Do I really have to write about this a third time? Yes. Because it’s been irking me for some time now. It’s gotten under my skin, and I think there is a solution here. This is my processing through it before I attempt to bring my concerns to the coaches and staff. I want to put that up front, because this could just sound like a rant. And it is, but the goal is to take action and try to fix the problem and better the systems.
This one is a little more literal, as it actually involves children. Kids. At our academy, the rule typically is that once a kid reaches the age of 13 years old, they are allowed to train in the adult class. Now, I’m not sure how this policy is written. I don’t know if 13 years old is the hard cut off for kid classes. I don’t know if they have to get invited up to the adult classes (I really hope this is not the case), or if they are given the option to move up based on what the parents and the kid feel is right. I don’t know. I just know that 13 is the magic number. No belt requirement, just successfully make it around the sun 13 times, and you can train in adult class.
And there have been some legit 13-year-olds that have moved up to the adult class. At that age, there is still a significant size disadvantage, but you can tell who is going to be dangerous if they keep with it. I can think of 4 or 5 kids who have reached the milestone and have moved up recently. But there are two in particular that have grabbed my attention.
One moved up a few weeks or months before the other. I saw him come up through the kid’s class. He was in my younger kiddo’s class, and was moved up to the more advanced kid’s class simply because he was so much bigger than the other kids. And unfortunately, his technique is just not there. I’m not sure how long he had been training before moving up to the adult class, but it was painful to watch at first. I was certain this kid was going to quit. But he kept coming. He’s actually grown quite a bit and he’s even developed a certain level of unwarranted confidence. But you know what, good on him to be the first volunteer to demo the move of the day with his partner, even if he’s way off.
Recently, with in the last week or two, another kid has moved up to the adult class. Based on the belt he’s rockin’, he’s been training somewhere between 6 and 8 months. Not a long time, but also no an unsubstantial period. I would feel pretty safe in saying that at the 6 months mark you should have some of the fundamental movements of Jiu-Jitsu down. Especially coming up out of a kid’s class, I’d easily expect for a kid to at least look like they’ve seen the following movements before: break-fall, technical stand up (combat stand up, stand-up-to-base, etc.) shrimp, and penetration step/shoot.
Had this kid fallen with any gusto, I guarantee he would have broken both his wrists. For sure. Absolutely. The first time I saw it, I was across the mat and left a little speechless.
About a week ago, we were doing some line drills for warm ups. How we were spaced out, and the line they stuck to being in worked out that I would be walking past them as they were drilling. I won’t go into great detail here. I will say that I tried to slow down and show him how to do a penetration step (I have no idea what he was trying to do). Other than that, I will just simply list the corrections I’d encourage them with as I passed by:
“Get your hips up and pivot on your shoulder.” –
“Don’t fall back with your elbows locked out, roll back and slap the mat.”
“Roll over your shoulder, not your head.”
“Turn your head to the side and go over your shoulder, not your neck.”
“Roll over your shoulders, not your face.”
Shrimps, break-falls, forward, backward and Granby rolls if you were wondering. Next, we partnered up to continue to warm up with some open guard passing that we had been working on in the last month or so. Coach demo’d the two or three passes briefly, and set us off to drill back and forth which ever passes our hearts desired. Our only direction was to drill open guard passes. I’m not even sure these kids know what open guard is, because whatever position they kept starting from, was not it. I think I saw closed-guard, half-guard and full mount.
Here is one of the problems. These two kids always seem to partner up. Now, I get wanting to be with someone relatively close to your size, and maybe someone you are comfortable with. But the problem is that it seemed like the first kid, the one who was starting to make some headway in the adult class caught some reveritgo from the new kid, and retrograded back to his original goofy and uncoordinated self.
After warm-ups, we reviewed the move from last week. About half way through drilling the move, my partner gestures towards the kids and asks what they are doing. One was laying on the mat, the other standing, both had their hand raised. After about 3 more reps between my partner and me, we look, and there they were, hands still raise. My partner rep’d one more and we looked back at only God knows what. I jogged over, showed them the move with all the key steps they were not getting and went back to my partner.
Here’s the worst part of it all. When these two are together, or maybe it’s just the newer kids fault, they seem to actively reject correction or help. I saw it a couple times in the last few weeks. A blue or purple belt would try to correct something they were doing and they would look as though they were listening, taking it in, and ready to apply it, but as soon as the help left, they went right back to doing the same drastic mistakes as before.
The class moved on to a technique from De La Riva and I actively avoided looking their direction. They had burnt up all of the patience I had for the evening.
#rantover
So, here’s my proposed solution. Please, let me know if I’m crazy.
When a parent signs their kids up for our Jiu-Jitsu program, the very first thing they do is an “assessment.” I’ve watched these been done over the years, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid rejected based off how they did during the “assessment.” It’s really more of an introduction to the coach and some of the basics. They even go over break-falls during it. So here me out. If they do assessments for kids coming into the kid program, what if they do an assessment for kids moving up to the adult program? Especially for those who are under a certain time or rank. I have no doubt that most of the kids in the advanced kid’s class would be able to move up with little to now issue.
There’s a lot of things done way different from when I was doing martial arts as a kid. Most notably, ranking up. When it was time to test for your new belt, you were tested for a new belt. I mean, there was an essay you had to write and bring with you, on test days, your parents dropped you off and were told a time they could come back to pick you up. They weren’t even allowed in the building during test days. It started off with a couple mile run, and then a grueling test, including exercises, forms, katas and sparring. There was definitely a level of discipline that is missing in our Jiu-Jitsu academy. And I think there are some pros and cons to it. The biggest con I’m seeing is how unprepared these kids are coming into adult class. I think that could potentially be fixed by doing an assessment prior to them moving up. And if they don’t meet the standards, then give them some things to work on, and they can reassess at the next assessment date.
So, there you have it. My rant. My solution. Let me know if I’m on to something or if I’m way off course.
Thanks for reading.
Thinking Through Jiu-Jitsu 