House Bill No. 1526

Last Thursday, I was a guest at a virtual press conference, the guests were combat sports NSA heads who were fighting (figuratively not literally) to keep House Bill No. 1526, “An Act Banning Minors from Competing in Combat Sports” from going through the whole number of readings process to being signed into law.

I’m sure the Congressmen mean well and have good intentions but according to the NSA leaders, they weren’t consulted upon the crafting of the bill. The bill was sent to the subcommittee for further review and study and we hope it stays there.

The bill, if signed into law, will kill youth combat sports. Combat sports teaches our youngsters the values of discipline, humility, compassion, patience and self-confidence. Values that they’ll take with them as they grow up and get older and become productive members of society.

Some of the NSA Presidents proactively have and will go out of their way and set appointments with our representatives to explain to them what the repercussions will be if the bill becomes a law. Maybe they have a certain belief about say, Karate or Jiu-Jitsu or maybe their awareness of combat sports is different.

We hope that this issue doesn’t distract our young athletes in their preparation to compete in Olympic qualifiers early next year and the SEA Games in the fourth quarter of 2021. They need to focus and not worry about being banned from competing.