# Class structured by age, rank..ability?



## IcemanSK (Jan 28, 2010)

I'm at a place where I'm beginning to rethink how I structure my classes. Currently, I have it divided by beginners in the first hour & intermediate in the next hour. (I'm soon to have advanced gup rank students).

I teach starting at age 7. I have students from ages 8 to 53. So far, the beginners in one class & intermediate in another have worked out well. The adults that I have aren't athletes & find the beginner class a good workout for them. 

My dilemma comes when I want to teach SD techniques that aren't suitable for those under the age of, say 14, regardless of rank. (Joint locks, detailed groin techniques, throws, etc. are hard to teach to more mature students when one also needs to watch over younger students who may not be taking it seriously, or understand when to use or not use, the techniques. 

I'm thinking of changing from what I have now, to a 13 & under class & a 14 & over class. Do you have this model? Have you used it in the past? How did it work for you?


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## Big Don (Jan 28, 2010)

We have Pee Wees from 5-8 Juniors (based on maturity) from 7-12. From 13 and up is the adult class. The juniors are further broken down into Juniors (white through purple) and Advanced Juniors (purple and up).
Unless they spar, our Pee Wees and Juniors only learn techniques in the air. Adults learn techniques in the air and practice on each other, every test includes sparring and attacking. Seems to work pretty well.


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## Andrew Green (Jan 28, 2010)

An 8 year old has very different training needs then a 28 year old, I'd not put them in the same class if at all possible.

Separating into kids / adult classes will make your classes more beneficial to everyone.


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## jks9199 (Jan 29, 2010)

IcemanSK said:


> I'm at a place where I'm beginning to rethink how I structure my classes. Currently, I have it divided by beginners in the first hour & intermediate in the next hour. (I'm soon to have advanced gup rank students).
> 
> I teach starting at age 7. I have students from ages 8 to 53. So far, the beginners in one class & intermediate in another have worked out well. The adults that I have aren't athletes & find the beginner class a good workout for them.
> 
> ...


We don't break classes by skill level as a rule; occasionally there'll be a seminar or class for more advanced students.  We did find it necessary to break younger kids out and have a separate class.  We tried having a class where they left at a break, but it was just too distracting.  We don't teach much younger than 10, and around 13 or so, we've been able to reintegrate them.


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