How to Create a Great Kid’s BJJ Program

Welcome to part two on how to create a great kid’s BJJ program. As I mentioned in part one,  a good kid’s program is one of the most essential parts of a successful jiu-jitsu academy.

If done right, the kid’s program can become the most stable and biggest source of revenue, covering the academy’s major expenses, allowing for coach salaries, and becoming the main source of natural marketing (kids and parents love to tell their friends about this cool martial art they’re learning).

In this three-part series, I want to provide insight into how to craft a good kid’s program, and what it takes to be a good – and eventually great – kid’s BJJ instructor. In part one, I talked about the structure of a good kid’s BJJ program: the importance of a consistent format, a well-planned curriculum, a reasonable coach-to-student ratio and the role of games. Part two centers on the actual instruction.

Part 2: How to Teach a Kid’s Class

Because jiu-jitsu is growing so fast, especially among today’s youth, there’s always a need for kid’s instructors… But good ones are hard to find. A good kid’s instructor not only has the time and availability to teach a mat full of young hooligans – the absolute minimum of qualifications – but also a slew of character traits and skills necessary to navigate the complex interactions that occur during a kid’s class. 

It can be a very tough, emotionally draining, and sometimes frustrating job.  However, it can also be incredibly rewarding. Given the tremendous influence a BJJ instructor can have on today’s youth, it’s also very important that a kid’s instructor is armed with the knowledge and skills to play their role to the best of their ability.

Becoming a good kid’s instructor takes time – and loads of patience – and there are many elements that make up a good kid’s instructor, and many ways to be one. However, they all tend to 1) be able to break ideas down, 2) keep their students engaged, 3) strike a good balance between enthusiasm and discipline, and 4) allow their students some agency on the mat.

Breaking it Down

One of the most essential skills an instructor – of any type, not just in the discipline of jiu-jitsu – needs is the ability to break, sometimes complex, ideas down in such a way that their students can easily understand it. This goes not only for kid’s instructor, but also for instructors of adult classes.

At its most basic, being able to “break it down” means parsing the jiu-jitsu technique into separate, digestible, and logical steps. The “digestible” part is important. You don’t want a “step” to be overly complicated or involve too many movements. You’ll either lose your student “in the sauce” (as I like to say) or their subsequent execution will be sloppy and/or inefficient. On the other hand, you also don’t want to break it down “too much” that you lose the  tempo of the class. Especially with kids. If the class is going too slow, you’ll quickly have kids picking their noses (and smearing it on the mats or each other… I’ve seen it), running around, fidgeting… everything but paying attention to what you’re teaching. 

A good rule of thumb is to parse the technique into two or three small movements, typically movements that  make sense together. These combinations are your “steps.” So, if I’m teaching an arm bar from mount: step one is hook the arm and shift my body up and slightly to the side; step two is lean away from the leg I want to move, and move it across their face; step three is sit down as close to the shoulder as possible and adjust my grips; step four is lay back and, keeping the wrist control, hip up into the elbow.

A kid can follow and remember four steps that are "sets of movements" a lot easier than nine or ten individually steps are single movements... even though they are all the same movements. 

Engagement

Of course, you can have a rock solid method of instruction, and you might still struggle keeping your students engaged. This is just because kids will be kids, and in today’s world, they have the attention spans of gnats.

So, you will have to employ some attention-getting tricks to keep them locked in. Here are a few you can try:

• Snapping – Any time I want them to focus on what my hands are doing, I like to give a little snap. If they’re staring out into space, or if they’re focused on picking the scab off their foot, this wakes them up and redirects their attention to where I want them to look.
• Asking Questions – Many kids like to be involved and voice their thoughts. Asking what the next step is, or asking why – or why not – for certain movements, are ways to keep them alert and focused on your instruction, just in case they have an opportunity to answer.
• Having them Demonstrate – Similarly, if they anticipate that they may be called to share what they just learned, they’ll tend to pay more attention. They want to show off well to their peers. Just be prepared to be supportive if they completely mess it up…. because they may not have been paying attention despite your best efforts. You don’t want them to feel too embarrassed in front of everyone that they become anxious about coming back to class.

Enthusiasm vs Discipline

A good kid’s instructor manages a good balance between being fun and enthusiastic, and being a disciplinarian. Too far toward one side of the spectrum or the other, and you’ll gradually lose control over the group.

If you’re always the “fun instructor”, the little hooligans will expect you to entertain them. They’ll demand games every day (and expect you to capitulate) and they’ll tend to goof off more than they’ll pay attention. To them, your class is akin to recess at school. They’ll do want they want and constantly push the boundaries of what’s “allowed.” On the other hand, if you’re always the disciplinarian, they’ll gradually tire of being told to “do this, do that.” They get that at home and school all the time. Yes, you want them to learn and pay attention, but no matter how competitive they become, jiu-jitsu should always remain something they look forward to.

How do you maintain that balance? It’s tricky, and requires a certain “feel” developed over time. However, there are some things that can help. On the discipline side, make sure all your coaches are on the same page as to what’s acceptable and unacceptable behavior (and where the line is). Make sure you have a consistent response for unacceptable behavior (allowing for “strikes”, so the child isn’t automatically penalized for unintentional misbehavior). And make sure what’s unacceptable is made explicit to the kids, and repeated periodically to account for any new students. On the enthusiastic side, make sure your coaches are generous with high-fives, “good jobs” and smiles. Figure out ways to incorporate games and clean humor into your instruction.

Agency

Agency is an often overlooked element of good instruction. In psychology, agency refers to the feeling of control over actions and their consequences. The way you incorporate agency on the mat, is by allowing for choice.

First and foremost, the kids should choose to be there on the mat. It’s hard to instruct a child who has been forced to come to jiu-jitsu by their parents. Of course, you can’t control what a parent does or does not do with their kid, but you can pretty easily recognize the signs of a kid not wanting to be there. Pay attention to what those children might dislike and dread about jiu-jitsu class, and find ways to accommodate them without singling them out or making them hate being there even more.

For those kids who already want to be there, give them opportunities for choice. Simply asking them if they want to play this or play that, or if they want to learn this or learn that, is a great way to give them a feeling of control over their learning, which will have positive feedback loops into their attitude and behavior generally.

This completes part two of “How to Create a Great Kid’s BJJ Program.” If you haven’t read part one yet, you can access it HERE. Part three will dive into troubleshooting some common issues that arise during a kid’s class.