Tag Archives: kids

Adults Jiu Jitsu

Black Belt Promotion in El Dorado Hills: Sean Gonsolin

Here are some words from Sean after his promotion to black belt. “I was first introduced to BJJ in 2008 by a blue belt neighbor who showed me some BJJ in exchange for me helping him with his boxing. I ended up starting about a year later in late 2009, and started competing 3 months later. I met Allicia when I was a white belt. And we tried to be each other’s training buddy and motivator. The main reason i train Jiu-jitsu is for the self defense application; particularly with regards to controlling and understanding movement and body mechanics. My ultimate goal with BJJ is always longevity, to train for life.”

Black belts in attendance were (from left to right) Eliot Kelly, Julio Veliz, Marcus Boness, Sean Gonsolin, Marcos Torregrosa, Borston Marc, Jerel Tengan.

 

Tournaments

El Dorado Hills BJJ Results Grappling X & Jiu-Jitsu in El Grove

We had 6 members of our Competition Team fight from El Dorado Hills BJJ & Self Defense last Saturday, at Elk Grove High School, in the Grappling X tournament. All six competed well past my expectations, all six noticeably improved between their first and second matches, and all six made it to the podium!

Gold:

Jordan (Adult- Blue Belt) competed for the first time and won both of his matches by double-digit point deficits.

Slater (Kids- Yellow Belt) had five matches and 5 finishes! 2 matches were in one division and 3 matches were in another, for two 1st place finishes!

Silver:

Danny (Adult- White Belt) competed for the first time in a Gi and won his first match by points.

Mateo (Kids- Grey White Belt) fought a very tough opponent, but was able to greatly improve between his first and second match.

Ben (Kids- White Belt) competed for the very first time and made instant progress between his first and second match as well.

Bronze:

Josh (Adult- White Belt) fought with an injured ankle. His black and blue, swollen foot was wrapped tight in a soft brace, but he went out and won his first match. He later had a fun exhibition-style match with Danny. 

It was a great day for the team and the medals were certainly well deserved, but everyone was very coachable and listened well during their matches and between. We had simple game-plans the competitors and coaches came up with. As a group, the fighters did an excellent job of staying disciplined with their goals and medaled as a result.

Kids Jiu Jitsu

Coaching Kids Life Skills Through Martial Arts Skills

Youth sports is intended to have many practical applications. The strongest expectation from youth sports is the ability to learn not only the skills necessary to succeed in play, but also critical life skills that apply to the life outside of the sport. Some of these life skills are; leadership, manners, eq, decision making, ability to digest information, collaboration, communication, etc. While these are skills that parent’s assume their children will acquire when they enroll their children in sports, science has proven that not to be the case.

In fact, coaching for the sake of becoming a better athlete looks different than coaching for the sake of becoming a person with strong life skills. Studies, led by Dr. Daniel Gold have shown that athletes who grew up in an environment where the coach emphasized the acquisition of the life skills along with the acquisition of technical skills required in the sport were the only athletes who actually developed the ability to apply the lessons from their sport to their life outside of the sport.

This is an insightful break through. The valuable life skills are not ACQUIRED merely through the practice of sport. They are intentionally DEVELOPED through the curriculum, and lesson plans designed by the coach. Dr. Shimizu and Dr. Shibamoto have also been leading scholars in the field of applied sports psychology. Some of their research has reinforced the research by Dr. Gold.

There is one more key critical factor in understanding the value of coaching sports skills through life skills. Studies have found that athletes coached in life skills perform better than athletes who have only been coached in their athletic skills. While there is no certainty or little value in learning practical life skills through the practice and learning of sport, there is great value in being coached by someone who truly embraces the idea of coaching life skills through the means of sport. Therefore, it’s essential that as parents we seek out sports clubs and teams that emphasize these life skills in their lessons above anything else and remember that the practical skills we hope our children to acquire through sport only happens where there exists a conscious minded program that emphasizes these things.

Eliot Kelly

Camp, Kids Jiu Jitsu

El Dorado Hills Kids Camp during Thanksgiving at EDH BJJ

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Thank you, to all the children and parents who participated in this year’s Thanksgiving Week Kids Camp!

The camp was held on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, leading up to Thanksgiving. It gave children the opportunity to spend more time in the dojo to explore other engaging activities that coincide with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, self defense, and teamwork. The camp also gave our instructors the opportunity to connect with the children in an even more meaningful fashion than just learning and practicing BJJ.

15134554_1160365437382575_5885546125256103671_nEven though we had a scheduled agenda before the children arrived each day; we stepped out of the agenda and followed the interests of the children. Each day started with games and free play, to let the children socialize and become more comfortable with each other. That led to learning the basic and foundational movements and positions of BJJ. The campers expressed what they were thankful for by making cards and drawing pictures for their families. And we had plenty of snack breaks to feed our hungry learners!

15109355_1161485187270600_4703711507340850035_nChess seemed to be the most interesting daily activity for the group. For over an hour the children worked harmoniously together, as they helped each other setting up the Chessboard and learning how the pieces moved. We worked on game-planning and strategies. Does that sound like some familiar concepts we use for another game?

15171097_1162054420547010_623634796777894843_nYes! The camp was structured around getting each student to THINK. Not only about what they were thankful for, but that their actions have consequences, how to work together in groups or with a partner, and that the cross over between chess, jiujitsu and other activities off the mat. 

El Dorado Hills Jiu Jitsu
916.595.4064

Camp

Thanksgiving Week Kids Camp in El Dorado Hills

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battle

El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & Self Defense is hosting  a Kids camp during Thanksgiving week. The kids camp will include several different activities for kids ages 7 and up. NO JIU JITSU EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! 

What will the kids do: 

  1. CHESS: Chess is jiujitsu for the mind. Through chess coaches will be talking to the kids about following rules, knowing limitations, decisions having consequences, and other life skills that can be shared and learned through the fun activity of chess. Don’t know how to play? No problem, we will teach you!
  2. JIU-JITSU for ANTI BULLYING:  Bullying is always going to be an issues kids need to learn and think about. The more tools they have to deal with verbal, psychological, and physical altercations the better they will be. We will be covering each topic and going over how to diffuse and defend difficult altercations.
  3. JAPANESE GAMES: Campers will be exposed to Japanese language and culture lessons to invoke a curiosity for different cultures and languages. They won’t leave the camp fluent in another language, but hopefully they will become more curious about different cultures and have an interest in learning another language in the future.
  4. THANKFULNESS ACTIVITIES: Campers will be asked to think about what they are thankful for. Thankfulness and gratitude is a character trait we look to reinforce from the time during this camp.
  5. GAMES & PLAY: Campers will be playing a game of some type if they are not taking a snack break or participating in one of the activities. The games will vary from dodgeball, gymnastics, and more. (plan on giving them time to nap after camp)

Call for questions or register online!

EDH Kids Camp
916.595.4064