One week till the party!

It seems like yesterday when we started Auckland Kids Bjj.  We are turning a year old this month.  To celebrate we're going to have a birthday party for the school at Skateland on Saturday the 20th of October from 2pm to 4pm.  Our Saturday classes will go ahead as normal.  We look forward to seeing everyone at the rink.

Training report for Saturday the 13th:

This morning both classes learnt how to escape side control to recompose and take closed guard.  everyone caught on quickly which made working the new technique a lot of fun.  Our junior class surprised me at the end of class.  They lined up perfectly at the end without any help from me our Aidan.  Well done!

Our senior class worked the same technique.  We got through the lesson quickly so we could have a good rolling session.  the session was better than good, it was fantastic.  Everyone was thinking and using technique. It is very rewarding for me to see everyone use what the have learnt whilst rolling.  We will be doing more rolling sessions on Saturdays so everyone can sharpen their skills.

Working the chain

Saturday we worked on a new guard pass technique.  This will bring the count of techniques our students have learnt to 3.  We've added the guard pass to our chain of positions we've been working on for the previous weeks.

In our senior class we finished up with everyone learning the far side arm bar.  It was a lot of fun watching the students having a go at it for the first time.  It was equally as fun to see the students that learned the attack in the previous class remember and execute the arm bar effectively.

Everyone got an invitation to Auckland Kids Bjj birthday party.  I was very happy to see the wonderful reaction from the children when they opened the envelope,  It's going to be a fun time at Skateland.  Aidan and I have been spending 2 hours every Saturday there having a blast and getting in better shape as a result.  I recommend for children that are new to roller skateting to purchase the pads offed at skateland or pick up a set of pads that protect the knees, elbow and wrists. 

Training at the big boy dojo

Aidan came along to the adults class tonight.  We worked on a Kimura attack from the lock down in half guard.  Aidan learnt the Kimura trap as well.

After the evenings lesson it was time for a few rounds of tachi-waza.  Aidan got stuck in and gave it his all.  Ne-waza was next.  After Aidan and I had a few good rolls it was time for him to train with others on the team.  It was great to see him take the challenge of roll with the adults. 

Aidan was chosen to help clean up after class and got right to work without any complaint.

A great evening training and a fun way to spend time together on school break.

Tuesday's arm bar session

Silent Warriors

What a great training session.  We worked on 2 arm bars.  First Aidan showed his favorite, the far side arm bar from knee on the belly.  This one is always a crowd pleaser because of its quick and dynamic motion.  Once everyone had a basic understanding of that arm bar we changed gears and worked on the arm bar from closed guard.  This one was a little more challenging for the group.  Everyone needed a bit of time to learn the swinging motion be able to throw their leg over and complete the submission.  More drilling will be needed however I'm confident that within a few more sessions we will have the attack looking sharp.

We will be learning arm bars from several positions over the next weeks.  Our students are very excited about the transition from positional work to attacks.  I am very happy with everyone's progress.  Keep up the great work guys. 

Auckland Kids Bjj Graduation 22/09/2018

We had a great turn out to our graduation ceremony this morning.  I want to thank all the parents for your support.  We wouldn't have such a great team without you.  A huge round of thanks goes to Stuart and Serge for taking the time to come out for our graduation.  Their guidance has been instrumental in the success of our dojo.

Now for the fun part.  We had our junior 9:00am class as usual.  We finished up at 9:45 and welcomed our senior team onto the mats.  After a brief warm up we lined up and got straight into giving stripes.  Once we finished with the stripes I revealed the secret that I was teasing the class with all morning.  Since we had 3 instructors we had a small competition session for all who wanted to roll.  We had a lot of rounds and everyone put their skill on display for all to see.  It's very rewarding for me to see the class using what they have learnt with great effect.  I'm looking forward to many more action pack classes. 

Saturday fun at the dojo

Don't mess with this guy!

The weather was so nice in the dojo this morning.  It felt so good to break a sweat during the warm up. 

Our junior students worked on grip breaking techniques today.  We covered 3 ways to break the the lapel grip.  Once everyone had a good grasp of the techniques we went situational to make it more real.  Everyone had a great time moving and breaking with their training partner.  Way to go junior team.

Our senior team class learned 2 take downs from the knees to begin their rolling.  We had done a lot of work previously on our chain of movements.  Today the reward for everyone working so hard on the chain drills was an intense rolling session.  It was rewarding to me to see the team use what they have learnt whilst rolling.  Miller was on fire today.  He has progressed quickly and was moving extremely well in his matches.  Great work you guys and girls.

What a pair!

I want to give a special shout out to Eric and Olivia.  Olivia has been training with me and Aidan since she was four years old.

Her younger brother Eric has joined our junior class and is enjoying every minute.  It's great to have a family that all train BJJ!

Upcoming graduation

It's that time again!

We will be having our graduation on Saturday the 22nd of September at 10:00am.  We will have our 9:00am class as normal and then do our graduation in the beginning of our 10:00am class.

It will be great to see everyone turn up for this graduation.  We will be taking photos of the group and individuals  as they receive their promotion.

Students will need to have a black tab on their belt. This is where the stripes will go.  The tab is 11.5 to 12cm. A tailor or anyone with a sewing machine can add the tab. See the photo below for a reference.