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I know some people start kids very young and they burn out ? Then others are complete savages because they start as a kid so it's second nature ? Any advice or experiences?
If I had to put a number on it, 7. I personally think 4 is too young for most organized sporting activities.
You can't get a blue belt until you are 16, which is logical because there's no way that you could have the adult take on BJJ because of what you did from 5 years old to 16 years old. Those 11 years of BJJ can't be as significant as 11 years as an adult practionner.
We have this exact situation going on right now. A student is about to turn 16 after 10 years of training and get their blue belt (deservedly). He said me the other day, "a year at blue, a year at purple, year at brown, and then I'm a black belt." I didn't want to shoot him down, but that's likely not happening. The difference between all of the kids belts is mine and incomparable to the colored adult belts. He sees it only a time thing, which is a factor when dealing with kids starting at very young ages.
Kids classes should be about preparing them for the next level, not building monsters at age 6:
- start 4/5 year old with game-like class (yes this can feel like baby sitting), teaching them movements to prepare them for entry into
- 7/8 year old class where things can start to be more technique and feel more like a BJJ class, aimed at preparing them for
- 11/12 year old class where they can really start to learn
- then its cadet level until they are seniors
Until 6 or 7 you should consider it as games and not organized sport
Depends on the kids, but for mine, they started gymnastics at two years old, first in a parent-kids class where they learned nothing in particular but they loved to get ready for the class, driving there, going to the changing room and waiting for the coach to come and get us. They felt like big kids and loved to act like it.
In class, it was all very easy but they still learned basic stuff without knowing it
It's the same thing in the BJJ class , they learn positions and how to do it well in games. They put on a kimono, they have stripes on their white or grey belts.They also roll a little so they understand that it can get a little bit rough and it's ok.
I also wanted to aknowledge how awesome kids belts are in BJJ. You can't get a blue belt until you are 16, which is logical because there's no way that you could have the adult take on BJJ because of what you did from 5 years old to 16 years old. Those 11 years of BJJ can't be as significant as 11 years as an adult practionner. Sure, you're gonna be one hell of a blue belt but you're not black belt as you see in other martial arts.
In karate you have kids getting to black belt at 14 years old, in other association they just stopped giving out black belts under 18 but kids were stuck at brown belt from 14 to 18. I know a kung fu school where they have a dedicated kid who is about to have is brown sash at 13 years old. The normal test for brown sash is to spar full contact in a cage against the coach... I think they are going to water it down a bit.
At what age, generally speaking, do you prefer to see kids competing?