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Thread: Combative training or martial arts for kids

  1. #1

    Combative training or martial arts for kids

    I’m looking for a starter option for my kids (9 year old daughter and 5 year old son).

    My own background includes judo as a grade school kid in the ‘70s, a semester of wrestling class in high school PE, some dabbling in escrima and JKD in the ‘90s, and a couple of rec center fencing classes. (Every 20 years I get the bug and decide again it’s not for me.).

    I’ve also taken the InSights Training Center unarmed defense class from John Holschen (three times, because John is awesome). Ideally, I’d like to find something like that, but tailored to kids’ capabilities and attention spans.

    Any suggestions will be appreciated.

  2. #2
    Site Supporter MGW's Avatar
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    If you can find a good kids BJJ class I would start there. Do a search for Gracie Bully Proof. From what I’ve seen it’s a really good program but any good jits program will have a good kids curriculum. I think wrestling would be a really good base too but it can get really competitive and intense (mostly for the parents) in a hurry. Judo is awesome too but maybe not as an introduction to combatives.

    If you don’t mind sharing your general location there are lots of people here that could point you in the direction of a good gym or two.
    “If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything." - Miyamoto Musashi

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by GreggW View Post

    If you don’t mind sharing your general location there are lots of people here that could point you in the direction of a good gym or two.
    I’m in northern Virginia. Thanks!

  4. #4
    Wrestling is generally the cheapest and makes them the toughest. It also becomes harder to find as an adult.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Gun Nerd View Post
    I’m looking for a starter option for my kids (9 year old daughter and 5 year old son).

    My own background includes judo as a grade school kid in the ‘70s, a semester of wrestling class in high school PE, some dabbling in escrima and JKD in the ‘90s, and a couple of rec center fencing classes. (Every 20 years I get the bug and decide again it’s not for me.).

    I’ve also taken the InSights Training Center unarmed defense class from John Holschen (three times, because John is awesome). Ideally, I’d like to find something like that, but tailored to kids’ capabilities and attention spans.

    Any suggestions will be appreciated.
    I’m in NOVA and my daughters have been training BJJ for 3 years. There are several great kids programs in the area. I would simply try a few or pick one that is logistically best for your family since traffic is such a nightmare. My girls have greatly benefitted from bjj both mentally and physically. They absolutely love it and I’ve never had to force them attend class.

    I will admit that’s it’s very pleasing when my 11 year old daughter regularly triangle chokes older and larger boys.

    The wrestling idea is also great, but IMO that road leads to bjj eventually as well.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Gun Nerd View Post

    I’ve also taken the InSights Training Center unarmed defense class from John Holschen (three times, because John is awesome). Ideally, I’d like to find something like that, but tailored to kids’ capabilities and attention spans.
    John Holschen is a treasure in the training community and is an amazing wealth of knowledge.

    Having regularly had students as young as 13 in my road courses, as well as my weekly classes (and being a father to two now adults), I don't think that a class like that should exist. I have yet to see one, and I don't think one ever will. The main problem is that it can be tough enough to get adults to accept certain realities of the world and of violence (a few years ago in NYC, I had a woman absolutely refuse to contemplate using any kind of weapon at all to defend herself with, even with the knowledge that a friend of hers had been raped), and trying to do so on kids would be so much harder. IMO, they need more time understanding the world. Where that kind of learning works best is on a constant basis by a parent/guardian/mentor, not in a two day fire hose course. They will learn these things best in bits of piece as they go through life and learn about the world in general.

    What is beneficial is a physical activity that keeps them fit, arms them with skills and knowledge and does not screw them up.

    I would stay away from a striking based system to start with. While that is a useful skill for later, the amount of trauma a kid will take - even with careful control - is too much. I am of the camp that a grappling method is best. Any of BJJ, wrestling, or Judo would work fine.

    Plus and minuses of them -

    wrestling - easy to find for kids. There are tons of clubs and camps, as well as a goodly number of public schools have it. Nothing will teach someone to control where a fight goes better than wrestling, and they will be fit and tough as hell. On a basic level, if you do not get heavy into competing all the time, it is not expensive sport to start, especially if your child's school has a team. Negatives are that it is tough on the body and that outside of being able to throw a guy hard and hit him with the planet, there are not a lot of things directly applicable to finishing a fight when you need to protect yourself.

    Judo- all the positives of wrestling, with the bonus of having a lot more options to end a fight. Also, in judo your kids will get the single most useful skill set that will ever have from a grappling system - the ability to take a hard fall and not get injured. I have the students in my weekly Fundamental class do a lot of breakfalls because I tell them "you may never need to defend yourself physically and you may never compete, but at some point in your life you will trip and fall hard, and breakfalls WILL save you". It also tends to be a really affordable art. The negatives are that it is bit harder to find a good judo club, and it is even harder on the body than wrestling. I love judo almost as much as I do BJJ, but I have to really be careful how much I do it with my soon to be 55 year old body. There is a strong argument that judo and wrestling is better for kids than adults to do because their bodies are more resilient and can recover from tings better, but I still am a bit nervous at the accumulation even so.

    BJJ - easy to find now thanks to it's popularity. Most schools have dedicated kids program and have put time into developing it. It already has self-defense as a base so there is usually that aspect still important in the kids program even if the adult program is more competition oriented. And most importantly, of the grappling systems it is the least traumatic to the body. The negatives include that it tends to be more expensive than the other two, and with the popularity of it, there are now some schools that are not really legit so you have to do your research.
    For info about training or to contact me:
    Immediate Action Combatives

  7. #7
    All,

    Thanks for the thoughtful and detailed comments, and especially to Cecil for the thorough breakdown.

    Quote Originally Posted by Cecil Burch View Post
    John Holschen is a treasure in the training community and is an amazing wealth of knowledge.

    Having regularly had students as young as 13 in my road courses, as well as my weekly classes (and being a father to two now adults), I don't think that a class like that should exist. I have yet to see one, and I don't think one ever will.
    I wasn't really thinking of a two-day class for kids (which would be a challenge in terms of attention span) - more of a system that I could look at for a few tools relevant to kids.

    In a fit of enthusiasm and because I had a coupon code, I bought a Century "Bobby Bully." The kids have fun smacking it but I quickly realized they may not have the strength to do much more than annoy an adult attacker.

    I'll look around at BJJ options. Both of my kids took local rec center classes from a BJJ place but the (very young) instructor was hampered by lack of command presence and over-complicating things for his audience.

    GN

  8. #8
    I can wholly recommend boxing and wrestling if you can find it for the 9 yr old.
    Locally we have one high school that has a youth wrestling program administrated through parks and rec.
    There is also a local MMA center that has a youth program
    There is also a youth boxing program through i believe a police org or dept. It might be called Cobra but Im not sure.
    I'll wager you a PF dollar™ 😎
    The lunatics are running the asylum

  9. #9
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    My martial arts background is very.... Modest. Wrestling in HS, intramural wrestling and a year of TKD in college. My oldest did karate through blue belt before switching to swimming in 8th grade. My youngest earned a black belt in TKD at 14. He never did get comfortable with the contact elements of TKD, so I don't know how useful it would be in the real world.

    I would definitely point my kids towards BJJ today. As early as I could find a good class at the appropriate level. I believe the experience of rolling with an opponent in a non impact environment helps kids clear some hurdles that more traditional MA don't. I don't know any 10 year old that wants to get punched or kicked. I don't know any 4 year old that doesn't love wrestling.
    "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

  10. #10
    What i saw when both of my kids boxed was not much impact to start.
    Typically they were teamed with an experienced boxer who could control their punches.
    Sparring was more of a tap than a hit.
    They were started with stance movement bag work and endurance training which wasnt near enough to get them through one round. They both collapsed at the end of their first round. However with time they both were able to go numerous rounds of sparring well beyond the three round requirement
    I think that is the advantage of boxing. You have full contact eventually.
    The importance of the skill set of the coach cannot be emphasized strongly enough. My kids coach was a former professional boxer with many years of working with kids. And he had a lot of champions at all levels up to nationals and international.
    A lot of kids come and go in boxing, It is most definitely not for everyone.
    I'll wager you a PF dollar™ 😎
    The lunatics are running the asylum

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