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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