I wish I had started when I was only five or six years old. I did start martial arts practice at six and seven years old when I was doing Hapkido because it was the only thing available at the time where I was living on the Northern beaches. But the younger the child starts, I guess the more quickly instilled they are in the benefits of martial arts training.
Not only will their body develop more flexibility and pliability, making it easier for them to maintain that level as they get older. The younger they get into the martial arts, the more quickly they understand the lifestyle and the nature of the training. It’s not something that you can do for one or two years and have everything you could possibly need for a lifetime.
Martial arts to me, it’s not something that you go and you practice and you learn your basic punches and kicks and then you’re done. It’s a lifestyle practice, which means that you’d be practicing it for the rest of your life.