SAFEGUARDING SPECIFICS
The Arguments For Teaching Choke and Strangle Techniques:
- Self-Defense and Awareness: Learning chokes and how to escape them is a core part of realistic grappling, preparing children to understand leverage, control, and what to do if someone grabs them.
- Discipline and Tapping Culture: CCMA emphasizes that the hardest and most important lesson for kids is learning when to tap, building self-restraint, spatial awareness, and mutual respect on the mat.
- Age-Appropriate Scaling: CCMA introduce the mechanics of back control and positional dominance around ages 7 in our Kombat Kids syllabus, a student can go up our main MMA syllabus when they reach the age of 9, if the head instructor is confident that the student is mature enough, focusing strictly on control and gentle application of choke techniques, rather than raw pressure.
The Arguments Against Teaching Choke and Strangle Techniques:
Maturity and Restraint: Critics and some traditional martial arts instructors argue that younger children may lack the emotional maturity, impulse control, or complete understanding of vascular neck restraints, risking holding a submission too long or applying it unsafely outside the gym. CCMA has taken this into consideration and feelthat students younger than 9, or any students older than 9 that doesn’t seem to understand the risks and need for control, shall be prevented from learning such techniques.
Physical Development: Concerns exist regarding the fragility of a child’s developing neck, spine, and blood vessels (such as the carotid arteries), though regulated sport application typically results in brief, temporary unconsciousness rather than permanent damage. CCMA has a tap early policy and all students are taught to release any choke imediately upon being tapped.
Choke and strangle techniques carry a higher risk profile than almost any other scenario in martial arts first aid, and their management sits at the intersection of first aid and safeguarding. CCMA mantains this written, shared and enforced policy. Choke and strangle techniques may only be taught by a qualified instructor who has clearly explained the risks and enforced our early tap policy, making sure all students who have been deemed ready to learn such techniques are well supervised.
Policy Last Updated: 13/10/26