of concussions. The New York Times, p. A1, A20.

Sokolove, M. (2008). Warrior Girls: Protecting Our Daughters Against the Injury Epidemic in Women’s Sports. New York: Simon & Schuster.

(Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports)

MMA Means Fighting and Friendship

D M — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:30:05 -0400

As most readers here know, MMA is not simply about bloodlust and brutality. Unfortunately, since EliteXC made its way onto primetime television, the sport has been cast that way in some media circles (Boulay & Taylor, 6/26/08).

Additionally, critics of the sport have suggested that "blood is spilled in almost every match and victory is claimed by beating your rival into submission" (Brown, 4/22/08), utilizing dramatic imagery in order to embellish what actually happens between two MMA competitors.

No doubt, there are grudge matches in MMA, just as there are in other sports. But one thing the critics fail to realize, is that like in other sports, MMA competitors are commonly friends before, during, and after their competitions.

This past Friday, Josh "The Punk" Thompson bested Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez in a tough five-round match. Melendez, well known for his vicious, aggressive fighting style, was unable to find an answer for Thompson in this contest. But there was no vicious trash talking in the aftermath.

To the contrary, Melendez simply stated, "I've got no answers and no excuses. He was simply the better man tonight" (Stupp, 6/28/08).

To the harsh MMA critic or the mainstream sports fan just getting tuned in with MMA, such comments might seem unfeasible or insincere. However, those who train in the combat sports know that sanctioned competition—even in fighting form—can strengthen friendships and build new ones.

This is a theme that has emerged in many interviews I have conducted with mixed martial artists over the years. Chris Bowles competes for HDNet Fights. Said Bowles of his daily training routine, "...my best friends are in (the gym). I work, I come here, and then I come home to my family. That's pretty much what I do. I get to beat on my friends every day" (Bowles laughs).

Bowles' coach and HDNet Fights President, Guy Mezger, responded, saying, "It's an unusual friendship. You know most people that give you black eyes or cut lips or broken bones are your enemies, but they tend to be your best friends in this place. So it's a bit unusual."

It is also fairly common when two males fight on the street, that immediately afterwards, they will embrace in friendship and forge a mutual respect. Owner and coach at No Limits Gym, Colin Oyama said, "I think some of my best friends in Hawaii are guys (I) got into a fist fight with" (laughs).

However, in the sanctioned and structured world of MMA, there is a greater level of reverence because each combatant knows the extensive physical and mental preparation that precedes the fight.

In other words, MMA matches are not merely comprised of two drunken, unconditioned brutes who fight impulsively in the heat of the moment (though MMA competitors have been stereotyped as such in the past).

As MMA veteran Tony "The Freak" Fryklund said to me, "(MMA) is for humility. It is for respect of others. And it's understanding that you're sacrificing so much for what you put in, and it's almost counter-productive to do the martial arts and not work hard cause it's disrespectful to the (martial art) itself."

When accounting for the sentiments of long-term MMA fighters like Fryklund and Mezger, one can better understand how competitive MMA can foster friendships without residual feelings of animosity. In fact, Chris Onzuka, co-owner of the O2 Martial Arts Academy said the following to me, noting that those who he competes with and against become problem solvers:

"My closest friends, all my closest friends train jiu-jitsu...So I come here and it's like my therapy. My boys are my soundboard. I tell them my problems. They tell me some solutions or just listen to me or whatever to handle the situation."

The MMA haters would have everyone think MMA's burgeoning popularity is an indicator of society's immorality. The fact of the matter is, MMA is a growing sport that while having problems, is multifaceted, with much to offer society, and not just in a negative sense.

David Mayeda, PhD, is author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, the first book to analyze the sport of mixed martial arts from a political standpoint, based on interviews with "Rampage" Jackson, Guy Mezger, Randy Couture, "MayheM" Miller, Dan Henderson, Tony Fryklund, Antonio McKee, Chris Leben, Chris, Mike Onzuka, and many other MMA athletes.

From Boxing To MMA: Race and Racism In American Sport

D M — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:15:42 -0400

Politics cut across all social institutions, even those which we too frequently feel are immune from political underpinnings, such as athletics. Obviously, this will be all the more transparent when this summer’s Olympic Games commence in Beijing, China.

Among the innumerable variables that have played into American sporting politics, race has always been a major factor, and boxing exemplifies this racialized history as well as any other sport.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Jack Johnson won boxing's heavyweight crown, making him the first African American to do so. With his athletic success, Johnson found himself the most hated man in America.

Flaunting an affinity for white women, Johnson was characterized by white America as an example of African Americans’ so-called danger in society as a whole to white women’s “purity.” Thus, boxing promoters at that time worked desperately to find “the great white hope” who could dethrone Johnson and symbolically prove African Americans’ alleged racial inferiority.

They were unsuccessful. Instead, Johnson was arrested in 1913 and charged with offenses falling under the White Slave Traffic Act of 1910, known more commonly as the Mann Act.

According to Sammons (1990), “the law was so worded that any man who crossed a state line with a woman other than his wife and had sex with her could be prosecuted” (p. 43). Not surprisingly, white men committing the same offense were never charged with this crime.

Skip up to the 1960s and the era of Muhammad Ali. Like Johnson, Ali was initially despised by conservative white America. Ali, however, was hated more for his open disdain for American prejudice and his association with the Nation of Islam.

Hence, the strategy used to bring down Ali was to identify a more politically compliant African American heavyweight boxer who would defeat Ali and symbolize what conservative Americans wanted from the general African American populace during the Civil Rights Movement.

After the U.S. government stole what would likely have been Ali’s best sporting years, Joe Frazier (who was hardly patriotic) and George Foreman were utilized, ultimately unsuccessfully, in this manner.

By the time the 1980s rolled around, boxing began to expand in racial dynamics, seen first through the emergence of Mexican and Chicano boxers. From Roberto Duran to Oscar De La Hoya, boxing saw a huge surge in the number of prominent boxers whose familial ties were rooted in Mexico.

And in the years following, boxing’s international composition grew to the point where today, the average American sports fan barely recognizes names of those who hail as champions in the “sweet science.”

Moving from heavyweight (the Ukranian, Wladimir Klitschko) to junior lightweight (the Filipino, Manny Pacquiao), boxing’s various organizations are comprised of many athletes who do not resonate strongly with large pockets in American society.

It is in this internationally-based era that mixed martial arts (MMA) has entered the mainstream combat sport world. If one looks through the ranks of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), currently the largest and most successful MMA organization, one can clearly see the racial and international diversity that characterizes MMA:

* 155 lb. Champion: “The Prodigy” B.J. Penn (Native Hawaiian)

* 170 lb. Champion: Georges “Rush” St. Pierre (French Canadian)

* 185 lb. Champion: Anderson “Spider” Silva (Brazilian, of African descent)

* 205 lb. Champion: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (African American)

* Hwt Champion: Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira (Brazilian)

When we account for the athletes’ composition and the organization’s relatively small size, the UFC could very well be the most racially and internationally diverse sporting organization in the world. Of course, the UFC is not the only MMA organization.

On Saturday May 31, 2008, we witnessed an over-hyped but widely viewed match between Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson and James “The Colossus” Thompson. Slice, an African American from Miami, toppled the British Thompson in controversial fashion.

For the purposes of this discussion, however, it is critical to examine how through Slice, the MMA organization, EliteXC, is nurturing horrendous racial stereotypes in order to drive ratings. Touted for his underground street fights posted on the video sharing network, YouTube.com, EliteXC has literally referred to Slice as an “internet sensation.”

Furthermore, EliteXC President, Gary Shaw, even made the claim that Slice was "...the closest I've come to Mike Tyson" (Arritt, 2008). Unfortunately, Tyson’s history in and out of sport cannot be separated. Together, Tyson’s feared athleticism and criminal behaviors have perpetuated deleterious images of African American men that rest in Darwinian (i.e., supposed innate) racial stereotypes.

The Darwinian drama has been kept alive by black athleticism in general and by black prizefighters in particular. What the public career of Mike Tyson has cost black Americans is incalculable in the literal sense of the term, but it is reasonable to assume that his well-publicized brutalities in and out of the ring have helped to preserve pseudo-evolutionary fantasies about black ferocity that are still of commercial value to fight promoters and their business partners in the media. (Hoberman, 1997, p. 209).

The obvious tie between Slice’s street fighting past and his current endeavor in MMA further cements unfair notions of African American men – that those who are big and athletically gifted (a stereotype in itself) are also a menace to society (see also Granderson, 2008).

Even more noteworthy about Slice’s introduction to mainstream America was that his competition against Thompson was marketed by EliteXC and CBS and shown as the main event on MMA’s first live broadcast on network television to over six million viewers.

While the more savvy MMA aficionado knows how intelligent and insightful Slice is (he went to college on an academic scholarship), the inexperienced MMA viewer was introduced to Slice and MMA predominantly via Slice's violent masculinity and physicality.

True, other men and women competed on this fight card who are of various ethnic backgrounds, but it was Slice who competed as the main attraction.

African American intellectuals have long held mixed feelings about their ethnic group’s perceived success in certain sports. Elijah Muhammad, for example, felt that sport “harmed the black community ... that white America had intentionally encouraged blacks to participate in games in order to divert their attention from the real source of their problems and keep them from advancing...” (Wiggins, 1997, p. 166).

And as hinted at above, the over-representation of African Americans in some sports carries on the belief that African Americans can make it athletically but not intellectually.

The danger with Slice is that his marketing revolves almost exclusively around a violent identity and directly ties his past and present together as one continuous and inseparable violent trajectory. Therefore, dismissing Slice’s intellectual capabilities and continually mentioning his violent street fights still watched on YouTube does the African American community a horrible disservice.

In fact, many in the MMA community feel that when traditional values of martial arts are infused in MMA, the sport can have positive effects on society that discourage street violence (Mayeda, Onzuka, & Onzuka, 2008).

Clearly, however, Slice is not being promoted in this manner. Instead, promoters are simply using Slice to increase viewership—largely by relying on violent, racist impressions of African American men that still resonate with far too many Americans.

It is absolutely crucial that MMA organizations and media partners think more clearly about the ways they are selling their sport. If in fact they are arguing that MMA should be respected as a sport and not correlated with ugly street violence, then they must stop making such associations.

In fact, they need to tangibly illustrate the opposite—the numerous ways in which MMA is starkly different from street violence. Moreover, MMA promoters and organizations need to think more critically about the ways such violent associations further racism and other forms of discrimination.

Yes, violence sells and racism sells. That's precisely the problem, so stop perpetuating the problem simply to rake in more money.

David Mayeda, PhD, is lead author of the book, Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, the first politically- and research-based book on MMA, based on interviews with 40 mixed martial artists, including Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson, Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger, Antonio McKee, Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, and Chris Leben.

Non-internet References:

Hoberman, J. (1997). Darwin's Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Sammons, J.T. (1990). Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Wiggins, D.K. (1997). Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White America. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press.