Putting parents in a tough position

An unfortunate injury at EBI 5 has taken away from what was otherwise a spectacular tournament. But there may be a good lesson to be learned, here.

Like (most of) the commenters on this topic's other threads, I don't think the heel hook is a uniquely dangerous submission. For whatever reason, Eddie didn't allow them for minors in EBIs 1-4. According to FloGrappling, he did so at EBI 5 due to the parents' unanimous support of its inclusion. http://www.flograppling.com/video/81...nder-ebi-rules

This is problematic. Imagine your kid is set to compete at EBI 5, and you're told that other parents want heel hooks - but it has to be unanimous. (I don't know if that's how it happened, but this sort of situation is not far-fetched.) Regardless of whether your kid is learned in leg attacks, if you object, it could undermine your kid's confidence and possibly negatively impact your relationship with him/her. Your kid will likely perceive a "no" as an acknowledgment of, or concession to, the other kids' superior technical abilities. Therefore, your only good answer is to agree to include heel hooks.

Remember that these parents desperately want their phenom kids to get the best experience and exposure possible. They are not going to jeopardize their kid's chance to compete on a major platform. If you ask them in the run-up to a tourney like EBI if they want to include heel hooks (or any other oft-banned submission), they may not be in a position to say "no."

Now Eddie has banned heel hooks for minors at future EBIs, regardless of parents' input. I like that call, because it sends a message to other grappling promotions/tournaments that there is a risk in allowing parents to influence tournament rules.

As a parent, I would not put my child in a position to fail regardless of what platform or exposure they would be getting. The damage from being sent into something you are not ready for outweighs any benefit, especially at their age and development stage. Part of being a Parent of an Athlete is being able to help determine what Competition waters they should be swimming in. If a child was not ready for Heel Hooks, the correct response from the parent would be to decline the current competition and arrange for another spot once the area of weakness could be addressed.

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Originally Posted by NameLikeNoOther

As a parent, I would not put my child in a position to fail regardless of what platform or exposure they would be getting. The damage from being sent into something you are not ready for outweighs any benefit, especially at their age and development stage. Part of being a Parent of an Athlete is being able to help determine what Competition waters they should be swimming in. If a child was not ready for Heel Hooks, the correct response from the parent would be to decline the current competition and arrange for another spot once the area of weakness could be addressed.

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Perhaps the parent in question thought their athlete was prepared, but were themselves not fully qualified to judge?

I agree with Brett that putting rules in the hands of parents is a bad idea.

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Originally Posted by Craig Murray

Perhaps the parent in question thought their athlete was prepared, but were themselves not fully qualified to judge?

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If as a Parent you are not qualified or feel qualified to make the decision, you should trust the Coach who you have hired for the Athlete to be able to help you make the decision. I agree that Parents should not be setting or negotiating the Terms of Competition, that is up to the Coaches and Organizers; Parents only authorize the Athletes to participate and are responsible for knowing what they sing their children up for. It is really not that complicated. The Coach of an Athlete also holds a large share of the Blame if an Athlete is not prepared for a Competitions Rule Set. Perhaps, this line can become blurred if the Parent is also the Coach.