MMA in High Schools

The Founder of the MMA Club

In today’s NY Times, Mixed Martial Arts Makes Its Way to High School.  The guy pictured above, Mr. In-Goo Kwak, founded an MMA club at his high school in Winchester, Massachusetts, where students practice MMA, the style of fighting which has been popularized in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.  According to Mr. Kwak, ”one of his goals with the program was to offer something to students who were not ‘the jocks who dominate the sports.’”  However, there are refugees from other sports including football and wrestling.

I’m somewhat ambivalent about this.  I think it’s great that kids are getting into shape, but at the same time, I wonder if this could have bad consequences for high school kids, who often still get into fist-fights.  Hardly anyone these days has a problem with kids studying traditional karate or kung-fu, but this one is a little different since practice resembles real fighting. 

One thing that makes me more comfortable is that the kids are not allowed to hit each other.   If you take that out, the sport becomes much less violent.  You still have the armbars and chokes, but at least it becomes more of a sport rather than a means of starting fights.  I’d be interested to see the evolution of the sport and how it melds with American culture as the years go by.  My son and daughter are still years away from high school, but I wonder if it will become more a part of American culture by that time.

(I put Mr. Kwak front and center because although his voice in on the cool NY Times video feature, he doesn’t get a lot of visual time…)

Related posts:

1. Race and Specialized NY High Schools
2. PUA Schools and the Quest for Liberation
3. Taking Aim at Tenure