Kiddy-kickboxing a no-no

I grew up in a household where participating in weekend sport was the norm. My parents brought my little brother and I up to be active and encouraged us to participate in team and individual sports.
I still love playing sport, as does my husband and we’ll definitely be encouraging our kids to play sport and teach them the benefits of getting exercise and interacting with others on the sporting field.

However, I was a bit horrified over the weekend to learn that a local kickboxing promoter had created a match between his eight-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old opponent – the young girls kicked and punched each other in a ring where onlookers (mostly older men) consumed alcohol, screamed out encouragement and handed out cash tips for the little girls.

My issue with this is not the fact that these young girls are ‘competing’ in a sport – it’s the kind of activity that they are doing. With their bones not finished growing and their brains not yet fully developed, I feel like this is a completely unsuitable past time for any minor (girl or boy) to be participating in.

Georgia Barton 7 (L) and Jasmine Parr 8 (R) fighting in Saturday's match

What ever happened to kids wanting to play soccer, go to Nippers or run at Little Athletics? When I was about 10-years-old, my parents enrolled my brother and I in Karate lessons to help teach us the basics of self defence. My dad also decided to undertake the adult classes to help encourage us and also learn some potential life-saving defensive techniques.

I see nothing wrong with this kind of contact sport – Karate teaches you how to focus and be disciplined and it is also very spiritual.

I don’t see what small children are going to learn from kickboxing? The little girls over the weekend were dressed up in garish pink outfits with lipstick and streamers and then proceeded to kick, shove and punch each other.

Jasmine "Princess" Parr with her father and fight promoter John Wayne Parr

They aren’t learning anything from participating in this but how to most effectively beat their opponent to a pulp. I think it's sick!

I just think this is sickening and I feel that the promoter of this match should be ashamed of himself for encouraging such a thing (he isn’t though – he’s already promoting future child matches).

The crowd at Saturday's fight - mostly older men who were consuming alcohol

I am not sure how everyone else feels about this, but it just feels like the kickboxing fraternity on the Gold Coast has just hit an all time low and I for one wouldn’t go to see a child match if you paid me.