MARTIAL

ARTSB Y C L E M E N T N I K A C H I

BEST AGE FORCH I LDREN TO

BEG IN

It is not unusual to comeacross parents that

encompass a love for MartialArts and wish for theirchildren to be trained assoon as possible. The mostprominent question is thespecific age at whichchildren should initially

begin to train.

The problem is, the ability toachieve a high level ofsuccess in the field ofMartial Arts is does not

entirely connected with theage or how many years anindividual has trained. Let’suse Bruce Lee for example.

Bruce Lee is one of the mosthighly recognized and well-known martial artist to evergrace the martial arts worldand he only began training

at the age of 13.

Then there was thelegendary Cynthia Rothrockwho also began training atage 13. Rothrock possessesBlack Belts in Northern

Shaolin, Tang Soo Do, EagleClaw, and Wu Shu.

In addition, there is MichelleYeoh, known from CrouchingTiger Hidden Dragon andJames Bond TomorrowNever Dies, who had not

begun training until the ageof 22.

The infamous Chuck Norrisdid not begin training untilhe was a little older than 18

and Jean Claude VanDamme didn’t train until hewas nearly 12 years old.

The most impressiveconnection to the age in

which children should beginmartial arts training is to thefounder of Taekwon-Do, ChoiHong-Hi. Choi Hong-Hi wasnearly 20 years old when hefirst learned of martial arts.

While there is not empiricalevidence to prove that a

certain age is recommendedfor every child, there are

studies that emphasis whichages are reasonable for

children as a whole.Evidenceshows most of the greatestmartial artists we have ever

seen were above the age of 11.

Nonetheless, many other greatartist did get an early start.Jackie Chan was 7 when hebegan martial arts. Jet Li wasnearly 8 years old an StevenSegal was between 6 and 7

when he started.

In summation, the beginningages of the legendary martialartist that we know and lovebegan training between theages of 6 to 22. There is noparticular age that will

guarantee your child’s successmartial arts.

However, like any otherphysical activity, it’s worth

giving it a try. Who knows, yourkid might be the next Chuck

Norris.