Is this normal for a Judo gym?

[Judo Thai Boxer]

Must be different in the U.S. 10yrs is pretty standard in Australia.

Co-grading in BJJ & judo is not common here

It really depends how hard you train IMO, I think if you put the effort in it takes around 5 years or so.

Having said that, I know someone who had been training for 16 years and got it when he was 21 and I know a guy in his 50's who got his after 35 years, I think it really depends on how much effort you put in and how willing you are to compete.

 

[ISWThunder]

BJJ & Judo are so heavily intertwined that I don't see it as an issue. They may end up in a situation where they are not as skilled in one of the arts as someone who has been steadily training just one, especially at the higher level techniques, but the tradeoff is them becoming a well-rounded bad ass grappler.

Although the biggest annoyance would probably be adjusting to the different rulesets with the constant changes in judo. But that should be easy to overcome since class isn't a competition and nobody should get angry because you occasionally use an illegal judo grip while practicing a throw.

 

[GmGolden1]

Being that the minimum time in grade for the first couple of promotions under the United States Judo Association is only 2 months, and then it only goes up to 3 months for a few more grades, I don't see testing in Judo every 3 months as a big deal.

In BJJ, the minimum time in grade for the first two kids belts in the IBJJF system is only 6 months, so if the promotions are stripes and not belts, then that makes sense as well...

 

[dalexan242]

Our gym has both kids judo (3 hrs per week) and kids BJJ (2 hrs per week). They are separate classes with separate instructors but most of the BJJ kids also are in the judo class. We have belt tests for judo and not for BJJ, but there is a belt promotion fee (~$20-25) for each. Promotions are twice a year in each, so it works out to be 4 total promotions a year for those kids who do both.

I'm not a big fan of belt promotion fees, but its really not that big of an expense and that alone does not mean that the gym is a McDojo (we have a lot of the top competition kids in both sports in our area and we have legit 3rd and 8th degree black belts teaching the kids classes). If they did away with the promotion fees and just charged $10 more per month it wouldn't bother me much. Many of the competition kids train more frequently at our affiliate locations, but for the most part promotions for kids will be the same if the kid is training regularly twice a week or training 10 times a week. So, it's not purely merit/achievement-based like it would be for the adults but the kid also has to be coming pretty regularly throughout the 6 month period in order to get promoted.

 

[Russky]

Ten years for shodan is... wow.

Why the hell does it take so long at that club?

The average for my main club is 6 years.

Maybe your coaches are better then ours

Kids usually come to our club at ~8-9 years age. They get black belt once they graduate from high school (if they are good, of course).

Many quit once they get black belt. This is a big achievement and there is no other goal in sight after that. If we promote faster kids start losing tournaments, get discouraged, and quit. We want them to stay.

 

[peregrine]

How many hours do the kids or kids you know train on the mat and what sports?

 

[crazyjames1233]

My old gym had a judo and bjj program, but they were fairly separate and run by different guys. though a lot of people went to both. mixing them like that sounds like a good idea though.

 

[Normot]

When I was a kid doing Judo 2x a week it was once a week standup and once a week ground work. Same with most the clubs in the area. Sounds like it's probably exactly the same thing except they get a better newaza instructor!
Shit, at least 10 minutes a day was fun judo-esque games.