Jiu-jitsu For Beginners
ADULTS
Does attempting something you have never tried before make you nervous? How about when you see it involves physical simulated fighting? Many tenured students have been in that very position – no previous contact sports, boxing or wrestling. No tumbling or gymnastics experience. Feelings of being too old to begin something new or fears of previous injuries returning.
You are not alone.
Virtually everyone is nervous when they start anything. The black belt you see in the gym at one time was a white belt, losing every sparring match, and nervous about going to class. Our system is designed to help every student, regardless of how far they may be from ideal conditioning when they start. Our mission is to help every student reach their fullest potential. The secret to doing that is to allow every student to progress at their own pace. At the same time we will help them realize how much faster they can go by helping them learn how to safely expand their efforts. We don’t believe in throwing new students “to the lions”. We offer beginner classes and counsel mutual consideration and care for others above “winning” in the academy.
Private orientation – We initiate a student’s joining by offering a private lesson that orients the student to the spectrum of Jiu-jitsu skills they will be learning and their place in the art. We show them the movements typical in warm-ups as opposed to watching the awkward struggle of them attempting them for the first time in a class.
Beginners/fundamentals Class – Our early morning fundamentals class slowly takes the new students through all the basics at a pace that allows them to really learn each technique. At the same time we blend our lessons technical learning phase with achieving better conditioning overall by using the movements needed for that day’s technique and turn them into conditioning drills. Consider the early morning classes as they are always smaller so every student gets a lot of attention to every detail in their game. It’s one way to learn much faster. And there is no better way to begin your day than our early morning class. After a new student feels they know enough, they will be able to enter the regular adult classes with a far greater degree of confidence.
KIDS
Children look at extraordinary experiences differently than adults do. They have fewer frames of reference and everything appears “new”. Because they come with no expectations or experience in anything similar, they absorb what they learn like sponges. In today’s world of I-phone fascination and compulsive distraction, Jiu-jitsu is an oasis of human touch, especially for children immersed every day in a sea of synthetic or virtual experiences. Realizing how extraordinary and new Jiu-jitsu it is for them, we do everything we can to be their guide into the unknown. We observe closely their reactions as they begin and give them options in the class they can manage. At the same time they are always encouraged to not be afraid of failure and simply strive harder the next time. There is no such thing as a “mistake”. We don’t let that “no” person in them win their heart. A mistake only means we need to try again until we succeed and then we are praised for accomplishing the drill. By helping them overcome their own limits their confidence grows.
In every Jiu-jitsu Kids Class the students learn a technique for the day. Each technique helps them stop or control an aggressor or opponent. They will see the value in this immediately. And by the end of that class they are getting praise for succeeding in learning that technique. Success breeds continued success. This is how kids grow into better, more confident kids.
