Professional boxing is a dangerous sport. It can cause severe brain cell loss and other horrible things. However, amateur boxing is actually one of the safest amateur sports. It is also a sport that children should be encouraged to take up for a number of reasons.
First, boxing increases muscle mass while decreasing fat. It will tone the body and encourages a lot of cardiovascular activity. This will decrease the child’s risk for heart disease later in life. It also involves weight training and constant endurance training. This is overall excellent for a child’s health.
Also, boxing will teach self-discipline to a child. You must discipline your body and mind in preparation for an upcoming match because you know the other person could be training harder and longer. It will give the child a sense of responsibility to his coaches and peers that cannot be taught in video games or TV.
Boxing will also get the child off the couch. Too many children these days sit around watching TV and playing video games for five or six hours a day. This is damaging to their physical health and their mental health. Their vision, which boxing can sharpen, can be impaired. They could get obese. They will become spoiled because there are no time limits or rules set on the TV. Boxing will allow them to get up and go learn something new while exercising.
Boxing will sharpen the child’s reflexes. Reflexes are very important to the body, and are used in a variety of ways. Sluggish reflexes that develop from too much time in front of the TV are done away with in boxing.
Boxing will allow a child to make new friends. Bonds are made in boxing that go farther than just friendship. You have sweated and bled with another person, and trained harder than any other sport. This goes way beyond friendship. It fastens a bond of brotherhood that no one can break.
Boxing is the best form of exercise there is. Boxers train harder than any other sport. They exercise all the way from the bottom of the feet to the top of the neck. A boxer can spend several hours a day, for 4-7 days per week training. This training includes sit-ups and push-ups, as well as boxing into the air for speed, punching the bag for power, punching a speed bag for speed, weight training, running, swimming, and many other exercises.
Boxing will teach a child self-defense. Self-defense is a very necessary art. I encourage children to stand up to bullies at their school, but most don’t know how. Self-defense is quite necessary if a child is struck by a bully. Generally, one strike and a bloody nose later, the child may be in trouble, but the bully has learned his lesson. I look back and regret some of the bullies that I never taught their lesson because I didn’t know how. Generally, parents think that boxing is unsafe. Under USA Boxing, your child will be perfectly safe. These training areas are free of charge, and each coach/trainer/referee is licensed by USA Boxing. Protective helmets are worn. Generally, the bouts do not end in a knockout. USA Boxing takes strict safety precautions. Each referee is trained to stop the fight at any sign of serious bleeding or inability to intelligently defend. Amateur boxing actually has one of the lowest fatality rates of any amateur sports. For those that are wondering, equestrian is actually the highest. As you can see, there are quite a few reasons to let your child take up boxing, and not very many reasons to hold them back.
