Often, parents look for training for their young, primary school age children to make them safer or grow in confidence as a result of being bullied.
While the physical threats may not be life-threatening to children of primary school age from other primary school children, the effects of being bullied can cause distress, anxiety, and make them not want to go to school.
Often factors like the children subject to being bullied being small, overweight, or unconfident compounds the bullying issue.
Then there is the consideration that if they retaliate and injure the bully they may well end up in trouble with the school.
So, training young children to punch kick and fight with school yard bullies is not deemed acceptable may end in disciplinary action injuries or even police involvement.
There is no easy answer to stopping bullies and clearly using physical skills must be a last resort option for self-protective personal safety, but to develop confidence and enhance mental toughness as well as develop increased strength physical fitness by simple wrestling self-protection capability is a good option.
The sport of Olympic wrestling develops stability enhances expedient movement and the ability to clinch and tie up an opponent. It also develops wide ranging physicality enhancement and fast footing recovery.
Training with other children develops confidence and combine this with new skills competency and a lot of children that have been bullied start to feel better about themselves and gain in self-confidence.
The mere fact that they may well be less likely to conduct themselves submissively and will learn how to stand ready and confident may prevent being bullied.
If targeted by bullies not showing fear or weaknesses such as turning their back on a bully or by submissive verbiage can prevent physical bullying.
No longer being a soft easy looking target for bullies can put an end to such unwanted attention.
Being able to stay on their feet prevent a bully seizing them or tie a bully up in the clinch introducing them to the strengths of wrestling is a means of dealing with bullying without running the risk of the consequences of striking or kicking the bully at school.
Wrestling is the oldest combat sport and is the base code of many of the UFC mixed martial arts champions of today.
There are no strangles, chokes or arm bars in Olympic wrestling that can only make the consequences of using such techniques at school problematic with disciplinary action.
Unfortunately, often it is the victor that pays the price and this is unfortunate for a victim of bullying that retaliates effectively.
Wrestling being a competitive combat sport derived from ancient European close combat possesses some excellent basic principles and fundamentals.
The basic skills for children are simple skills easy to learn and they can quickly become proficient at them and increase in physical capability and self-confidence.
They also develop the capability to be more situationally aware and think faster on their feet, which can enhance their capability to outsmart out move and overpower schoolyard bullies.
Securing a bully to stop the assault introducing them to wrestling skills and wrestling training developed physicality is a better way to take care of schoolyard bullies than punching and kicking them in regards to injuries and disciplinary action.
Children are taught wrestling skills for competition that are safe in relation to their age and are not allowed to practice or use in competition the more dynamic techniques of older wrestlers.
Children could be shown some simple self-defence cover guarding and deflection against strikes that come from military self-defence and have commonality with wrestling.
