Bjj After School Program

[LJS93]

Well guys, soon I will be finally getting my official state of California Teaching Credential, which basically means I can teach anywhere. Seems like I might have the "in's" at several schools. My question is this, is a BJJ afterschool program impossible? I've heard the liabilities issues would make any administration shy away from a BJJ program. Mind you it wouldn't be CIF or anything like that. It would be just a one hour program afterschool where students with a 2.50 GPA or above can join. After they have joined they must then maintain a 3.0 in order to remain in the program. Input is greatly appreciated.

[WhiteBeltJones]

Is a BJJ curriculum any more violent or liable than say, a wrestling one?

[Dennis Monk]

I walk through life with pains from my days playing football in highschool (both knees shot, compression fracture in neck,etc). Would that keep me from letting a child of mine play? Absolutely not. School sports,as well as other intramural activities are good for adolescent development. If I knew then what I know now, and there were an after school BJJ program; I would be all over it. As a parent I would almost rather my child did BJJ than play football. I have a friend that has children that go to school in another state. One of them is a top level wrestler. He gets his fair share of bumps and bruises, rashes, mat burns and such. He loves it and plans on using it to help him go to college. I would bet that the danger and liability factor would be relatively even.
I would really like to see if you get this up and going. It could be the start of a trend. Who knows?

[LJS93]

Well the fact is that as a first year teacher, I pretty much have to take part in some kind of extra curricular activity. I coached High School baseball for five years, however the time commitment is crazy. Therefore when the time comes I will do the extra curricular activities, but on my terms. Plus, I really think a BJJ club would be super cool, both for me and the students. I do joke around about showing videos of challenge fights on the beaches of Rio, you know, as a form of introducing the kids to jiu-jitsu. :D

[Dennis Monk]

I think the kids will love it. Just curious here; do you hold (at least) a blue belt in BJJ? And if so, will the BJJ club be part of the organization you train with, or will it be a stand alone entity?
Like I said before, if there had even been such a thing when I was in high school, I would have joined in a heartbeat. I had not even heard of Brazilian JJ until about 5 or 6 years ago, and when I was in school all martial art styles were the same to me: "Karate".

[Archimedes]

Is a BJJ curriculum any more violent or liable than say, a wrestling one?

If Luciano's school has wrestling, he might be able to sell BJJ as a good off-season program for the wrestlers and expand from there.

[AndrewSimonsen]

I would say that the GPA requirement should remain the same as most other after school activities, in my area thats a 2.00. The wrestlers, they will likely be important to your program, but as a coach I would be VERY leary. You would be taking my wrestlers and teaching them to go to their backs, the last place a wrestler would like to be.

[Abbax8]

I'm thinking of trying to do something similar with judo here after I retire, 2 to 7 years from now.

Peace

Dennis

[TIRAGION]

Sounds like a great idea, All the best

___________________
Alexander Rakita

[Abbax8]

Chris, thanks for the information!

Peace

Dennis

[Andrew Green]

Is a BJJ curriculum any more violent or liable than say, a wrestling one?

Probably, at least from the point of view of someone that doesn't do it.

Wrestling doesn't teach joint locks and chokes, it isn't automatically associated with "Ultimate Fighting"

Whether its safer or not is irrelevant, perception is what is going to matter. Even if you can convince the Administration, all it could end up taking is one parent going off about teaching kids how to "kill" and "break bones" in school.

Good luck in your attempt, and I really hope you succeed, but I wouldn't get to excited yet.

[LJS93]

Yes that is what I fear most, the perception attached to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

[Archimedes]

You would be taking my wrestlers and teaching them to go to their backs, the last place a wrestler would like to be.

Then by all means let them roll over on all fours so they won't be on their backs... :laugh:

[Archimedes]

Yes that is what I fear most, the perception attached to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Call it Ne-Waza then, and explain that it's a safe kind of Judo with all those dangerous throws taken out...

[kidhurt3]

I wish the best for you. I kinda wanted to do something like that with BJJ or Judo.

[shutterspeed]

As a public school teacher also, one of the qualities I also have been looking for in a martial art is the potential to teach it on the high school campus in the future.

The Shito-ryu Karate that I've taken in the past would be a good fit. The BJJ school that I've witnessed in town seems brutally effective. Probably no more than football, but perception is reality. Football has long ago been accepted into mainstream school systems. Seems like there would be an awfully tough hill to climb to get BJJ accepted into the litigious society/school system we now have in America. And school officials are not exactly known for out-of-the-box thinking, or making decisions with the aid of a backbone. The fact is, though, as someone mentioned before, there is plenty of money in the public school system (education makes up the majority of most state financing). How it's being spent is a different story, however. I, myself, could not tell you who or what is getting the majority of this money (see also: wasteful government spending).

School sports are a joke now anyway. Do schools actually enforce GPA standards anymore? I know I've had several football players for the past two years (I teach an important core curriculum) who, at their best, passed with little more than a 70 (D-). For the better part of the year they failed. Yet I have never known any student to be witheld from sports because of grades.

Martial arts would be an invaluable extracurricular to add to school campuses. Not only for the much needed discipline aspects, but also because of the lack of competitive priorities (let's face it, a coach can lose his job for losing.. but an English teacher who also teaches a martial art during or after school? Not likely). You'd also have to wrestle with the physical education teachers' insecurites of losing their jobs due to teaching outdated curriculums/sports/skills (rightly so).