Children's Judo ClassOur philosophy is to keep judo fun for kids. As much as possible we try to use games as learning tools to teach the techniques of judo. Play is the natural way that children learn and we want to take advantage of that. We are trying to move away from "boring" drills as much as possible and replace them with more functional training methods for children. Ideally, every technique should be presented as a tool to help win in the games. Then the games should be related back to techniques for fighting. We are constantly trying to think of additional games to use, and ways to make them more relevant to judo. If you have any ideas, please don’t hesitate to tell us in person or by e-mail. In a typical class we begin by warming up with a game and then stretching. We do some technical instruction, some drilling (preferably in the form of a game), and some sparring (sometimes also in the form of a game) every class. Time is spent on both the throwing aspect of judo and the ground fighting aspect. Ground fighting for children emphasizes the positional strategy of judo ground fighting, and the goal of sparring is hold-downs only. Children are generally not permitted to use submission holds. Older children will be introduced to the concept of submissions, but they have to wait until they transition into the adult class before they train submissions seriously. Judo tournaments can be a fun way for children to test their judo, but it is not considered the goal of training at this age. Parents should decide if competion is appropriate for their child. We try to run two or three practice tournaments for the kids each year with the help of our sister club in Wembley. Our club sends adult competitors to most of the larger tournaments in Alberta, so carpooling and coaching will be available in most cases. Our children's judo program is based on Judo Canada's Long Term Athlete Development Model. |