[Closed] Ninja's of the forum?

As soon as they've mastered the apostrophe.

As soon as they have cleard crotch punching height.

As soon as you can trust them not to talk about it afterwards.

Whatever age your local Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club has as a minimum. It's usually 4 but some clubs vary.

Depends on the martial art.

My daughter started Tae Kwondo at 8 and that was about right. You can start at 4, but there is a fair bit of theory involved in the belt gradings (learning the Korean words for the moves and patterns), and this puts a lot of younger kids off. The other problem with starting Tae Kwondo really young is that they could be black-belt within 3 years, but then they have to wait 4 years between 1st and 2nd Dan. A lot pack in during this limbo period.

I have to say it's been really good for her as well - she's 14 now and into more than ever.

Other than that - start them when you feel they are ready!

Do you want a defensive or attacking martial art too?

Never. I taught one Kuk Sool kids class, it was horrific. I still get flashbacks 😉

Whatever age your local Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club has as a minimum.

Pretty much this, or Judo.

Once they can stay in the horse stance for five full minutes, catching flies with chopsticks whilst blindfolded.

Seriously depends what you want, but I'd think five or six would be a good age.

Just start them off cleaning the car.

If you want them to be a killing machine then mid twenties when they might be responsible enough to not stove someone's face in/motivated enough to learn diligently. If it's for the normal confidence/fitness/discipline/general activity reasons then any age.

Judo seems like a great place to start.

Edit: "black-belt within 3 years" What??

My lad is 7 and a half, and he's just started going to Jujitsu. There are a couple of boys there, that age, but none any younger.

I have not trained in a long time, but I did train for about 15 years, of which five of those I spent teaching kids.

My personal view is that seven or eight is about the youngest (it does depend on the child obviously) to be starting and ideally 10 is a better age.

There's nothing wrong with younger children coming to class, it's just that they aren't really learning anything other than, perhaps, focus, attention, discipline etc.

At ten they've got just about enough physical coordination to actually learn the techniques. Before that they're imitating but not really learning.

But aside from this, by far the more important aspect is not the child's age, but rather the quality of the instructor. The system is also irrelevant (well mostly, the style of TKD they do in the Olympics of course is a shambles and shouldn't be practised by anyone but that's a different story).

The teacher needs to be good with kids, not just good at the art/system. Indeed, far better to be not even black belt (or equivalent) but great at teaching kids than be a senior rannk and shite with them.

There are kids as young as 4 or 5 in the kids class of the boxing gym I go to, it seems to be mainly around focus and discipline at that age. I guess it depends on the club and what they are set up for. Other classes I've done seem to have 8 or so as a starting age

geetee1972

My personal view is that seven or eight is about the youngest (it does depend on the child obviously) to be starting and ideally 10 is a better age.

There's nothing wrong with younger children coming to class, it's just that they aren't really learning anything other than, perhaps, focus, attention, discipline etc.

I think it would depend entirely on the art, if accurate execution of technique was important for progression say. In a grappling scenario correct technique is vital, but the higher technique is understanding movement, 360 degrees in all directions. What looks like uncoordinated rolling to the uneducated eye is in fact incredibly difficult to master, and kids pick it up much more intuitively than adults. In fact you can even see a disparity between how fast 20 year olds and 30 year olds learn.

So much like mountain biking or surfing, there's a balance and flow to it beyond the actual moves. Whats more, unlike a striking art children can actually practice the art with each other (in a purely playful context for young children) and there's little danger of damage.

My kids started Shotokan Karate at 7. I don't think that was too? early, they definitely benefited in lots of ways. It would depend on the individual though, there were some children there who were? older than 7 but still too young for the class.

Edit: double post

My son started Shotokan at 10, he's 12 nearly 13. Up to green belt, about halfway to black. There are only a couple of young uns there (about 7 years old). The classes are usually geared up for age and ability though. Be careful, some places put kids through their grades too soon as it's twenty odd quid a pop. If they fail they have to pay again. My sons instructor won't put anyone in for their grade unless he's positive they will pass.

Judo is an excellent place to start. They'll learn good habits, good posture and how to use the other person's force against them. Plus there's a fairly quick progression through the belts which keeps things fun and gives a sense of progession and achievement.

My missus trains in Iwama Aikido. it's fair to say that the progression rate is not considered to be quick 🙂 good martial art though. My security teams use elements of it for control and restraint. Very effective, highly painful and no lasting damage.

As soon as they're old enough to shout"hiyyyyyya"

yossarian

My missus trains in Iwama Aikido. it's fair to say that the progression rate is not considered to be quick good martial art though. My security teams use elements of it for control and restraint. Very effective, highly painful and no lasting damage.

There's a huge amount of crossover and commonality of moves in japanese martial arts. There are no secret Aikido moves which actually work, that you won't find in Judo, Japanese Jujitsu and Brazilian Jiu jitsu, folk style wrestling, greco roman wrestling, catch-as-catch-can, sambo etc. They all share joint locks and restraints but some have different nomenclature.

If I say "hadaka jime" it's sounds much more exotic than rear naked choke. "Ashi garami" sounds more esoteric and impressive than "leg lock". The names aren't important, what matters is whether the technique will work against resistant opponents, not willing dance partners. Aikido is barely a martial art. My friend is an aikido black belt.

Aikido is barely a martial art

LOL! That's hilarious

My friend is an aikido black belt.

Oh, you do know that they wear the hakama and that 'black belt' is not a recognised term? Course you do. Perhaps it's because it's barely a martial art eh? 🙂

Just google 'ninjas' in your local area.

Hope you have better luck than I did, I got 'no results found'.

Well played ninjas, well played...

yossarian

Oh, you do know that they wear the hakama and that 'black belt' is not a recognised term?

Thanks for reinforcing my point.

Aikido is barely a martial art

I know, still chuckling about it some hours later. 😀

My son goes to a karate class - he's 4. He's pretty shit to be honest but seems to like it!

There's a Ninja hiding in a tree down our street.

He's French, but he had to leave France due to the Burqa Ban.

I'll go ask him

Could see if there's a Krav Maga school somewhere handy they could start at...
Being bullied at school would cease to be a worry. 😉

My eldest started TKD at about 5 1/2. He's seven now and just done his yellow belt.

The grading was pretty tough on a (just turned) seven year old, he looked nervous and didn't look like he was enjoying it at all and I was convinced he'd tell me he didn't want to go back.

Some of the kids in his class really struggle to focus, some are well into it. I'd say it'll depend on the character of the child, and the encouragement from the teacher. Pull out if it feels wrong (said the etc etc).

Pull out if it feels wrong

I think it's too late for that sounds like he's already got the kid

Could see if there's a Krav Maga school somewhere handy they could start at.

I'll refer you to my comment about a killing machine.

You *can* kill people by repeatedly kneeing them in the balls, right?

geetee1972 - Member 
My personal view is that seven or eight is about the youngest (it does depend on the child obviously) to be starting and ideally 10 is a better age.
There's nothing wrong with younger children coming to class it's just that they aren't really learning anything other than, perhaps,[b] focus, attention, discipline [/b]etc.

Just three important life skills then.

My 4 & 6 y-o boys go to karate. Both love it. Its running round and doing basic punches, kicks and as they get better trying to remember moves in order (kata?) They are in a class for 4 -8 year olds. Nice atmos, some of the teenagers help the trainer etc.

My eldest started TKD at about 5 1/2. He's seven now and just done his yellow belt.

This sort of proves my point with TKD. The lower belts should be pretty straightforward and yellow belt can be achieved in 6 months.

But when they are too young the theory and the detail can overwhelm them and they end up stagnating on a belt for months or years - then they get bored and quit.

My son and I started going to shotokan karate about four years ago (he was 7 at the time). Definitely good for fitness and discipline. Some of the kids who go are 5 or 6. Everyone seems to enjoy it and I would recommend it.

This sort of proves my point with TKD. The lower belts should be pretty straightforward and yellow belt can be achieved in 6 months.

But when they are too young the theory and the detail can overwhelm them and they end up stagnating on a belt for months or years - then they get bored and quit.

I agree. Yellow was the first belt that was a bit of a challenge for him, in that, we did a bit of work leading up to it to give him what he needed to pass. We didn't have to on previous belts and I don't think he'd have got through the grading without it.

He only does it for an hour once per week, I think he was quite lucky to get yellow and it's pretty clear that if he wants to go further he's going to have to practice more at home and go at least twice a week. Not sure he wants to (he's more interested in bikes, running and football) and I'm not going to push it - he can do whatever he wants.

That said, if he wants to sit on yellow for a year or more then I really don't care, as long as he's enjoying going.

I think it would depend entirely on the art, if accurate execution of technique was important for progression say. In a grappling scenario correct technique is vital,

Yes that's a good point actually. If the system is based almost entirely on grappling, that would make even harder for a young child to learn.

Focus, attention and discipline are indeed three fabulous life skills that all children should learn. My point is that you can learn these skills in many other ways than just martial arts and many of those are much easier to access as a child.

Also, while we're at it, 'Krav Magar' is categorically not a martial art, it's purely a system of fighting and has no art in it at all.

Akido, not a martial art? Really? When did this happen? It's one of the oldest and most artistic martial forms there is, ostensibly derived as a means of defending against sword attck IIRC.

Indeed Akido is perhaps one of, if not the, most beautiful and elegant martial arts there is.