Today we’ll talk about tips for teaching kids specific Judo moves, and
which Judo moves will work best for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I’ll say that at our Baltimore Martial Arts Gym, we have found it much easier to teach kids Judo than to teach them Jiu Jitsu.
Osoto gari is a easiest throw for very young children, between the ages of 3 and 7, to begin with. I say this because it is a relatively simple move. Make sure the kids are chest to chest. One important point with the osoto gari is to emphasize to your students not to swing their legs out and behind their opponent's legs as that is a guaranteed way to get taken down.
Another key point when teaching the Osoto is that the child getting thrown knows how to breakfall so that they don’t injure their arms by reaching backwards.
Tai otoshi is another throw that little kids can do and learn easily. Two key things to teaching this are to make sure the child steps all the way across the legs, and that they point their knee down to the floor and not up.
When working with little kids it important to keep in mind that it will take many repetitions for them to understand and perform it. That, like everything else, won’t come overnight.
Now we’ll take about training older kids in the fine art of Judo. Working with older kids can be easier because they tend to have betterbalance, and balance is a big part of learning Judo. We’ve found that the best throws, and the ones that will work most often for kids inthis age group, are the Osoto Gari, the Dropping Seio Nage and the hip toss.
Teaching the Osoto Gari to little children and older ones follows the same principles. Make sure the kid getting taken down does not reach behind themselves and that they can breakfall the right way.
The drop seio nage (or drop one arm throw) is the one our students have had the most success with. When teaching this, make sure the kid gets under the arm and that they throw themselves under the hips of their training partner to get the full pull of the throw. Another good point about teaching this throw is that an adult can have a child drill this on them and it's going to feel very much the same as if the child were doing is on another childtheir size. The key thing when letting them throw you is to throw yourweight over them and NOT ON THEM so they can get the feel for it.
The hardest one to teach older kids (which surprised us) is the hip toss. You must be very careful when teaching this, and make sure that for the first few times they do it that you put down a crash pad. It is common that kids won’t have the physical strength to load another kid up onto their hips. We don’t want two kids falling on their heads.
USE A CRASH PAD AND STAND RIGHT NEXT TO THEM ON THE FIRST FEW GO-AROUNDS WITH A HIP TOSS.
I hope these tips help you out and remember, start with the basics and you’ll have your child on his or her way to be a Judo takedown machine!
Danny Ives
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