Teenagers and Combat Sports – Are you challenging the social norms?

Life is all about creating opportunities and seizing opportunities, it's about making the most of them and furthering your own personal goals and ambitions. In the last edition of Irish Fighter I wrote about goal setting in the martial arts, this time let's look at the possibilities and opportunities available to the youth through combat sports and why only a few will actually step up the plate and dedicate themselves to a life of training and sacrifice.

Good coaches create opportunities for their athletes and students. Over the years I have created many opportunities for fighters at my club, whether that's through affiliation to accredited sporting organisations that host credible international tournaments or whether it's instilling in them the confidence to be the best that they can be through tried and tested physical and mental training methods. With this approach I can boast about some of my junior competitors that have gone on to win major international titles in the sport of Kickboxing (WAKO) and Taekwon-Do (ITF).

The opportunities are endless for competitors and coaches with the right approach but these opportunities are not easily taken nor understood by the majority of juniors or in particular teenagers that are involved in combat sports. For the many juniors training at clubs across the island, the majority will only ever achieve mediocrity. A small few will do what it takes to seize opportunities and sacrifice the mediocre lifestyle that comes with the teenage years in order to be world class athletes.

This article is not about bashing our teens over the head and labeling them all as mediocre, it is a critical look at society, parenting and some of the reasons why the majority of teenagers opt for the easy life over those that choose to be different. Those that choose combat sports as a way of life.

The inspiration for this article comes from a recent opportunity I had to bring current female WAKO full contact world champion (-52kg's) Monika Markowska over from Jersey to conduct a training seminar for my guys at Red Star Kickboxing. I had only ever known Monika by her title, world champion, it was through the power of social networking that I got a closer look at this phenomenal athlete. Her dedication to her sport knows no boundaries. During a talk that she gave to some of the children at Red Star she spoke about her own training regime which starts at 6.30am EVERY morning, regardless of seasonal changes. After her early morning workout she goes to work as an accountant, after work she trains again. She only gets the best out of her training by sparring men who hit her hard and make her work. She left the children at my club in complete awe of her dedication and through that, her achievements in the ring. Whether she realises it or not she has already inspired a huge number of juniors to try achieve what she has to this date.

There is no doubt that from that group of children, many will try hard to achieve world class status within combat sports. The law of averages tells us that some will be successful, while the majority will succumb to 'normality' and mediocracy when society beats the will out of them while the fight to 'fit in' takes over instead.

Monika's success story started when she was a child. Her parents had her involved in sports from a young age. She started ITF Taekwon-Do in Poland as a child and from there her career blossomed. Parents play a huge part in the development of world champions, they also play a huge part in the huge swathe of young people who amount to nothing, whether that is academic under achievement or sporting under achievement. The roots of all dedicated sports athletes are planted firmly in the home where the parents and or guardians create early opportunities for their children to become active in sports and coupled with this they nourish and guide the young athlete on their journey.

Unfortunately some parents only see sports clubs and martial arts academies as child minding services. Some parents really couldn't care whether the club their child is involved in actually plays tiddly winks or Scrabble as long as they have a free hour to do whatever they have to do. In this case the parents completely miss any opportunities the child may have in any such progressive clubs. The child therefore loses out on the support and encouragement at home and in many cases will leave the training, especially if the parent has other things to do. These situations are in many cases truly tragic and frustrating to coaches who are dedicated to their members.

On the other hand however, there are many parents who are completely dedicated to their children's progression in combat sports. They ensure that their child is encouraged and guided. Of course there are times when the child may not want to go to training, it is the guiding hand of a sensible parent that encourages the child to attend and nourishes enthusiasm in them to progress.

It is at this young age that the junior world champion is created. At this young age and at home. It is only when the child turns into a teenager that this progressive parenting and indeed progressive coaching leads to a mindset of dedication and commitment which leads to a sense of self confidence and from there all goals are achievable.

Teenagers however do face huge challenges in staying fully committed to the tough and sometimes lonely life of being a high level athlete.

The biggest challenge to this is fitting in socially.

Top heavy socialising along side the need to create a persona that in some way helps them to become accepted by peers is the single biggest obstacle to sporting achievement along side just dog laziness, in my experience of coaching teenagers that is.

For me, it boils down to simple choices. The choice between training and going to the pub. The choice between getting up at 6.30am to do a 6Km run or to stay in bed for the morning. The choice between attending that tournament or pretending you're injured so you can't attend. It's the simple choice between dedication and mediocrity. The dedicated are hard to find, the mediocre are every where, best found falling out of pubs in the early hours and hiding behind the idiotic questions on the Ask.FM website.

For every hundred juniors that choose a life of under achievement, there is one junior who rebels against the social norms. For every hundred juniors that couldn't be bothered to be active in life, there is that one junior who dedicates themselves to something positive and worthwhile. When that one mediocre individual is staring down the end of their pint glass there is another champion in the making that is studying opponents, organising and planning their next training session. For every excuse maker there is that one achiever.

Those juniors that take opportunities and dedicate themselves to a life in combat sports deserve all the recognition and support they can get. They are the dream makers, they are the future of everything we do as coaches in this field. To have a junior member or members of your club that strive to be the greatest they can be is truly rewarding. To see them relish in the opportunities created for them is one of the most inspiring things a coach can enjoy. These guys are a rarity in today's society. Coaches worth their salt will continue to create opportunities for these junior athletes and champions of the future.

To all those kids who sacrifice the night club in favour of the their martial arts club - I bow down, to all those kids who step away from the crowd and mediocrity and work towards sporting achievement in the martial arts, the world is your oyster.