Normally I do not read articles from the Vancouver Sun’s MMA reporter Chris Parry if I am not mentioned. Heck, I usually even ignore his phone calls, texts, IMs, emails, Twitter DMs, etc.
But this morning, I took a chance when I saw an email in my inbox from him and I was glad I did. Chris replied to Sharon Shore, the BCMA’s media person who sent out a scathing anti-MMA email yesterday afternoon.
Chris usually reserves this level of anger and frustration to when he hears the words “last call” or if the buffet is running low of “meat in sauce”, so you know he is passionate on the issue of MMA being banned in Canada.
So with Chris’ permission, here is his reply – what do you think?
Let me get this straight, Sharon.
Your representative – the person pushing this proposal and leading your organization – admits he’s never actually watched an MMA event and doesn’t know the rules, but you’re claiming your organization has been reviewing all the scientific research available and is ready to draw a conclusion that would ban a sport that has been a professional endeavour for over fifteen years in North America and is rated as the number one fastest growing fitness activity in North America?
Really? Wouldn’t “watching some of it” be a reasonable part of that research? Wouldn’t talking to participants, trainers and officials be a part of that research? Maybe you could have talked to the parents of some of the tens of thousands of children learning the aspects of the sport in martial arts gyms across the country?
How on earth can Dr Gillepsie go into the national media scrum and pontificate on a topic without first watching ten minutes of it on TV? Would you like me to send him a DVD so he can catch up on what MMA actually is before your group attempts to ban it?
If your people have read all the scientific papers on the topic, presumably they’ve seen the research in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, which said “it appears that basketball has a 10% higher injury rate than wrestling, 50% higher injury rate than boxing, and more than seven times higher injury rate than martial arts.” (http://www.jssm.org/combat/2/11/v6combat2-11.pdf)
Dirt biking, lawn bowls, softball, cheerleading and fishing are all sports with a far higher death/injury rate than MMA – are proposals to ban those also around the corner?
If you really want to benefit the population of B.C., maybe your organization could petition the provincial government to get nutritional information on restaurant menus and build more sports fields – you know, useful stuff that will have real impact in the community – rather than trying to ban an activity that people like myself (and my kids) are using to get in shape and stay healthy.
Lastly, you’re right, I didn’t contact Dr Gillespie for comment, because after listening to his interview with Michael Smyth, it was clear he didn’t have anything to tell me that might be backed with even the most cursory piece of topical knowledge. Instead, I called five fighters and trainers – three of which trained as boxers earlier in their careers, and all three of which tell me MMA is far less dangerous in their actual real world experience, that MMA fighters have far longer careers (Randy Couture is 46 years old and still fighting for world titles after fifteen-plus years in the pro MMA game) – and all of them hold the same opinion… That the BCMA is making a fool of itself by looking to ban something rather than properly oversee it and bring higher standards to officiating and pre-/post-fight care.
Yours,
Chris Parry
(Pro-MMA cohort)
I just noticed she used the word “sport” in irony quotes when referring to MMA.
“Our research consisted of lit reviews — of which there are few because the “sport” is so new.”
The nerve! I wonder how doctors would feel if their “profession” were treated the same way.