MMA in high school athletics

[JSamson7]

With the success of wrestlers in the world of MMA, I've often day dreamed if there would be any chance of amateur MMA making it in high school athletics one day?? I think it could be "do-able" given the fact that my parents' high school had amateur boxers back in the day (early 70's to be exact). I'll have to go back in their year book to make sure boxing was sanctioned by the school as an official sport, but they were 2 boxers featured in their annual none the less.

 

That said, I think that it could possibly be done if A: headgears were used just like they are in amateur boxing, B: the MMA season didn't take away from the existing high school wrestling season, & C: all 50 states officially sanctioned MMA as a legitimate sport.

 

I was lucky enough to be wrestling in high school when a future MMA great out of Memphis (Quinton Jackson) wrestled for Raleigh-Egypt. A future teammate of mine at UTC (Brian Provezano) beat "Rampage" in the 2nd round at the state tournament that year, but imagine what kind of following MMA would have if you could follow fighters like you do other athletes in different sports...

 

Edited December 20, 2011 by JSamson7

[Freestyle4life]

Possible, but not likely anytime soon. The general public still has many misconceptions about mixed martial arts, such as it being "no holds barred", or just cage fighting. Also, it is difficult enough to have the sport sanctioned by athletic commissions for professionals, so I do not see them allowing it for high school athletes. Besides the fact that it would probably not get sanctioned, there would probably not be enough participants. Wrestling is the closest sport to mixed martial arts, and it is lucky to have half the participation levels that a sport such as football has. There are too many mommies and daddies that would not be in favor of seeing a high school students arm broken because he was too proud to tap out in front of his girlfriend. It would be cool, though.

[JSamson7]

Possible, but not likely anytime soon. The general public still has many misconceptions about mixed martial arts, such as it being "no holds barred", or just cage fighting. Also, it is difficult enough to have the sport sanctioned by athletic commissions for professionals, so I do not see them allowing it for high school athletes. Besides the fact that it would probably not get sanctioned, there would probably not be enough participants. Wrestling is the closest sport to mixed martial arts, and it is lucky to have half the participation levels that a sport such as football has. There are too many mommies and daddies that would not be in favor of seeing a high school students arm broken because he was too proud to tap out in front of his girlfriend. It would be cool, though.

 

It would be very cool. I didn't think about the breaking limbs part, but I did factor in if a head gear would affect chokes at all. I know there are different grappling tournaments out there that are run like a wrestling tournament. I've never been to one, but I would be interested to see what kind of rules they have in place.

 

It would be interesting to see a dual meet too if MMA was a part of high school sports. There was one fight federation that had actual team competitions like dual meets, but I can't remember the name of the league...

 

Edited December 20, 2011 by JSamson7

[Freestyle4life]

It would be very cool. I didn't think about the breaking limbs part, but I did factor in if a head gear would affect chokes at all. Would be interesting to see a dual meet too if MMA was a part of high school sports...

 

 

I think it would be cool if boxing, kickboxing, and jj were high school sports also

[lamer189]

It would be very cool. I didn't think about the breaking limbs part, but I did factor in if a head gear would affect chokes at all. Would be interesting to see a dual meet too if MMA was a part of high school sports...

 

as long as the use wrestling mats with the same limits such as reseting in the guard when they go out or off the mat. Refs would still have to stop the "match" to ensure the safety but to score would be hard to decide on what deserves what and having multiple judges that know criteria wil take time to develop. BUT it can be done. as for participation... there are more kids willing to choke someone out that to wrestle..

[Freestyle4life]

as long as the use wrestling mats with the same limits such as reseting in the guard when they go out or off the mat. Refs would still have to stop the "match" to ensure the safety but to score would be hard to decide on what deserves what and having multiple judges that know criteria wil take time to develop. BUT it can be done. as for participation... there are more kids willing to choke someone out that to wrestle..

 

I also forgot judging... that is a huge enough issue in professional mma. MMA needs to keep developing before we see it in high school.

[coachknepper]

It would be very unwise to have a school-sponsored MMA team.

 

Here are just some of the reasons:

 

1) Coaching Knowledge...the reason that there are MMA centers is because "mixed martial arts" dictates having knowledge in mutliple martial arts, such as jij-jitsu, muay thai, tae-kwon do, wrestling, etc... We would be ill-advised to have some teacher step up to be High School X's MMA Coach.

 

2) The liability would be insane. The first time (as someone earlier stated) Jimmy decides he is too manly to tap out from a Kimura and his forearm snaps in half, the school would be sued and rightly so.

 

3) Learning MMA requires a level of respect and honor, which unfortunately is often-times not taught in high school sports, which coupled with #1 and #2 is a very dangerous mixture.

 

4) High School sponsored MMA would decimate high school wrestling, not support it. Wrestling should be used as a gateway to MMA, as most of the top MMA fighters either have their first "martial art" as wrestling, jiu-jitsu, or boxing. Learning the fundamentals of wrestling lays the foundation for smoother transition into other fighting styles and allows individuals to protect themselves more readily. If MMA was offered as an alternative many young boys would turn to it INSTEAD of wrestling because they see how "cool" it is on television, not realizing that those guys are on television because they first learned how to control their craft on the wrestling mat.

Edited December 20, 2011 by coachknepper

[JSamson7]

It would be very unwise to have a school-sponsored MMA team.

 

Here are just some of the reasons:

 

1) Coaching Knowledge...the reason that there are MMA centers is because "mixed martial arts" dictates having knowledge in mutliple martial arts, such as jij-jitsu, muay thai, tae-kwon do, wrestling, etc... We would be ill-advised to have some teacher step up to be High School X's MMA Coach.

 

2) The liability would be insane. The first time (as someone earlier stated) Jimmy decides he is too manly to tap out from a Kimura and his forearm snaps in half, the school would be sued and rightly so.

 

3) Learning MMA requires a level of respect and honor, which unfortunately is often-times not taught in high school sports, which coupled with #1 and #2 is a very dangerous mixture.

 

4) High School sponsored MMA would decimate high school wrestling, not support it. Wrestling should be used as a gateway to MMA, as most of the top MMA fighters either have their first "martial art" as wrestling, jiu-jitsu, or boxing. Learning the fundamentals of wrestling lays the foundation for smoother transition into other fighting styles and allows individuals to protect themselves more readily. If MMA was offered as an alternative many young boys would turn to it INSTEAD of wrestling because they see how "cool" it is on television, not realizing that those guys are on television because they first learned how to control their craft on the wrestling mat.

 

Good points.. I'll always chose wrestling over MMA b/c it was/has been my 1st love so to speak. It does offer the best base from which to work with in MMA, but I think all kids should try to learn as many disciplines as they can.

 

Like a lot kids I took karate (Isshin-ryū to be exact) early & didn't get into wrestling until later in school. Wrestling taught me better body control & how to use it in other sports (football, soccer). Striking is a different animal, but learning how to strike & having wrestling skills is much easier that knowing how to strike & learning wrestling skills. No question

[trickk]

Submission grappling would be probably as close to mma as you will ever get. As a sanctioned USA Grappling Club and one of only a VERY few in all of the 5 state SE Region I have ran a Submission Grappling HS tournament. It is sanctioned under FILA World rules and it relatively safe. They do not allow any neck wrenches, small joint manipulation as well as knee bar or ankle locks. They want to protect HS kids from long term damage to any critical joint (mainly the neck). As of now under the USA Grappling (USAW)you can run submission grappling tournaments all the way down to 7 years old. There are a number of subgrap orgs out there running tournament (abudabi-NAGA, etc) that are running tournaments but they all have different rules and interpretation. FILA is unifying rules on a global level to have a unified set of rules that no matter where you grapple in the world everyone is participating in events with the same rules and scoring.

 

This system could be used in HS and I would support it. I would however have to not support full MMA. Part of the training regiment for MMA requires strong maturity and the ability to spar in controlled sparring scenarios and HS kids for the most part don't posses this ability.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Coach Trick

Lions Pride Grappling

[JSamson7]

Submission grappling would be probably as close to mma as you will ever get. As a sanctioned USA Grappling Club and one of only a VERY few in all of the 5 state SE Region I have ran a Submission Grappling HS tournament. It is sanctioned under FILA World rules and it relatively safe. They do not allow any neck wrenches, small joint manipulation as well as knee bar or ankle locks. They want to protect HS kids from long term damage to any critical joint (mainly the neck). As of now under the USA Grappling (USAW)you can run submission grappling tournaments all the way down to 7 years old. There are a number of subgrap orgs out there running tournament (abudabi-NAGA, etc) that are running tournaments but they all have different rules and interpretation. FILA is unifying rules on a global level to have a unified set of rules that no matter where you grapple in the world everyone is participating in events with the same rules and scoring.

 

This system could be used in HS and I would support it. I would however have to not support full MMA. Part of the training regiment for MMA requires strong maturity and the ability to spar in controlled sparring scenarios and HS kids for the most part don't posses this ability.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Coach Trick

Lions Pride Grappling

 

Now that's the type of feedback I'm talking about. I knew there were tournaments like the one you mentioned, but I didn't know anyting else about them. Before the Frank Mir-Roy Nelson fight in UFC a few months ago, they showed footage of the 2 squaring off in a grappling match with Nelson coming out on top. Obviously it was different in the UFC bout.

[Freestyle4life]

Submission grappling would be cool. ADCC rules would be more interesting, but wouldnt happen because it is dangerous with high schoolers, I guess.

[Manchester]

NAGA just held a submission wrestling/BJJ meet in Nashville. I saw a number of HS wrestlers competing. It as almost as safe as wrestling for HS athletes.

 

MMA is different. Getting punched in the face while trying to set up a wrestling move changes the equation drastically. Also, some of the injuries, cuts, and broken bones would be unacceptable to parents. I personally don't think MMA is a sport for minors. There's plenty of time after they turn 18 if they are interested.