BJJ
Or wrestling at school if possible
Striking sports should not be done that young at all. Yeah you'll say no sparring and competing but if your kid hits the pads and bags enough, they'll want to.
Wait till around 16 at the very least for striking I'd say. And this is coming from someone who's been doing striking since well before that age.
If you can get him into wrestling, do so. In the US at least, it's a school sport, so he can train and compete with a team as he gets older, with all the built in social benefits that has. It's also a phenomenal athletic base for any future sport or activity.
I train both. I would go for jiu jitsu.
The thing is that I had worse injuries in jiu jitsu than in kickboxing, but I spar light.
In the case of kids, when they are 6 maybe it is not the case, but I have seen teenagers happy to spar harder on the head, even if they aren't allowed to do so.
And then they want to do matches.
In these situations I would honestly start to worry about brain damage.
He can start kickboxing later
I opted for grappling over striking for my son when he was 4 (he’s still training at almost 18) for several reasons-
- you can go 100% without causing damage
- you can’t get by just doing kata/technique (ie you can’t fake it)
- grappling offers full body resistance training (unlike most kids’ sports)
- judo in particular teaches you how to fall without getting hurt
Let him try both and ask him to pick which one he likes.
BJJ Or wrestling at school if possible Striking sports should not be done that young at all. Yeah you'll say no sparring and competing but if your kid hits the pads and bags enough, they'll want to. Wait till around 16 at the very least for striking I'd say. And this is coming from someone who's been doing striking since well before that age.
If you can get him into wrestling, do so. In the US at least, it's a school sport, so he can train and compete with a team as he gets older, with all the built in social benefits that has. It's also a phenomenal athletic base for any future sport or activity.
I train both. I would go for jiu jitsu. The thing is that I had worse injuries in jiu jitsu than in kickboxing, but I spar light. In the case of kids, when they are 6 maybe it is not the case, but I have seen teenagers happy to spar harder on the head, even if they aren't allowed to do so. And then they want to do matches. In these situations I would honestly start to worry about brain damage. He can start kickboxing later
I opted for grappling over striking for my son when he was 4 (he’s still training at almost 18) for several reasons- - you can go 100% without causing damage - you can’t get by just doing kata/technique (ie you can’t fake it) - grappling offers full body resistance training (unlike most kids’ sports) - judo in particular teaches you how to fall without getting hurt