# Different classes for age groups



## 2000zac (Oct 13, 2016)

Short newbie question here, is it customary for martial arts classes to be separated by age? Or is it normal for teens and adults to be training alongside children and toddlers?


----------



## lklawson (Oct 13, 2016)

Yes to both.  Depends on the instructor and, often, the size of the class.

If you're not comfortable with it, ask the instructor.

More importantly, to my mind, are adults sparring toddlers?  If so, take video and post it.  I suspect it would be entertaining.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


----------



## frank raud (Oct 13, 2016)

Depends. When there is sufficient students, classes are usually split. But I have been in classes in a community center with approx. 50 students, 5 to 50. Of course, the instructor only has an hour or so allotted to him.  In a private club, it would probably raise some eyebrows.


----------



## JR 137 (Oct 13, 2016)

As has been said, circumstances pretty much dictate the schedule.  Most established dojos keep kids and adults separate, with perhaps an all ages class at one time slot per week.  If the dojo is new, they may have everyone train together until there's enough students to separate by age and rank.

Some dojos have different definitions of adult as well.  Some consider adults 14+, some are 16 or 18+.  Some allow students who aren't quite the age yet into adult classes if they're mature enough and skilled enough to be there. I'm not sure of the exact age cutoff between adults and children classes at my dojo (about 14), but there have been a few younger ones invited to train with the adults in certain classes, and others who've met the adult age have been told to stay in the children's classes.  We're a small dojo, so case by case assessment works for us.  

With all that said, I've never seen the littlest ones (say 4-6 years old) in with adults.  I've seen adults assisting teaching the class, but not actually training together.


----------



## WaterGal (Oct 14, 2016)

As others have said.... it depends.  I think for some kinds of classes, you can have kids and adults train together (especially if the adults are mostly the parents of the kids, so it's like a family bonding activity) and it works okay, but for other kinds of classes it doesn't.  And where you can/should/need to draw the line can vary as well. 

For example, in my experience, for a sport-oriented Taekwondo class, you can often have well-behaved 8-year olds train some things together with adults (though for sparring you'd put the kids together and the adults together), but you can't have 4-year olds train with either of those ages.  For a strongly self-defense oriented class, on the other hand, putting adults and kids together at all would IMO be a bad idea.


----------



## Midnight-shadow (Oct 15, 2016)

At the school I attend we split the adults and children (children being 15 years and younger), although there is one session a week that is a joint lesson for adults and children. The children also have a different grading structure to the adults which is another reason why the separation is a good thing. Personally I would hate to take lessons with the children as I put a lot of effort into my training and seeing the kids messing around and not take it seriously would just piss me off.


----------



## JR 137 (Oct 15, 2016)

Midnight-shadow said:


> At the school I attend we split the adults and children (children being 15 years and younger), although there is one session a week that is a joint lesson for adults and children. The children also have a different grading structure to the adults which is another reason why the separation is a good thing. Personally I would hate to take lessons with the children as I put a lot of effort into my training and seeing the kids messing around and not take it seriously would just piss me off.



Even if the kids are as focused as adults, it's still an issue.  Kids learn far slower and need more instruction on the most basic things (constantly reminded of stance, chambering their hand, proper fist, etc.).  I've had to take the kids' class once or twice; it was that or nothing for the week due to my schedule.  The kids were about 10-14.  Not a complete waste of time, but not very productive either.  I knew what I was getting into, so it didn't bother me.  But if that was every training session, I wouldn't be around for very long.


----------



## KenpoMaster805 (Oct 15, 2016)

It depense to your instructor like advance kids go with advance then beginners go with beginners kids then adult beginners intermediate  and advance go together


----------



## KenpoMaster805 (Oct 15, 2016)

I mostly teach beginners on friday and tuesday then thursday advance class like 3rd jr brown or mostly jr green students


----------



## Andrew Green (Oct 15, 2016)

2000zac said:


> Short newbie question here, is it customary for martial arts classes to be separated by age? Or is it normal for teens and adults to be training alongside children and toddlers?



In some schools, often smaller clubs have bigger groups due to scheduling difficulties.  If you only have a few hours twice a week to work with there is only so much you can do.  

I don't like it, different ages need different things in a class.  For us we do 3-4 yrs, 5-7 yrs, 8-10 yrs, 11-14 yrs and then 15-adult.


----------



## Druid11 (Nov 10, 2016)

Actually one of the things that drew me to my current Dojo is that they have adults only classes every evening.  Not that I don't like kids but...Let's just say I prefer training with other adults.  I had looked at other martial arts schools in my area and other than MMA schools (which I actually have taken and wasn't looking to go back to) most of the other schools seemed to have mixed age classes.  Some split classes by ranks (i.e white through orange at x time) and some did separate out ages a little bit, but still combined teens and adults and it seemed that most schools definition of teen was 13.  My current Dojo adult classes are for anyone over 18.  Adults can take and earlier in the evening teen/adult class if they want, but it seems most adults take the adult class unless they have a child in the teen class. Plus after the adult class most of us hang out help straighten the Dojo up and then have a beer together.


----------



## Danny T (Nov 10, 2016)

Different schools different class structure.
We have different age groups;
ages 4-5
ages 6-12 Level I
ages 6-12 Level II
ages 8-12 Advanced
ages 13-16
ages 17-up


----------



## Tez3 (Nov 10, 2016)

lklawson said:


> More importantly, to my mind, are adults sparring toddlers?



It is important, it's frightfully demoralising to be beaten by toddlers and they are just so agile and supple, damn them.


----------



## Danny T (Nov 11, 2016)

Tez3 said:


> It is important, it's frightfully demoralising to be beaten by toddlers and they are just so agile and supple, damn them.


There was a time I could destroy them. Now...it's embarrassing and ugly...they are quick, agile, and just keep coming non stop. Against them I was bad ***; today I'm just an old *** that's just bad.


----------



## Kickboxer101 (Nov 11, 2016)

It happens. In my gym everyone's around 17 and above I'd say at a guess 15 at the youngest. I don't think there's anything saying they can't have younger but I guess most parents don't want to put their little kids in kickboxing. Saying that there is a kids class on Saturday mornings that's only small. But the last few weeks we had a new kid he's about 13 and about 4'5 I think his dads friends with the coach which is why he's let him train with us. Now since we don't do huge amounts of sparring its not a safety issue but is fairly annoying when I got paired up with him last week and could barely even touch the pads as the first punch I threw was a light jab on a focus mitt and even that nearly sent him flying. Then we ended up doing jumping front kicks on the kicking shields so that was basically pointless for me since there was no way I could put even 5% in so that did piss me off because I couldn't put any power in on pads and I couldn't even work on speed or technique as he kept messing up where he was holding the pads so I do think having kids and adults train together isn't the best idea.


----------



## lklawson (Nov 15, 2016)

Kickboxer101 said:


> It happens. In my gym everyone's around 17 and above I'd say at a guess 15 at the youngest. I don't think there's anything saying they can't have younger but I guess most parents don't want to put their little kids in kickboxing. Saying that there is a kids class on Saturday mornings that's only small. But the last few weeks we had a new kid he's about 13 and about 4'5 I think his dads friends with the coach which is why he's let him train with us. Now since we don't do huge amounts of sparring its not a safety issue but is fairly annoying when I got paired up with him last week and could barely even touch the pads as the first punch I threw was a light jab on a focus mitt and even that nearly sent him flying. Then we ended up doing jumping front kicks on the kicking shields so that was basically pointless for me since there was no way I could put even 5% in so that did piss me off because I couldn't put any power in on pads and I couldn't even work on speed or technique as he kept messing up where he was holding the pads so I do think having kids and adults train together isn't the best idea.


OTOH, it's pretty common for smaller teens to have to fight people who are bigger and stronger.  Might suck for your training but it could be imperative for *HIS*.  Instead of looking at it as a failure and a waste of time for your fight training, look at it as an opportunity for you as a coach, trainer, or temporary mentor.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


----------



## Danny T (Nov 15, 2016)

lklawson said:


> OTOH, it's pretty common for smaller teens to have to fight people who are bigger and stronger.  Might suck for your training but it could be imperative for *HIS*.  Instead of looking at it as a failure and a waste of time for your fight training, look at it as an opportunity for you as a coach, trainer, or temporary mentor.
> 
> Peace favor your sword,
> Kirk


Excellent points.

Learn by helping another grow. How do you think those who are above your skill sets and abilities feel about having to train with you?


----------



## Kickboxer101 (Nov 15, 2016)

lklawson said:


> OTOH, it's pretty common for smaller teens to have to fight people who are bigger and stronger.  Might suck for your training but it could be imperative for *HIS*.  Instead of looking at it as a failure and a waste of time for your fight training, look at it as an opportunity for you as a coach, trainer, or temporary mentor.
> 
> Peace favor your sword,
> Kirk


Sure great but when I'm paying 10 pound for a class I expect to at least be able to train with some intensity


----------



## Tez3 (Nov 15, 2016)

Kickboxer101 said:


> Sure great but when I'm paying 10 pound for a class I expect to at least be able to train with some intensity



That is seriously expensive! for that I'd expect a private lesson.


----------



## lklawson (Nov 15, 2016)

Kickboxer101 said:


> Sure great but when I'm paying 10 pound for a class I expect to at least be able to train with some intensity


Talk with your instructor.  Tell him that you don't want to train with the kid any more.  Report back.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


----------



## wingchun100 (Nov 17, 2016)

2000zac said:


> Short newbie question here, is it customary for martial arts classes to be separated by age? Or is it normal for teens and adults to be training alongside children and toddlers?


 
If you have a large enough school, you will split them up.

If you have only one 10 year old coming, then that would basically be like giving them a private lesson.


----------

