There are many different stances in regard to how bjj is thought to kids. In the past there has even been a petition submitted to the US congress wishing to regulate this aspect of training legally. Petition has been filed on change.org sometime back in 2015 calling to ban submissions holds (chokes and joint locks) for children under the age of 12. Interestingly enough, this petition has been submitted to Bernie Sanders the runner up in the democratic primary.
In Judo tournaments, chokes are not permitted for children under 13 years old. Children that are close to that age, can be prepared to learning submissions by being taught the basics and escapes and defenses under strict supervision.
Now John Danaher has opted to weigh in with his considerable reputation in the community:
Youth training: I always enjoy training talented and dedicated youngsters. It is incredibly rewarding to see how quickly they pick up the skills of the sport and express themselves through those skills.
One aspect of youth training that I have always had misgivings about however, is the notion of teaching submissions to children.
Obviously there is a danger to the use of submission holds. A sensible question to ask is this – is it appropriate to teach submissions to very young children.
I understand different people have different viewpoints on this matter. My own approach is teach only positional moves to very young children. I am not in favor of teaching submissions to children below the age of twelve in group children’s classes. This may seem a very conservative approach, but I believe it is in the best interests of the sport.
Some of the worst incidents I have witnessed in my time in jiu jitsu involve children or very young teens being put in situations where the danger posed by submissions used against them was greater than their knowledge of how to defend themselves, and the environment competitive enough that they felt compelled not to submit. Sometimes this compulsion came from overzealous parents (some of whom ought to be ashamed of themselves ?) or just a situation where a young student clearly did not have the requisite knowledge to defend themselves in a high pressure situation – I remember an EBI where a young teenage girl was caught in a heel hook that she had no idea how to defend but felt the pressure not to submit in a televised event in front of a big audience and was horribly injured – thankfully they have since banned heel hooks for juveniles in EBI.
John Danaher is no doubt also referring to the EBI 5 match between Riley Breedlove vs Sophie Lee where you could see the ignorance at work, just watch this replay:
Danaher continues:
Most worrisome are strangleholds. These are potentially fatal in the wrong hands. I just don’t think it is wise to be teaching young children strangleholds. The idea of large numbers of unsupervised children walking around with knowledge of how to strangle someone does not appeal to me.
I believe judo does not allow submission holds up to a certain age and they have an an excellent safety record for children since 1882. I believe this may be appropriate for jiu jitsu also. The sport can offer so much with positional skills to very young students that they can spend years learning excellent skills that will make learning submissions much easier when they get a little older.
I do make exceptions for advanced children who are learning outside of regular group children’s class. If they show an appropriate level of maturity I will teach them all submissions including strangles – but they can only use them when training with adults or teenagers, not with other young children who are unfamiliar with them.
In this way I believe I can teach a safe class, avoid teaching potentially fatal knowledge to young people who don’t yet understand the seriousness of that knowledge, get away from those dreadful situations where young children get hurt because they feel compelled not to give in to a harmful hold, yet not hold back advanced children with deep ambitions in the sport.
Here, young Mikey Wilson, one of my favorite young students (just ten yours old), practices his strangles with his senpai (“big brother”) Nicky Ryan, who at fifteen, learns all submissions. This is a good example of a safe way to teach very talented children that goes beyond a standard classroom setting, where I believe a more conservative approach is better for the long term interests of the sport.
What is an appropriate age to learn submissions? Share your opinion in the comment section.
