By Master Milad
The short answer
- For most kids, start with taekwondo. Earn the black belt. Then add anything you want.
- MMA is a great sport. Kids just need structure, belts and wins they can see first.
- The real risk isn’t picking the wrong art. It’s your kid quitting all of them.
- Your first class is free. Book it
Parents ask me this a lot, usually right after their kid has watched a UFC fight. Fair question. Here’s the honest answer.
What taekwondo does best (and what it doesn’t)
Taekwondo is built on kicking: timing, distance, footwork, speed. Kids who train it stay light on their feet and keep their hands up.
What we don’t specialize in is the ground. I’ll say that plainly. But every self-defence situation starts standing. Someone has to take you down first, and footwork is what stops that.
Grappling is also built for one opponent. If there are two attackers and you’re wrestling one, the other one is free. Against more than one person, speed and agility matter more. At our advanced black belt levels, we also teach weapon defence, with training props.
And we don’t ignore the ground. Our black belt seminars include jiu-jitsu with Master Vieng, a seventh-degree black belt in taekwondo and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.
Some of the best champions started here
Anderson Silva, one of the greatest UFC champions ever, holds a black belt in taekwondo. So does Valentina Shevchenko. Anthony Pettis was a third-degree black belt before he ever trained MMA, and his most famous kick landed on Benson Henderson, another taekwondo black belt. Two black belts, one very famous kick.
“My kid is 12 and wants MMA. Now what?”
- Under 10: one structured art. Kids this age need belts, goals and wins they can see.
- 10 to 13: stay the course to black belt. Contact is coming: light sparring after green belt, then a Saturday sparring class.
- Teens: this is when kids drift, and it’s why we built the Leadership Team. It’s free and invite-only, for students who are committed, hungry, humble and smart. (How does taekwondo teach kids to lead?) Want to add boxing or jiu-jitsu on another night? Great. Just keep the black belt going.
The real risk
I’ve seen it in kid after kid. A student watches the UFC, says “I want to do MMA,” and leaves. Some do well and love it. Some come back. But most just stop doing martial arts altogether.
Whatever you choose, choose a school your kid will still be at in five years. Here’s how to pick one.
So, taekwondo or MMA?
Start here. Earn the black belt. Then go try everything.
An Endurance black belt is earned, and it’s registered with Kukkiwon, the world headquarters of taekwondo. Time, consistency, effort. It means something.
Come see what that looks like.
About the author. Master Milad Bahrami opened Endurance in Port Moody in 2014, and today it’s three schools: Port Moody, Burnaby and Port Coquitlam. Read his story
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