whats a good age for kids to start boxing?

you can teach him HOW to box at any age.

However, I wouldn't let him get hit in the head until he is a bit older.


If ever. I want my kids to box, but I don't know if I want to subject them to the punishment I have taken.

 

15

 

my bro is 5 and i'm teaching him the basics taking him on the pads etc
he dont need to be in a gym anytime soon....doubt there wud be much others his age
just teach him at home every now and again

 

anything under 12-14 years old you want them to get as much athletic variety as possible to develop body awareness, strong mental habits and avoid burnout. let him come to the gym and play boxing, keeping in mind the fundamentals of hands up and head down. make it fun with games for lateral, fwd, bkwd shuffles, jump rope, basic mitts, etc.

get him into sports like swimming (aerobic conditioning, flexibility, fun), track, soccer (foot eye co-ordination, fun) and gymnastics or some other tumbling activity like judo/jiu-jitsu (to have fun with combat arts where he will learn discipline and the concept of using his hips, and 'create space for offense and take space away for defense' which are both huge for advanced infighting strategies).

the biggest thing with kids that age are to let them have fun while they learn the absolute basic skills (don't even worry about strategies yet). if i were teaching basketball i would break it down to dribbling, passing, and shooting. for boxing i break it down to feet, hands, and head.

feet-jump rope, shuffles and squats side to side/fwd/bkwd,
head-take a towel and tie a knot in the end of it and slowly swing it at his head so he has to duck (straight down, not a roll, keeping it as simple as possible)
hands-mitts or intervals for 10 sec on and 10 sec off (this is more about having fun than conditioning -punch, punch, punch, keep goin, keep going!)

give a lot of positive reinforcement and encourage him to be a good little worker. in our society even at that age little people know that daddy (and all the other men in their lives) is a 'worker'. he wants to work and be rewarded like a big boy. play with this idea to encourage a strong work ethic early on. don't make it dreadful or burdensome - make work FUN!

good luck!

 

I would say the earliest age would be around 7-8 yrs old.

Teach your boy, the fundamentals of defence and footwork.

Above all, make it fun.

 

My son starts this month. He is six. He is not allowed to compete till he is 8. As soon as he is allowed to spar and compete, he will. You got to get them used to taking punches while the punches aren't that painful. With head gear on, It would inspire confidence if your child is getting hit by his peers at a younger age because the punches will eventually get more severe as he matures with his peers and they get stronger and more refined. If your child is afraid to get hit or you are afraid than chose another sport unless you are just doing it to keep him in shape. I will not force my child to box but if choses too pursue the sport, I want him to be groomed the right way. I know this post is old but I just found a gym that will take my boy.

 

kirky - it all depends on the gym environment. if the place has a setting to perform circuit training for kids than I think it would be good to get him doing someone rather than nothing. you also have to keep in mind that kids irritate people that don't have kids. keep in mind that if he is in the gym, its not a playground and i hope you are making sure that he understand this concept. many parents are not in the gym so a lot of kids just play around instead of boxing.

 

I don't see any problem starting at any age. Obviously not sparring or getting hit until they are in their teens.

However, depending on the kid you have to make sure they know that they can't go round pushing people around because they are a "boxer". I remember seeing a trainer in Leeds giving a young lad who had just been carded a big talk about it.

 

9 years old is a good age ,,he will have 2 years learning how to box then at 11 years old he can then compete if he's interested in winning a trophy

 

This is tough, my parents didnt let me box until I was 16 where i just went anyway. If I had a son I wouldn't want him to box as early as 8 years old old. At the same time the younger you start them the more successful and experienced they would be. I'd say 9 to start training hitting the bag and mitts and stuff and 10 years old before their first spar. Boxing is a tough sport for most parents to support. Then again in the inner city rec centers where I learned and started to box they have 8 year olds in there banging. I never would want to push my son into boxing. If he wants to i'll let him but I'm not going to live vicariously through him like a lot of parents do w/ their kids and sports

 

Charley Goldman thought 8 was a good age. I started at 10. I've taught kids at 4 and 6. Anybody talking like they have a definitive answer is a **** talking ass.
Bring the kid around. See what he is willing to learn and let it go at that. Come back around later and build on it.

 

The gym I took my son there is a 5 year old who spars with older kids who take it easy on him... They take turns sparing.. There is a black kid in the gym around 7 who is bad ass.. Slippin punches and moving the bigger kids back. He had been training since he was 4.... The 5 year old Mexican boy started 6 months ago and his father said he was afraid but now loves it and bangs in there taking some head snappers and coming back for more.. .For the most part I have seen the punches and it don't look serious at all. It looks like the punches start getting more serious around 9 or 10... There where 130 lb 13-15 year olds hitting the heavy bag, and I say these kids would be lethal in a fight already. Start em early is all the advice I can give.. There is a huge benefit to it. At 8 they are ready to compete and those who were schooled at 4-7 have a huge advantage over the kids coming in at 8 years old. It is all about confidence and the earlier they start the more confident they will be and even more so when they compete against guys who just started.