Recommend a martial art/self defence for Daughters please?

bedtime

I've two Daughters (4 & 5 years old), I really want them to learn a martial art/self defence but haven't a clue myself of which one/ where to go?

Location wise- anywhere between Bray- Stillorgan would suit.

Thanks in advance

arybvtcw0eolkf

bedtime wrote: »

I've two Daughters (4 & 5 years old), I really want them to learn a martial art/self defence but haven't a clue myself of which one/ where to go?

Location wise- anywhere between Bray- Stillorgan would suit.

Thanks in advance

They're young ages, I'd suggest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.. Kids love to wrestle/grapple, it comes natural to them, its fun and not as formal as a lot of the traditional karate styles.

Weathering

Krav maga is very highly rated

Niall Keane

http://www.ymaa.ie/ymaa_ireland.html

Id recomend the above club, very good kids programme, top coach in Paul Moran and kids have the oppertunity of competing if they like in "Ching Da" several times a year in ICBA comps, which covers all ranges (kick, punch, throw) so one could get a solid skill base testing and improving such self-defence abilities.

Peetrik

Weathering wrote: »

Krav maga is very highly rated

It really really isn't.

+1 on what Makikomi said, I'm sure someone on here can suggest a BJJ club in your area

Morph the Cat

Weathering wrote: »

Krav maga is very highly rated

...by Krav Maga people.

OP - Judo or BJJ is great for kids that age. Classes usually start at age 5 upwards.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Morph the Cat wrote: »

OP - Judo or BJJ is great for kids that age. Classes usually start at age 5 upwards.

I agree with the Judo suggestion too, but I'm fairly confident there is no judo down the OP's way.

Either way they're opposite sides of the same coin and both great for children.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Try a few.

Look lets be 100% honest. Quality of coach or quality of club is significantly more important than quality of art.

Try a few clubs, find one where the instructor is good and has a class aimed at kids.

You don't want a class mixed with children and adults, and you don't want martial arts as a dance style.

Most important thing is that its something the girls enjoy.

cowzerp

Grappling at that age is much more fun for kids, i train 7 plus, grappling and striking and they get bored quick of the striking, and they will wrestle all day, i stopped training 5 year olds as i don't think their ready for martial arts but if you are starting them look for BJJ or Judo.

Doug Cartel

At that age the choice of style isn't going to matter, as they will mainly be learning how to pay attention and take physical instruction, and develop gross motor skills.

tritium

At that age most good clubs would have specific classes that will teach them In a way specific to children rather than how most adult classes work.

In that context tbh grappling or striking will be beneficial, since they'll develop areas like balance and coordination. It depends on what they like and you want for them. Look a few classes covering a range of styles and see what you and they like best. The stickies have a list of different clubs or else folks on here can suggest clubs in your area. The main thing at that age is to have fun. lots of posters here started their chosen style as kids so tbh pretty much any style taught properly can suit

Peetrik

Doug Cartel wrote: »

At that age the choice of style isn't going to matter, as they will mainly be learning how to pay attention and take physical instruction, and develop gross motor skills.

Ah I'd disagree there, they have junior amateur bouts on plenty of the amateur Thai boxing shows with kids showing surprisingly good technique. Nothing wrong with them learning good solid basics early IMO.

sdub

http://ecjja.com/kids-programs/

Doug Cartel

Peetrik wrote: »

Ah I'd disagree there, they have junior amateur bouts on plenty of the amateur Thai boxing shows with kids showing surprisingly good technique. Nothing wrong with them learning good solid basics early IMO.

They have 4 year olds doing these junior bouts?

Peetrik

Doug Cartel wrote: »

They have 4 year olds doing these junior bouts?

6-7 year olds competing I would guess, who would had to have been training for a year or two (same age as OP's kids roughly). Wouldn't really have paid them much attention TBH so I could be wrong.

Anyway plenty of videos knocking about of kids using technique to good effect so I wouldn't call the choice of style irrelevant even at a young age.
exmp
exmp

bedtime

Thanks a lot for all the replies. I will definitely be looking into the Judo and Brazilian JiuJutsu. Is Taekwando any good? There seems to be a good few classes around in this.

Peetrick, forgive my ignorance but that kind of looks like wrestling to me? Would many girls do that?

I suppose what I'm looking for for the girls is for them to learn discipline, respect, confidence (outside of what I can teach them) plus fitness and the ability to defend themselves God forbid if they ever needed to. I'm not a sporty person myself and I don't want them to end up like me!!

Thanks for the suggestions, will definitely be starting something

Actually now that I think of it they'd probably love the wrestling

bedtime

Just out of curiosity is the Krav maga any good? I had a quick look up there and I'm not sure if it's a bit street fighterish? Again excuse the ignorance, no offense meant just curious to all options.

Doug Cartel

Regardless of whether or not it's any good, you probably won't find a krav class for kids that young.

Also, judo and BJJ are both fairly similar to wrestling, only with a jacket on which changes things up a bit. Between the two, judo is more focused on throwing, and BJJ is more focused on fighting on the ground.

I train in a university club, so I haven't seen a kids judo class in ages, but in the last place where I trained that took on kids as young as yours, the class was all tumbling and very basic technique. They don't start learning judo proper until about 6 or 7, maybe even 8.

Peetrik

bedtime wrote: »

Is Taekwando any good?

Its a fun sport that will help your kids get promote health, flexibility, teach discipline etc etc.
Strictly from an actual fighting point of view, in my opinion, there are other styles that are easier & quicker to learn and more effective. Just my opinion.

bedtime wrote: »

Peetrick, forgive my ignorance but that kind of looks like wrestling to me? Would many girls do that?

bedtime wrote: »

Actually now that I think of it they'd probably love the wrestling

Yeah one of the examples was wrestling, the other was Thai boxing. As Maki said, kids love to grapple, it comes naturally to them. BJJ is grappling as opposed to striking (punching/kicking)

bedtime wrote: »

Just out of curiosity is the Krav maga any good?

It has a terrible name among martial artists due mostly to ridiculous claims and wild overpricing. From what I've seen it looks like its trained very ineffectively, essentially fancy choreography.

tritium

Taekwondo is a pretty good style for kids IMHO. It's good exercise with a structure that works well for kids. It also has a pretty well developed competitive structure that, if they want to be involved in, kids tend to really enjoy. Generally most clubs will tend to emphasise having fun for younger kids while gradually teaching them basics that more complex principles can be built around as they get older. Even though some folks here might disagree I think the belt system in taekwondo or other more traditional arts is also useful for kids since it gives them shorter term goals to aim for.

Doug Cartel

Peetrik wrote: »

It has a terrible name among martial artists due mostly to ridiculous claims and wild overpricing. From what I've seen it looks like its trained very ineffectively, essentially fancy choreography.

That's probably going a bit far. From what I can see, the main problem with KM is quality control. Some places have practical, hands on training, with sparring and realistic scenarios. Others have you practising to disarm five guys carrying rifles and moving in slow motion.

Unfortunately, you can probably guess which kind of class gets the most attention.

Peetrik

Doug Cartel wrote: »

That's probably going a bit far. From what I can see, the main problem with KM is quality control. Some places have practical, hands on training, with sparring and realistic scenarios.

Yikes you reckon? And I was honestly doing my best to be impartial haha. Doug any chance you could point out a KM club in Ireland that trains effectively with decent sparring?

Irish_Elect_Eng

Consider Karate also.

While some girls shy away from the Kumite (Sparring) initially, the Kata competitions seem to keep their interest until they engage with the Kumite.

The older girls seem to excel (when compared to same age boys) at the Team Kata competitions.

+1 On the importance of the coaching quality.

Doug Cartel

Peetrik wrote: »

Doug any chance you could point out a KM club in Ireland that trains effectively with decent sparring?

Not off the top of my head to be honest. A while ago I remember some guy on here saying that at his place they regularly put on gloves and hit each other, and that no one was told they could learn it all in a few weeks. Now, I didn't try look the place up or anything, but he sounded genuine.

smacl

bedtime wrote: »

I suppose what I'm looking for for the girls is for them to learn discipline, respect, confidence (outside of what I can teach them) plus fitness and the ability to defend themselves God forbid if they ever needed to. I'm not a sporty person myself and I don't want them to end up like me!!

As a father of two girls myself, I'd say you've got your list of priorities all wrong. First and foremost, they should enjoy the class, everything else is secondary after this. My two did a year of Shotokan (9 & 11 at the time), and my elder girl also did about a year of boxing (lots of pad work but no sparring). Both have since been ditched, and they now do gymnastics, dance and swimming. That said, I could see them trying out other martial arts again, as they chop and change a fair bit at that age. Wrestling is certainly really good fun, and probably a good first port of call, but any kids club where they include sparring would also likely prove popular. I don't agree that girls like kata any more than boys, my two and all their mates basically enjoyed the scrapping and hitting things part of martial arts, which in all honesty will be the more fun aspect for most kids. My advice is try all the clubs in easy reach, and don't get hung up on the style. It's all about the instructor and how they teach at that age.

Chris Dowling

Weathering wrote: »

Krav maga is very highly rated

Not really !!!!! Only people who rate it are Krav people who have no real world experience or other proper martial arts training.

Most important thing for kids is to have fun,most clubs let the kids have first class free for taster, let the kid decide if the like it , not every style suits everybody there's plenty of variety out there, talk to club instructors see if they have many kids currently in their club, check are the garda vetted and have thier code of ethics for children in sport.

Good luck