The overarching advantage of learning Jiu-Jitsu as a child has been well-documented. While obvious to active members of the community, the specific benefits may not be so obvious to folks who haven’t yet tried Jiu-Jitsu. Let’s look at 5 attributes your child will gain from Jiu-Jitsu in this post.
1 – Fitness
Jiu-Jitsu is a great form of physical fitness. During each class, your child will go through a warm-up, drilling, and rolling. In the warm-up, our job is to push your child, help them know they can do more than they realize and that heart has a lot of determination in a battle. When drilling, your child will work toward perfecting their practice, slowing moves down to understand their body and their opponent’s body better. Rolling will likely be the toughest part of class, trying to use what they have learned in actual practice. In each part of class, your child will learn balance and spatial awareness while developing flexibility, total strength, and cardiovascular endurance.
2 – Self-Discipline
The difference between discipline and self discipline is simple. One you do because someone asked you to, and the other you do because you know you should. Self-discipline is a superpower that leads to mastery of one’s self. We train and teach your child to be aware of what they are being told to do and what in their life they can take control of. Whether it’s standing like a statue without being asked on the mat or keeping track of their own belongings at home. We discuss and demonstrate how self-discipline is a learned behavior that creates freedom in life.
3 – Respect
Showing someone or something that they are important. Respect has many aspects including manners, kindness, cleanliness and focus. All of these are shown and enforced in the gym, allowing children to develop strong habits. We also engage your child during mat chats on how they can show respect in and out of the gym. Children learn what their actions say about them, and how they can show respect through their actions. Asking your child what they learned in class in a great way to reinforce the lessons of the day and continue the conversation on how to apply it in their own life.
4 – Confidence
Experience grants confidence. Through acting out real life situations and practice, your child can gain that experience. We give your child a safe space to try; try messing up, try handling tough situations, try dealing with bullies, try being uncomfortable, try being hurt or squished, and learning how to deal with it all. They will learn strategy and how to problem solve, how to use their own skills and attributes to their advantage, and how to deal with pressure so they adapt when facing adversity.
5 – The Benefits of Winning and Learning
We want your child to work hard for victory and to know the value of losing. Jiu-Jitsu is a competition sport. One person will always come out on top. Whether your child wins or loses, we want them to feel proud and driven to try again. We want your child to know that losing is a great place to teach us our mistakes so we can improve. Losing meant your child was brave enough to try something new and difficult. We never want your child to fear failure, in fact quite the opposite. The only thing to fear is complacency. In class your child will be put in this position often. They will get to practice grace in victory and analysis in loss. Either way, your child will develop great skills that will affect all aspects of their life.
Are you ready to introduce your kids to Jiu-Jitsu?
