Jump to content

Full contact youth fights: Are helmets necessary to protect the brain? Should kids kick each other with full force in the stomach or should they wear body protectors?


Recommended Posts

Full contact thaiboxing fights can be brutal. Face injuries happen very often, brain injuries are possible. Kicks, knees and punches to the body are pretty hard.

Maybe in thaiboxing youth fights helmets should be mandatory. Some people argue that body protectors should also be mandatory.


On the other hand kicks to the legs and in the midsection usually don't cause injuries. For example in one thai fight, a 12 year old boy could hardly walk after he took some low kicks. Then his opponent started to work on his midsection. He punched and kicked the boy in the gut a few times, clinched him and rammed a series of knees in his midsection until he went down. He came back on his feet in time and his opponent instantly attacked his stomach again with knees. After a punch to the head the kid stood half knocked out in the ring corner with the back to the pole, and his opponent kicked him 8 times with full force in the stomach, the kid just tightend his rock hard sixpack abs and endured 8 kicks until he went down. After a massage he went back on his feet and smiled again. Tough fight - no injury.


In kyokushin karate boys punch each other in the stomachs without gloves and in mma and thaiboxing kicks and knees to the midsection are without protection anyway. With good training and hard abs boys and even some girls can endure many hard punches in the stomach, so thats no problem.


In northern Thailand they had youth fights with helmets and without gloves. I would say the fights were more aggressive, because the heads were protected and the boys didn`t mind to take punches in their tummys. Sometimes they don`t even try protect their stomachs, they just tighten their abs and punch and knee each others midsections.


So in my opinion the main danger in full contact youth fights are brain damages and face injuries aren't good either. So helmets or fights without strikes to the head are good in youth fights. But punches, kicks and knees to the body are no problem and wearing body protection would be exaggerated. MMA and Thaiboxing should be tough, but not with lasting damages.


What is your opinion and experience about full contact youth fights and protective gear?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Not an expert, no experience at all but I think helmets protect against cuts and bruises but do nothing to protect the the brain. In my opinion the larger target and increased mass may even make things worse.

Edited by jpmoral
spelling
  • Like 1
  • Nak Muay 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Most Recent Topics

  • Latest Comments

    • ONE didn't invent giving bonuses on top of fight pay in Thailand. In fact it took a long tradition of gamblers providing injections during fights to inspire fighters. When you hear about traditional fight pay you are missing out on the "injection" bonuses which can be substantial. Here today a fighter winning 500,000 injection bonus ($15,000+ USD) and being guided into the stands to thank the gamblers (who are often portrayed in simplistic caricatured ways). It's an ecosystem out of balance, but its still an ecosystem, in which parts support parts. Instead in ONE this bonus tradition has been transferred to only ONE big boss, being handed out on the preference of a single man, who is attempting to steer the aesthetic of Muay Thai itself...away from tradition.  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=791304983340912&rdid=mUWvMklDzJ4i3xa6  
    • Watched this fight yesterday, and was really moved by Devy. Looking back at Bill's skills he's everything Entertainment Muay Thai dreams of for a fighter, mixing combinations with Thai techniques, eyes and timing. Beautiful stuff. But Devy is incredible...in such a subtle way. He's like: I'm take your pyrotechniques and just hold position and cover, then move the set, take, hold blast a lowkick to your back thigh. It's like watching a chef cook a masterpiece with 3 ingredients. It really doesn't matter who won this fight, its up over 150 lbs, its the art of this cloistered, minimalist fighting, and his shrug-offs of the aggression and attempts to intimidate. Bill probably the most skilled Western fighter in history, but something deeper and older going on here with Devy. Something that is almost painful to receive beamed across the decades to here and now, as everyone is trying to push Muay Thai into Entertainment and Westernization, Globalization.   
    • Saenchai with another KO win on Entertainment Thai Fight. He's the last magical fighter of Thailand, that last of Thailand's greatness, and we are all blessed as he continues in the ring. I don't watch it much (or any of Thai Fight), but still consider it a blessing. When he stops it will all be gone, even though this is kind of half-fighting, and surely he'll do show fights after his retirement. What I love about this photo - and the first thing is that it suddenly feels like Saenchai has aged, and this happens - but what I love about this photo is that you can see his "coal eyes", which is what I call them. There was an old trainer at Lanna named Nok, who when you trained with him his eyes, if you got any advantage or edge, would just turn black. You could see, he just went into that state. And you knew, stop fucking around. Saenchai has always had such a joyful, playful visage, and a charm of handsomeness that he carried everywhere, even into intense battles. But every great, experienced fighter, even Saenchai, has "coal eyes" inside of him, they have to or they couldn't do it the way that they have. And, in my poetic view, it feels like in this slightly aged photo you can see his coal eyes come out. And its really beautiful. 
  • The Latest From Open Topics Forum

    • Hi all, Does anyone know of any suppliers for blanks (Plain items to design and print a logo on) that are a good quality? Or put me in the right direction? thanks all  
    • The first fight between Poot Lorlek and Posai Sittiboonlert was recently uploaded to youtube. Posai is one of the earliest great Muay Khao fighters and influential to Dieselnoi, but there's very little footage of him. Poot is one of the GOATs and one of Posai's best wins, it's really cool to see how Posai's style looked against another elite fighter.
    • Yeah, this is certainly possible. Thanks! I just like the idea of a training camp pre-fight because of focus and getting more "locked in".. Do you know of any high level gyms in europe you would recommend? 
    • You could just pick a high-level gym in a European city, just live and train there for however long you want (a month?). Lots of gyms have morning and evening classes.
    • Hi, i have a general question concerning Muay-Thai training camps, are there any serious ones in Europe at all? I know there are some for kickboxing in the Netherlands, but that's not interesting to me or what i aim for. I have found some regarding Muay-Thai in google searches, but what iv'e found seem to be only "retreats" with Muay-Thai on a level compareable to fitness-boxing, yoga or mindfullness.. So what i look for, but can't seem to find anywhere, are camps similar to those in Thailand. Grueling, high-intensity workouts with trainers who have actually fought and don't just do this as a hobby/fitness regime. A place where you can actually grow, improve technique and build strength and gas-tank with high intensity, not a vacation... No hate whatsoever to those who do fitness-boxing and attend retreats like these, i just find it VERY ODD that there ain't any training camps like those in Thailand out there, or perhaps i haven't looked good enough?..  Appericiate all responses, thank you! 
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      1.4k
    • Total Posts
      11.5k
×
×
  • Create New...