Black belt at 7 years old. Your opinion?

Hey all,

I was talking to my little nephew yesterday. He told me that a lad in his class had just passed his black belt at 7 years old! He has been training for 3 years and had now been put forward and passed his exam. If this is all true it means that this little lad began training at 4 years old!

What do you think? What age do you feel it appropriate to start training in martial arts?
Is there a system/style you would recommend a child to learn first?

Please give your opinions and ideas

Best wishes

Shane

I don't think there's any minimum age to be honest. Ask Louis, Geoff's son - who was around our Karate club from as soon as he was born.
Sat in his buggy watching the class.

I taught him to Kiai and gyaku zuki before he could walk

From an instructor point of view, I always went by the theory that if they can tell their left from their right then you can teach them martial arts - a very simplistic approach I grant you - but makes teaching a little easier

Jamie Clubb is probably a good guy to ask as he has lots of kids classes.

There was a young lad at my karate class who was graded by my old sensei as a black belt at nine years old.
After that he was told he would have to wait until he was sixteen until he could join the adult class. He would then have to start as a whitebelt again but he'd have a black stripe on his belt.
After the kid was in newspapers and everything, he soon got bored as he would have to wait 7 years until he could join the adult class. He left. I did as well soon after.
Out of interest Shane do you know how much his blackbelt grading cost?
Regards
Phil.

Hey Shane.

I think this debate has been going on for years and years.
My kids are aged as you know caroline and bethany are 7, katie is now 9 and ryan is 13. Being an instructor myself I have played around with ideas of getting them into some form of self defence. Ryan trains with me on and off on a regular basis, but my girls I feel at this moment in time do not have the concentration levels to be able to participate in a class which is an hour long or maybe more depending on style, instructor etc etc.

I started training when I was 8 years old in karate, it was hard enough for me then doing 4 classes a week, 3 of those for 1 hour plus and 2 hours on a saturday. In the end I just saw it as a chore and not something I was completely happy doing but carried on anyway.

Kids at the age of 4, should carry on as far as im concerned being a child, enjoying their kids programs, playing around and being mischevious, A lot would come into play regarding this, attention spands, long term health issues, IE bones not being formed correctly, what exactly they train, how they train. how long the class is. obviously its not the kids idea to do the martial art so why is the parent getting them into this at such an early age.

Personally I think its wrong, I would start my children off on boxing if im honest and its just my opinion, something which teaches basic skills to start where they can get the social interaction they need for day to day life and learn something in the process which keeps them fit and healthy and something which in the long term is a good start to self defence, and a good form of self defence on its own.

as for the age to start, my son started training with me when he was about 9 years old not regularly but doing basic boxing and fun games to enhance his confidence and fitness level, like I say he is now 13, and when we train he trains hard and wants to move onto other things, he is now saying he wants to go and try boxing in a gym with other boys his age. aikido he has done and done that from about the age of 9 or 10. which I think is fine depending on the instructor again and how it is taught.

certainly not 4 years old. and a black belt by the age of 7 is just proposterous as far as im concerned.

Just my two penneth, seemed more like a ramble than an insight, but there we go.

More thoughts on this guys?

Craig

Hey phil,

Couldn't tell you how much it cost although that would be an interesting one to find out.

I started at 6 years old. It was in a mixed class (Or i think it was everyone was much bigger than i was!) I got on well in that class but i could see others comming and going.

I think Craig has a point, you have to adapt the entire class format to be appropriate for children.

It could be really good for them to develop social skills, discipline, fitness and FUN. Personally though i don't think i would feel comfortable starting children below the ages of 6. But thats just my cut off point.

Do you chaps feel it would be useful getting the parents involved in the kiddies class? parent/child teamwork? Or could that be opening up an entirely different can of worms?

I think the young lad's Dad paid about 70 quid for a blackbelt and a certificate, it was 150 quid for an adult grading. I'm not sure if this is normal, maybe the more experienced guys might be able to answer this?

My daughter is four and i've been toying with the idea of sending her to moosool monkeys which is a kids martial arts class for up to 7 I think. The syllabus is basic:
Stranger Danger
Discipline
Balance
Confidence.
They then move on to Hapkido once they've reached 7
I personally think that this is enough for any kid up to the age of 6 or 7, Like Craig said, you have to contend with the attention span of a young kid.
I was one of the kids instructors at the Kempo Karate Club I attended. Although very rewarding, the kids' minds did tend to wander bless them.

Hey mate,

Hmmm I have seen this done before, but again it depends on what your teaching, how old the child is IE: 6 years of age, whether the child would be comfortable in the class without parents around, confidence with new people etc. Parent child teamwork can be useful but from what I have seen it tends to be more you educating the parent than the child, and teaching the techniques to the parent to pass on, because the child if new to the class does not always want to pay attention to someone telling them what to do.

Again, it all depends on HOW it is taught and in what format. IE: if you have the kids line up, bow and show respect, fine, then go into drills for forms, show techniques etc they get bored very quickly. if made into a game it shows them training can be fun and they learn quicker as it has became a game to them whilst an element of what you taught gets retained.

The question becomes, am I really teaching the children or is it going to continue as a group class or would you want to just move onto the children later. or will you keep it as parent and child, and if so when do you draw the line to teach the children on their own?

Most kids I have seen this with, have wanted to continue training with their father / mother in class, but does not want to go to class without them when the time comes because they are used to being taught by their parents.

I would not mind doing that with my children, but there would be a cut off point where I or you as an instructor felt that the child was capable to carry on, on their own. I would like my children to learn the art, the discipline, and the respect from something they are learning independantly and not co dependantly, but I would be willing to come along to classes and see how it worked. Especially if it made my child more at ease to see if they liked what they were going to do.

Lots of parents take their kids to classes and participate, should MA be any different?

Nice thoughts mate.
Craig



PS Phil, nice thoughts mate, most classes I see with younger children train the same thing as you listed and not just get thrown in at the deep end. Nice call mate

Shane Kennedy wrote:Hey all,

I was talking to my little nephew yesterday. He told me that a lad in his class had just passed his black belt at 7 years old! He has been training for 3 years and had now been put forward and passed his exam. If this is all true it means that this little lad began training at 4 years old!

What do you think? What age do you feel it appropriate to start training in martial arts?
Is there a system/style you would recommend a child to learn first?

Please give your opinions and ideas

Best wishes

Shane

Tells you all you need to know about the system doesn't it?

We follow the schools system 4 - 6yrs are infants and focus on skill and co-ordination building, 7 - 10yrs are juniors and practice karate, defence, skill, and co-ordination drills and games to develop teamwork, confidence, self esteem, health and happiness, 11+ are considered adults.

In 35 years of teaching children, if they start at 4yrs it's norm ally around 10 - 12 yrs old that they get BB.

we used to have Junior BB upto12-16 then it was re-taken as an adult Grading when they were ready after there 16th birthday

i think 7 is wayyyy to young. the kid may be technically great but i dont think he will understand the true meanings of a BB and what it means to a lot of people. there is a lot of responsibilty he cant possibly handle.

maybe he s a great marketing tool

There's more to a black belt then knowing kata's and techniques. There is a maturity of character and attitude as well.

My eldest daughter was the youngest registered Aikido Brown belt in the UK at 11yrs 11months. She started at 5, trains upto 4 days (7sessions) a week. She had been training in the adult class for a couple of years and attending Association and NGB courses for a similar time. She was graded by a panal at the association run grading on the full adult syllabus and passed with exceptional grades. Saying that she still had to wait until she was 16 before grading for black. Aikido has age restrictions on gradings, 16 for Brown, minimum 1 year extra before Black. I agreed that she should wait as she still had a lot of growing to do in attitude etc....

My youngest attends two of my sessions and she's 3, she has done for the last 9 months. I also have another lad at the same age attend. Classes are kept small and I don't attempt to teach them formally, they come to have fun. They are allowed to come and go on and off the mat as they please joining in when they like. Mostly it's in the warm ups and games but even with the throws and exercises. Just by being there they have learnt to sit, listen, follow others in warm ups, understand rolls and basic movements and throws even count to 10 in Japanese. Children are sponges that soak information and this is what happens just by being in the room.

I feel there is no lower age limit to starting exercise as long as it is age appropriate, safe and they enjoy it. However I do feel there should be an upper age limit and they should most definitely not be used as a marketing tool.

Andy