Our head coach commenced jiu-jitsu as an 11 year old who was being bullied for a speech impediment. If you ask him he will talk about being low in confidence and how jiu-jitsu has taken him from being too shy to lead a small group in silent prayer to now being a highly polished public speaker. As a result of his own transformation he now wants give every child he can the same confidence.
Our kids classes are divided into two groups - kids and teens. These are just guidelines however, as depending on the age, weight and length of time training, your child may be suited to one class over the other.
Due to the complexity of BJJ, and available mat space, we feel it's right to start kids from 10 years old. At this age, the kids have the mental capacity to concentrate for the 50 minute class, and learn the moves safely.
It also ensures that most of the kids are rougly the same size (again, allowing for a safer class) and the older ones aren't held back due to kids who are too young or small.
In this class, the coaches try to keep the class fun with a few games, and also focus on the core basics of jiu-jitsu, showing only a limited number of submissions which we feel is suitable for this age group.
For more information on our kids' classes, please see this FAQ:
Why do you only run kids classes twice a week, and none at all in the school holidays?
There is no hard and fast rule as to when your child(ren) should progress from the kids class to the teens, and often it can be a transition where they do both for a short period and see how they go.
We have dedicated teens only classes on Mondays & Thursdays.
Plus on on Wednesday they should be at the judo class wth senseis Steve & Jim (both school teachers).
They should also be at the Saturday morning classes as much as possible.
Finally ... during school holidays, they're welcome to also train mornings and lunch-times.
