The Role of Martial Arts Training in Gang Reduction

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“You’re teaching our kids to be athletes, but are you educating and mentoring our kids? Yeah, all our kids can run up and down a damn football field, and can shoot a basket, and can jump high. But are you giving them the tools that it’s gonna take to manage the success that you’re setting them up for physically?”

In his article “Fight for Kids”, Dr. David Mayeda, PhD takes a look at the benefits of martial arts for at-risk youth, particularly high-risk youth. While Mayeda was working on the book “Fighting for Acceptance”, he connected with various martial artists, including Antonio McKee, owner and operator of a … martial arts gym. Although McKee’s gym is classified as a mixed martial arts gym, his youth program is rooted more heavily in wrestling than the other disciplines that comprise MMA.

McKee and Mayeda soon discovered that they shared a passion for working with high-risk youth.

“What really connected Antonio and me was our passion for working with high-risk youth. Once Antonio learned that my real job entails carrying out research and evaluation on juvenile delinquency, we got to talking about his non-profit organization, Fight for Kids. At that point, I began to see another example of a … martial artist who critics would likely point to as just another fighter perpetuating violence while failing to see the full picture that comprised his past and present life.”

There are interesting quotes from Antonio throughout the article:

“I can tell you about numerous times of why I shouldn’t be here. And of course, most interviews you do with black fighters, you’re gonna get the ‘I sold drugs, I was shot at.’ I’m not gonna spill that story; that’s just part of our life coming up low-income, so I don’t need to go into detail about that.”

“I used to carry a gun everywhere I went, and I mean I even have a gun permit. I went to the extreme to get a gun permit. But I mean, why? I have no enemies, but I’ve seen so much stuff as a child that I always gotta be ready … Man, where’s our therapy?”

It was interesting to read McKee’s take on traditional therapy…

“…how traditional, conventional therapy doesn’t work with him and is terribly ineffective with most youth from marginalized backgrounds. ‘I don’t need to sit and tell counselors my problems. Give me some solutions to the problem. I don’t want the deep textbook therapy; that’s not gonna work for me. I’m a hands-on guy. How can I channel this other ways?”

Just the other day, I met a psychotherapist who reported that rather when asked what her psychotherapy orientation is, rather than rather than answering “Jungian”, “Freudian”, etc., these days, her answer is, “Pragmatic.”

McKee continues his interview by encouraging people who have benefited, to go out and help others.

“And for those who don’t understand the therapy from the textbook. Hey, go out and help other kids. Go out and help other people with problems like you.’ That rationale was the genesis for his youth program, Fight for Kids. And what pleased me the most was I was able to identify a mixed martial artist who was doing something constructive for society by reflecting on his own past and using his reflexivity to develop a mixed martial arts program in a socially responsible manner.”

Read the original article here.

Technorati Tags: martial arts, at risk youth