Reflections on Teaching Kids BJJ Classes
I'm a few months into teaching kids. Here's what I've learned.
I started a BJJ kids class for ages 6 and up while I was on a 5-week paternity leave in November 2023. I had a little previous experience teaching kids. Shortly after receiving my black belt in 2016, I helped run a BJJ kids class but I was more focused on my own personal training at that time.
I’ve had my gym, Presley BJJ, open since July 2022. I always knew I would have a kids class but I didn’t know when the right time would be to start. I was teaching 9 adult BJJ classes a week and I didn’t think I had any more time to teach kids. But it’s true what they say, you make time for things that are important. I have been running 2 kids classes a week since November 2023. Thursdays and Sundays. It’s been a lot of fun. I love it when kids tell me they enjoy the class, which thankfully happens a lot.
It's also a big challenge teaching kids BJJ. I want them to have fun, but I also want them to build the skills they need to be good at BJJ. The best way to do this is through games. There’s several different games you can play that mimic BJJ battles.
Here are a few tips I think are helpful for teaching kids BJJ classes.
Have a good warmup
I focus on solo body movement drills. These kids need to build coordination. I love the classic BJJ group warmup mixed with some stretching. I follow that with lane drills. My warmups for the kids usually run 20-30 minutes in total. I think it’s important to mix drills that are challenging, as well as drills that are fun and easy.
Ask for help
I’ve been lucky to have a few of my students help me with the kids’ BJJ classes. Their kids are in the class and they are happy to help. It’s tough managing multiple kids and I do have limited space. I think it’s great when parents get involved in the kids class.
Ask the kids what they like
Not every drill can be fun but if you’re having more fun in class, it’s more likely you will come back for the next class. I always ask the class to pick one drill at the end to finish class with. Everyone leaves in a good mood.
Be willing to experiment
Sometimes I get the kids to do a drill or game and I think, “Oh boy, this is not what I expected”. Sometimes that means doing that drill in a different way. For example, the classic BJJ shrimp/hip escape. The first time I got the kids to drill it solo, everyone found it very hard to do. The next class, I asked everyone to do it in partners and everyone was shrimping well. Sometimes you just need to tweak the drill.
Don’t pick favourites
I don’t want any of the kids to feel bad. It’s great picking a kid to demonstrate a drill but if you pick the same kid every time, some of the others will think, “why not me?”. I like to try and spread the love as much as I can. Ask as many different volunteers as possible. Same with technique, if you only drill with one kid, it’s unfair to the others. I prefer to let kids drill and occasionally jump into different groups to make sure everyone is understanding the technique.
Looking to the future
I know the kids are getting better at the warmups because I’m not getting as tired in the class doing all the drills. Now I’m starting to look at the different positions in BJJ. Standing position, ground top, ground bottom, and trying to create games that build skills from each of those positions. We were recently working a few classes on guard retention. I’m thinking about creative ways to work on wrestling and pin escapes.
Submissions
I haven’t taught submissions to any of the kids yet. Honestly, I don’t know when I will. For adults, getting submitted hurts emotionally, not so much physically. It’s even harder for kids. IBJJF heavily restricts which submissions are allowed in kids divisions to the point to that it’s essentially rear-naked choke and armbars permitted.
If you have any good resources for teaching kids BJJ or wrestling let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it.
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