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CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN MARTIAL ARTS : CURRENT RESEARCH

(JORRESCAM 2002)

Willy Picter - Department of Physical Education, University of Asia and the Pacific, PasigCity, MM, Philippines

Abstract
Even though numerous children and youth participate in martial arts, scientific research on this age group is lacking. The current review will highlight research that has been conducted in the West on young martial arts practitioners. The martial arts covered include wushu, judo, karate and taekwondo. Research on young wushu practitioners has mainly been conducted with the aim to assess the reasons for participation. Physiological indicators were at the basis of research in judo, karate and taekwondo, while epidemiological studies on competition injuries have been done in all martial arts covered.

Keywords: young athletes, wushu, judo, karate, taekwondo
Kind of paper: Conferenciers invitees Technical support: PowerPoint 2000

Address:
Willy Pieter, Ph.D.
University and Asia and the Pacific
Department of Physical Education
Pearl Drive
Ortigas Center
Pasig City, MM
Philippines
E-mail: YShin51698@aol.com

_____________________________________

 

CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN MARTIAL ARTS: CURRENT RESEARCH

Introduction
The number of participants in youth sports in general has increased tremendously over the past several decades in various countries (e.g., Berryman, 1988). This increase in participation of young athletes is also evident in martial arts having been introduced in schools across the world (e.g., Theeboom and van Stiphout, 1993). The purpose of this study was to highlight recent developments in scientific research on young practitioners in martial arts.

Wushu
Only a handful of studies could be located on wushu in young practitioners. Theeboom et al.
(2000) studied the experiences of young martial artists from judo, karate, taekwondo, aikido, wrestling, kickboxing, wushu and boxing. In addition to participation motives, experiences with training sessions, trainers and competition were investigated. The youngsters reported to embark on any of the martial arts pretty much the same as they would on any other sport. Interestingly, self-defense is not the main reason for choosing a martial art. Enjoyment in sport and being with friends are considered more important.
Children between 8-12 years were studied to assess the effects of a performance versus a mastery oriented approach to teaching wushu on enjoyment, perceived competence, skill development and intrinsic motivation (Theeboom et al., 1995). Those in the mastery group reported more enjoyment and showed better skill development. The authors concluded that the mastery model would lead to a
more positive experience of wushu.

Westerhof et al. (1995) found young (6-15 years) girl wushu athletes to incur more injuries (200.00/1,000 athlete-exposures) than the boys (96.49/1,000 athlete-exposures). The contusion was the most often occurring injury type in both boys and girls. The major injury mechanism was receiving a front kick in the boys and receiving a side kick in the girls. Due to the preliminary nature of the investigation, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn.

Judo
Little (1991) investigated Junior and Senior male and female judo athletes and found no differences in absolute and relative (to body weight) peak and mean power of the upper body between young and adult female judoka. The Junior women were younger (15.48 ± 0.73 years) than their adult colleagues (19.60 ± 2.59 years). The Juvenile men (14.71 ± 0.86 years) scored lower in absolute and relative upper body peak and mean power than the Junior (17.29 ± 0.85 years) athletes. On the other hand. Junior men were similar to their Senior (25.95 ± 5.29 years) counterparts in relation to the above indices of short-term muscle power in both absolute and relative terms. Australian competitive male Junior judo athletes (< 20 years) scored lower than their Senior counterparts (> 20 years) in relative peak power during a 10-second bicycle test for the lower body: 15.9 W/kg versus 18.0 W/kg (Tumilty, Hahn and Telford, 1986). The authors concluded that the phosphagen energy system was better developed in the older judoka.

There was no difference in V02 max between Junior (45.09 + 3.68 ml/kg/min) and Senior women judoka (43.72 + 3.51 ml/kg/min) (Little, 1991). However, there were differences in max VO2 between Juvenile (57.62 ± 3.42 ml/kg/min) and Senior males (53.75 ± 5.57 ml/kg/min), as well as between Junior (59.26 + 3.95 ml/kg/min) and Senior male judoka (Little, 1991). The authors suggested that technical skill may be more important than physiological markers in female judoka when progressing from the junior to the senior level. The Juvenile males were considered to be progressing as expected towards the Junior and Senior levels.
James and Pieter (1999) studied injuries in young judoka competing in a Junior national championship. The girls (52.1/1,000 athlete-exposures) sustained more injuries than the boys (39.8/1,000 athlete-exposures). The boys incurred most injuries to the head and neck region (16.2/1,000 athlete-exposures) and the girls to the upper extremities (19.7/1,000 athlete-exposures), but the differences among body regions were not significant. The most common injury type in the boys was the strain (9.6/1,000 athlete-exposures) and in the girls, the contusion (18.5/1,000 athlete-exposures). The major injury mechanism in the boys was receiving a throw (13.3/1,000 athlete- exposures) and in the girls, ground work (12.7/1,000 athlete-exposures). Total injury rates in this sample are among the lowest in junior martial arts athletes.

Karate
Research on young karatéka is scarce. Violan et al. (1997) found young (10.2 ± 2.0 years) boys increased in absolute concentric isokinetic force at 60°/sec after 6 months of karate training (191,8 + 99.0 N and 214.0 + 89.2 N during the pre- and posttest, respectively), but this was not different from that of a control group (10.9 + 1.4 years) during the posttest, who decreased in strength from 278.0 + 18.0 N to 264.3 + 118.2 N. The control group was stronger during the pretest, however. Unfortunately, the authors did not express strength in relative terms. Since the control group was taller and heavier, comparing relative isokinetic force would have been more meaningful.

One of the few other studies using young karateka was conducted by Pieter (1998), who investigated competition injuries in 7-15-year-old boys and girls. The total injury rate for the girls (115.11/1,000 athlete-exposures) was slightly higher than that for the boys (99.74/1,000 athlete-exposures). No differences were found in injury rates among body regions within sex, although the head/neck (52.49/1,000 athlete-exposures for the boys and 50.36/1,000 athlete-exposures for the girls) incurred most of the injuries. For both sexes, the contusion was the most often occurring injury type and simultaneous straight punches the major injury mechanism.

Taekwondo
Most of the research on children and youth in taekwondo is done by our team. For instance, previous research on young taekwondo athletes showed boys (353.79 ± 35.11 N) to kick more forcefully than girls (302.13 ± 44.19 N) when performing the basic roundhouse kick (Moloney et al., 1997). It was suggested that this difference may be related to a higher lean body mass in boys. However, subsequent research failed to show adequate control for either body mass or lean body mass using ratio standards and allometric scaling (Pieter, Moloney, et al., 2002). Heijmans and Pieter (2000) found thigh girth to account for 22.0% (SEE = 0.075) of the variance in force in boys, while lean thigh girth explained 24.1% (SEE = 0.074). Neither variable accounted for any of the variance in force in the girls. The authors suggested future research should include more anthropometric determinants as well as strength measures when investigating kick force in taekwondo boys and girls.

Young Jordanian boy taekwondo-in (13.8 ± 2.2 years) recorded an increase in peak anaerobic power from 422.0 + 87.6 W to 541.1 + 95.6 W after an 8-week p'umse (forms) training of 3 days/week (Melhim, 2001). Bercades et al. (1995) investigated short-term muscle power in taekwondo boys and girls, who were divided into pre- (boys: 13.26 + 0.14 years, girls: 12.46 + 0.11 years) and postpubertal (boys: 16.26 + 0.14 years, girls: 15.42 + 0.19 years) sub-groups. The postpubertal (boys: 705.90 + 20.73SE W, girls: 477.93 + 14.73SE W) groups scored higher in peak power compared to their prepubertal (boys: 504.14 ± 24.74SE W, girls: 392.24 + 24. USE W) counterparts. Bar-Or (1989) suggested the following factors to play a role in the lower peak and mean power of prepubertal children compared to their older counterparts: a lower muscle mass, lower activity of phosphofructokinase (PFK) and a seemingly lesser need for young children to rely on their anaerobic metabolism.

The girls (462.06 + 13.52SE W) had lower peak power than the boys (642.19 + 19.40SE W). When peak power was expressed relative to body weight and lean body mass (LBM), the boys again recorded a higher value for relative peak power. When collapsed over gender, the prepubertal taekwondo athletes had a lower average power than their postpubertal colleagues. Collapsing over maturity status, the boys had a higher average power than the girls. As for mean power relative to LBM, the boys again scored higher than the girls. One of the reasons for this finding may be related to the lower glycogenolytic potential of female skeletal muscle due to lower levels of phosphorylase and PFK (e.g., Gratas-Delamarche et al., 1994).

To assess the differences in somatotype of young taekwondo athletes as a function of experience, Pieter (2001) investigated American Junior Olympic taekwondo-in (taekwondo athletes) with less than 5 years (boys: 15.2 ± 1.8 years; girls: 15.4 + 1.6 years) and those with 5 years or more of taekwondo experience (boys: 15.2+ 1.7 years; girls: 14.7+ 1.7 years). Taekwondo experience was defined as the number of years elapsed since they first started with the sport. No differences in somatotype were found between experience group within gender. There was no difference in maturity between boys with less than 5 years of taekwondo experience (median for pubic hair development: stage 4) and those with 5 years or more (median: stage 4). The same was true for the girls (median: stage 4 for both groups). Olds and Kang (2000) suggested that experience may play a larger role in determining success in taekwondo competition than physique-related correlates, which was subsequently confirmed by Pieter, Mateo et al. (2002).

Competition injuries in young taekwondo athletes were investigated by Pieter and Zemper (1997) and no difference was found in total injury rate between boys (58.3 injuries/1,000 athlete-exposures) and girls (56.6 injuries/1,000 athlete-exposures). The rates are comparable to those found in other young martial artists (see above). The contusion and sprain were the most often occurring types of injury in both boys and girls, with the cerebral concussion ranked third.

Suggestions for future research
Research is most urgently needed on young participants in martial arts. This is not only important in terms of talent identification and development with a view to prepare the athletes for senior competition, but also relative to health and safety. Gaining insight in participant motivation and the motives to keep the youngsters in the sport, may contribute to lifelong practice of the martial arts.

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