I’ve done a good amount of coaching and assistant coaching with both adults and kids since being an upper blue belt and now purple belt. Though I’ve done mostly small group or individuals, I got the opportunity to run my first full kid’s class. My professor asked me ahead of time if I’d be interested in running one of the kids’ classes so that he could attend his own kids Christmas concert. I was very happy to cover. The class was one that I normally assist with coaching as it is a class that is kids between the age of 10 – 16 years old and both my 10-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son attend. I had limited time to prepare but was happy to have the opportunity to run the class. I regularly take my kids to the class and assist in coaching. Since doing this on a regular basis, I found that it improves my own Jiu Jitsu by leaps and bounds. Teaching exponentially helps you understand Jiu Jitsu techniques and principles. Teaching kids is a great place to start as you really need to capture the attention of kids and explain it in the simplest terms for them to understand and be able to apply. I think teaching kids will be a huge part of my own Jiu Jitsu learning and journey.
To start out the class I did our regular line up by belt color, class plan communication, and bow in. I let the class know that we would start with a warmup, work on technique, and do some fun situational rolling. I thanked the kids for attending and bowed them in for the class. I gathered the kids around to explain the warmup and here is a breakdown of the nogi class.
Warmup
My school is a wrestling heavy Jiu Jitsu school and one of my favorite warmups is standing to take down progression warmup. Jiu Jitsu starts on the feet so why not start class on the feet. For warm up I like to start with hand fighting, then shots, and finally takedown.
Hand Fighting
I first showed the kids how to take a low athletic wrestling stance. I told the kids that in wrestling and nogi, it is often the lowest grappler that gets the take down. I then showed the kids different hand fighting positions to look for with their partner including grips, collar ties, underhooks, body locks, Russian ties, and arm drags. I instructed the kids to not go 100% and to allow their partner to work. The class split up into partners and began the warmup. During the warmup I walked around to coach technique and to ensure the kids remained focused on hand fighting. I let them work for about 5 minutes or so until I saw that their breathing increased, and they were sufficiently warmed up. I then called the class to circle up to move to the next phase of the warmup shots.
Takedown shots
The next phase of the warmup was to practicing shooting on their partner from a dominant hand fighting position. I showed the class basic shots for single and double legs. I also showed a few options for Judo throws. I stressed the kids to capture a dominant hand fighting position before looking to shot or throw. I asked them to focus on getting a double or single leg from a tie, grip, or other dominant position. I instructed the students to take turns getting a dominate position then shotting for a takedown without finishing it, then taking turns shot for shot with their partner.
Takedowns
I let the kids practice shot for shot for about another 5 minutes walking around and giving tips on their shots. After about 5 minutes, I then yelled out now finish the takedown. I reinforced the methodology to get a dominant hand fighting position, shoot, and then finish. After another 5 minutes of finishing takedowns and I called the class to regroup for the technique portion of the class.
Technique
One thing I noticed from previous classes was lazy side control positioning being displayed by most of the class. Side control is one of my preferred positions that I like to play so it was one that I saw as a need and could explain well to the kids.
I’ve been on an ecological Jiu Jitsu learning approach kick lately and though it would be good for kids and an opportunity for me to try as a teaching technique. For the technique portion I want to explain some concepts of side control, escaping side control, and then finishing with a game to practice the concepts.
For side control I explained the concept of inside position and trying to capture and keep it. I showed the class how to shelf the near side arm, make an effective cross face, turning the opponents chin, gable gripping, setting the butt to the heals, using the head, ensuring chest to chest pressure, and placing the knees next to the head and the hip. Had the kids get with their partners and get into the position. I then went around and coached each kid in their positioning. After each kid looked good in a solid side control, I called the group together again and explained concepts for escaping side control back to full guard.
I explained inside position again and how to capture it with frames under the neck, at the hip, and getting the knee in. Then I showed the kids how to use these frames to swivel under their partner to recapture closed guard. I had the kids get with their partners again to practice this while I went around and coached. After practicing this for a few minutes, I then called the class together to explain the game where they would practice the side control concepts, I went over during the class.
Side Control/Side Control Escape Game
For the game I instructed the kids to start in a solid side control position using the concept that we practiced. To win the game the top person would need to make a chest to back connection or lock up a kimura or Americana grip with no need to finish for the win. For the bottom person they would need to escape or get to a guard. If either person won, they must switch positions. The class started with their original partners and begun the game. After a few minutes I switched up the person explaining that every time they roll or fight it is different every time, so they need to adjust the concepts that we learned today and try different things to feel out how to best win the game. In total we spent about 10 minutes playing the side control game and the kids were well worked out when we finished.
End of class
At the end of class I gave the kids a recap of what we did today and asked a few quiz questions giving praise for any answers given. I thanked the kids for attending the class and bowed them out. Overall, I think the kids had a good time, a good work out, and got to practice methods instead of straight techniques. For me I felt like my teaching skills 10x’d from this one class. I had a great time and got to experiment with some ecological approaches to training. I will look to teach more classes in the future if I get the chance.
Lesson Plan
| Item | Length |
| Warm up | 15 Total Minutes |
| Hand fighting | 5 minutes |
| Shot for shot | 5 minutes |
| Takedowns | 5 minutes |
| Technique | 10 Total Minutes |
| Side control concepts | 10 minutes |
| Side control escape concepts | 10 minutes |
| Ecological Game | 15 Total Minutes |
| Side control ecological game | 15 minutes |
| Class recap and Q&A | 5 minutes |