The Importance of Contact

Here’s a video of one of the greatest grapplers in the world, Rickson Gracie, playing with his son Kron Gracie who is now a formidable grappler himself.

Just read this article from Mark’s Daily Apple about the benefits of carrying your child rather than pushing them along in the stroller and I got to thinking about whether this relates to grappling and BJJ and wrote this comment:

“No babies yet… but when they do come around I’ll know what to do!

Funny thing though, not sure if it’s entirely related, in my bjj class, there’s an autistic kid and his dad who come around to train occasionally, and when they’re on the mats wrestling around and doing BJJ the kid really perks up and you can feel a tangible joy emanating from him…

After these articles, I’m now thinking it may have to do with the constant touch and close contact that normally happens in grappling sports that may be having the positive impact on him…

Sports played these days don’t have this kind of close contact now. Baseball, basketball, football, soccer, golf, hockey, while there is contact for brief moments when players collide, there isn’t any sustained close contact as in bjj or other forms of grappling which I now wonder could lead to benefits outside the mats as well…”

It only makes sense that having this kind of contact with your kids will bring about SOME benefits in terms of closeness, improved development, and better socialization…  not sure if there’s any data out there to support this though, but it’s interesting food for thought nonetheless.