The Thanksgiving Jiu Jitsu camp was a lot of fun. The kids who came all had a great time hanging out with their teammates, playing games and of course doing jiu jitsu. Both days of camp had the same schedule. Jiu Jitsu class first, mat games, break and snack, then board games and making gratitude lists.   

For the class we worked on a lot of stand up skills and basics on the ground such as single legs, sprawls, escaping side control and transitioning to mount. When class ended I made 4 teams, after each team picked their team names the games began. It was really fun to watch the teams work together as things got competitive. We competed in relay races, sumo matches, tug a war and then combined teams so that there were only two teams. Once there were only two games we finished off the mat games with snowball/dodgeball and log races. After the mat games we went outside to eat some snacks and take a break. When the kids came back inside I set up some board games and let them pick which games they wanted to play. While they were playing I talked to the kids about thanksgiving being a really good time to think about all of the things we have to be grateful for and told them to think of three things they were grateful for. When they were ready and had three things to write down they put their list on a sticky note and put it on the whiteboard.

Overall I really enjoyed doing the camp and look forward to the next one. If I was going to change one thing I would add more games for the 4 team tournament format. That seemed like it was the most fun part of camp. I also really liked the gratitude activity and will definitely have similar themes for future camps. 

Coach Danny