[Lisa~]

Chris, I voted the way I know my son would have voted (since he practices Kung Fu and I don't do any martial arts). When the Y where I work offered Kung Fu and Tai Chi he was interested because he wanted to learn to fight. Some of the demonstrations were of Wushu, but they don't let the students move into that for a long, long time.

I encouraged him to get involved because I wanted him to round out his baseball with something that increased his strength through a big range of motion (increasing his mobility too). I felt this would benefit his sport and strengthen him in a way that would prevent the types of overuse and contact injuries more common in baseball. I think it's done that. He's more flexible and more mobile than anyone on his team.

What he ended up getting out of it that neither of us were thinking about was learning the mental toughness, disciplined respect (he was already a pretty respectful kid, but it's different in martial arts), and control. He appreciates those qualities of the martial arts too and sees that his Shifu is a tougher/cooler man because he does NOT show off.

I guess my point in this longer-than-intended post is that what draws you to the martial arts is not necessarily what keeps you there.