10 Reasons Children Should Practise Boxing
“Boxing isn’t a sport, it’s a way of life.” - Maëlle Pariez
What benefits will your Child gain if they participate in Boxing training?
If you're interesting in our Kids Boxing Program please check out our Kids Martial Arts Page
Boxing is a discipline that’s regularly associated with combat but it’s also good exercise. There are plenty of other advantages to doing boxing whether you’re a child or an adult.
It’s increasing in popularity in Australia for both adults and children for good reason. Are you ready to find out why?
So, what are the advantages of boxing? How can children benefit from practising Boxing? What will your child get out of the practise of Boxing that can be beneficial for them?
Let’s have a look at 10 reasons kids should do boxing.
1 - Energy Expenditure
We tend to forget that boxing is a sport that can be physically demanding. It’s a great way for kids to exercise, unwind, and use up some of that seemingly limitless energy they have.
How can you control kids' excess energy?
Kids have a lot of extra energy, so you need to find ways to burn it off.
The warm-ups in Boxing alone would be enough to ensure that your child is getting plenty of exercise, with running, skipping, body weight exercises, footwork, bag work and more. But that’s just the start of it.
Boxing is a discipline that involves a multitude of different skills. These skills need to be developed in and out of the ring, with bags, mitts, ropes, etc with plenty of space. In doing so, kids expend tonnes of energy because the training is both physically and mentally challenging. They’ll be on their way to becoming a champion in no time!
2 - Improving Self-Confidence
Just like many sports, boxing has the advantage of being a great way to build up your self-confidence. It goes far beyond just throwing punches in the ring or hitting a heavy bag.
By learning from mistakes, facing challenges, overcoming doubt, improving technique, and training with determination, a child can improve while climbing the difficult ladder of achievement and, in turn, they’ll build self-confidence. They’ll get to know themselves better, familiarise themselves with their strengths and weaknesses, learn to push past heir perceived limits and take pride in what they’re able to achieve.
Learning to throw punches, moving their feet, co-ordinating their limbs, facing challenges, listening to their coach, and improving their abilities is a great way to build up their confidence.
3 - Learning about Non-violence
One of the first things children will learn about through boxing is non-violence.
How?
Boxing is a combat sport but it’s not just any fight, it’s heavily codified and there’s a time and a place for a boxing match.
How can you teach kids about non-violence?
While you may not think it, boxing can teach kids about the virtues of non-violence.
Outside of a boxing match, boxers must refrain from any type of violence. After all, a boxer found to be using their boxing skills outside of an organised match can risk losing their licence. The ring is the only place they can be violent in any way, shape, or form.
Boxing is an effective way to channel violence into a productive activity. Once they’re able to prove themselves in the gym and in the ring, they’ll have no interest in proving themselves in the street. They’ll see where the real challenges lie and that fighting for oneself is better than fighting someone else.
4 - Learning More About Your Body
Boxing is a good way for children to learn more about their body, its capabilities, and its limits. By throwing punches, slipping, weaving and moving around a ring, they’ll engage their mind, body, and spirit.
While victory isn’t essential, it’ll give them an objective to strive towards. Their body acts as a tool that they can use to achieve their goals. They must fully understand it to get the most out of themselves. They’ll learn their limits and then how to break past them.
5 - Pushing their Limits
In addition to cardio and fitness benefits, boxing allows children to go above and beyond what they thought they were capable of. Through competition and physical exercise, they’ll learn more about pushing themselves and being able to go even further. Whether it’s in a gym or the ring, they’ll learn to improve. Boxing teaches people to be driven and to strive for victory. Similarly, boxers will always try to push their limits.
One of the great challenges of Boxing, and most combat sports, is that they’re working to overcome an obstacle that is working to overcome them. The challenge of active resistance that comes with combat cannot be replicated with running, jumping or chasing a ball. This will truly have them pushing their limits.
It’s not about knocking out an opponent but rather being driven to achieve a goal, which is an important life lesson for children and adults alike. Similarly, a boxing workout is a full-body workout and will have kids breaking a sweat, enjoying the benefits of aerobic workout, and improving their stamina. They're called boxing gyms for a reason.
6 - Mastering their Strength
Winning a boxing match is all about control. Adults and children will be taught how to master their strength. Strength comes in many forms encompassing mind, body and spirit. When sparring, for example, the focus will be on proper boxing techniques (footwork, throwing a jab, hook, uppercut, etc.) rather than just how hard they can punch.
How can you teach children about their own strength? How can we teach them the value of their different strengths? It is through experiencing adversity that a child will find the value of strength spirit over strength of body. They will find that strength of mind will help them maximise strength of body. At the end of a grueling match or training session a child will have drawn on their strength of mind, body and spirit.
Boxing is a great way for children to learn and master their strength. Mastering their strength of mind, body and spirit, for each of these strengths is just as valuable as the others.
Effective punches are far more important than strong punches and aspiring boxers will be taught how to control their mental and physical strength. Let’s not forget that even though boxing is a combat sport, it shares many values with martial arts like respect, courtesy, discipline and more.
Discipline and routine is a boxers best friend. It is through constant repetition that improvement and with that success will come. Discipline will build strength of mind. From Discipline will come success which will build strength of spirit. Once a boxer understands this, the sky is the limit.
7 - Respecting One Another
Respect is one of the first things that boxers will learn about. Since boxing involves the mind, body, and spirit, you also must remember that you’re not the only boxer there.
Before opponents meet in the ring, they’ll see themselves as equals entering the squared circle. Children will be very quickly taught that they must respect their opponents, especially in boxing. There is a comradeship that is gained when you’ve shared the experience of combat with someone (whether sparring or fighting) that causes you to respect the person in front of you because you know what they’ve been through to get their as you’ve done it yourself.
Even though Boxing is an individual sport, like all combat sports, success is built upon the shoulders of your coaches and training partners. With that in mind it is undeniable that respect for one another is tantamount to success.
8 - Respecting the Rules
This is key when it comes to boxing. The coach or instructor will make this abundantly clear to the child before they do anything in boxing. After all, boxing is a combat sport but it’s also heavily codified and there are rules in place for how a match takes place, what can and cannot be done, and rules they’ll have to respect during training as well as competition.
Both inside and outside of their training sessions, classes, or privates, children will be expected to follow all the rules that come with boxing. Let’s not forget that the rules are an essential part of any sport and if you don’t follow them, you won’t get any better. Following rules will build a child’s discipline which in turns builds their respect.
9 - Recovering from Setbacks
Boxing involves fitness, cardio, and combat and draws many parallels with life itself. Boxing can teach children a lot of valuable life lessons.
How can you teach kids to lose gracefully?
Recovering from losses and setbacks is an important life lesson and boxing can teach kids about it.
Now and then, we’ll get knocked down. Don’t get discouraged. A boxer needs to get back up and try again. We don’t focus on how many times you fall down, but how many times you get back up again. This strength of character cannot be developed without challenges and failure. They’ll learn that failure isn’t fatal and success isn’t final, everything is just another lesson.
10 - Learning Self-Defence
Finally, boxing doesn’t promote violence but rather respect for one another and how to defend yourself. After all, a boxing match is essentially a fight with rules.
However, attacking is only half of a boxing match and you need to learn how to defend yourself, too. Children can learn how to defend themselves without necessarily intending to harm somebody else. After all, boxing teaches you how to keep a cool head when under attack and to watch out for your opponent’s punches. Even though Boxing doesn’t promote violence the ability for a child to protect themselves in today’s world is paramount. Wouldn’t you feel safer knowing your child can stand up for themselves?
So, after all that, are you convinced of the benefits of boxing for children?
There may even be a future world champion in the family. There’s only one way to find out.
If you’d like to have your child try a Boxing class, book in for a
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But if Boxing isn’t for your Child…
If they don't fancy boxing classes, there are other combat sports and martial arts that kids could benefit from. Be it boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing), Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), or Wrestling lessons, they can help kids to get in shape, develop discipline, build respect, manage their strength, and enjoy the same benefits as group classes. To find out more check out our
Kids Marital Arts Page.
Kings Academy of Martial Arts is the premier Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy Servicing Great Western Sydney with classes in BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)
