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From: Morten Jensen [SMTP:mortenje@ifi.uio.no]: Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 15:19:41 -0600; Subject: children and sparring
Message-ID: <01BE55D2.0653C940.jtx3@mcmsys.com>
From: John and Jean Tompkins 
To: "'gtf-talk@more.net'" 
Subject: RE: children and sparring
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 15:19:41 -0600
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-----Original Message-----
From:	Morten Jensen [SMTP:mortenje@ifi.uio.no]
Sent:	Wednesday, February 10, 1999 12:10 PM
To:	GTF Talk
Subject:	children and sparring

I just read the announcement of the Gateway International Championships,
and it made me wonder........

I read the webpages about the championship, and I
noticed they arrange sparring competitions for children. Now, I'm not from
the USA, and the thought of young kids, from the age 10 and below,
sparring is alien to me.

Are you actually sending kids with foamed protection equipment into the
"ring"?

I might be ignorent to what kind of sparring rules you apply in the
states, but I'm wondering, are my presumptions correct?

In either case, could someone explain to me the philosophy behind such
practise, considering I'm not an american  :)


--
Morten Jensen - mortenje@ifi.uio.no

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~	
	Viam inveniam aut faciam.
	IRC: irc.thule.no, #asker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Morton,
In regards to your e-mail message about children sparring I would like to 
enlighten you on some key differences between sparring for children in the 
USA and what I see happening in European and other countries.
I realize that Norway does not allow competition for children in the age 
groups that you are referring to and for good reason in light of the kind 
of rules and contact that I have witnessed in the WTF, ITF and GTF outside 
of the USA.
Our referees for children divisions are all very experienced and run the 
rings in such a way that the students will not flail, hit hard or lose 
control of their temper.
I have been in the martial arts for 36 years and can tell you from first 
hand knowledge that foam gear was originally designed to protect the small 
bones of the hands and feet. Unfortunately time, less than qualified 
instructors and a determination to win at any cost has clouded and obscured 
the original intent of the use of foam gear.
We in the GTF who reside in the USA provide sparring competition 
Competition in a very highly structured environment which includes no 
contact to the face and stresses sportsmanship, friendly competition and an 
extension of the classroom situation.  If one of our young children were 
ever injured, it would be more unlikely to occur than in soccer competition 
which I find quite dangerous and brutal for children.
The reasons we have tournaments
Students learn to succeed in difficult situations.
The student learn to trust the skills they have trained with.
The student learns that even when every one is trying to be fair, mistakes 
in judging and administrative affairs do occur. This gives the student a 
chance to practice tolerance and develop a spirit of persevering even in 
the face of insurmountable odds.
The students learn to win with dignity and lose with grace.
The students can model on the best talent available.
The students gain friends and training peers.
The above passage, taken from our invitation from the Gateway 
International, is burned into the brain of every one of our referees.  We 
put foam gear on our children to protect their growing bones from 
unforeseen accidents and give them an element of self confidence as they 
demonstrate their Martial Arts skills in a competitive free sparring 
environment.
Sincerely Yours,
Master John Tompkins
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