Junior and Family Syllabus

We provide the Ippon Ryu Ju Jitsu Family syllabus for Juniors or Families with children that wish to train together. Juniors are usually taught separately from the adults unless they are training with their own family members. The Family Syllabus has been modified from that of the Adult Syllabus to suit the juniors’ level of maturity as some of the Adult techniques are considered to be too dangerous for Juniors. That said, the traditional proven techniques of Ju Jitsu remain at the very core of the Family Syllabus and instruction is individually tailored to the age of the Student.

Ju Jitsu is very much a ‘hands-on’ martial art and Students train in groups, normally with other Students of the same Grade (or close to it).

Ippon Ryu provides a comprehensive Ju Jitsu syllabus that will take students of all abilities and teach you skills in:

• Self-defence,
• Joint locking such as Wrist Locks, Arm-locks and Leg-locks,
• Blocking, countering and throwing,
• Ground grappling and restraints,
• Striking methods such as different types of punching methods and kicks

Making Progress

Progression in Ju Jitsu is broken up into stages called Kyu Grades. Reaching each new Grade is symbolised by the wearing a coloured belt corresponding to that grade. Depending on the age of the Student, these grades are further split into mini sub-grades with a ‘Tag’ called a Mon. To reach Black Belt, each student has to proceed through all of the Kyu grades one by one. It is at the Instructor’s discretion whether a Student should be graded, and they will make this decision based on a number of factors such as attendance record and commitment as well as ability. Everyone starts with a white Belt. It’s important to remember that once-upon-a-time the Instructors all started as white belts!

To achieve the next grade (and so next colour belt), the Student demonstrates that they can competently perform the techniques when asked to do so at a test called a ‘Grading’ – usually carried out in the lesson. Gradings are not meant to be intimidating so the Juniors have a revision session before demonstrating their techniques to the examining Sensei. The Senseis know the Students are nervous and take this into account!

My Child wants to be a black belt, how long does this take?

The Juniors tend to take a bit longer than the Seniors to learn the required techniques between grades, and can take 5 years, quite possibly longer to achieve a Black Belt. The only ‘minimum time’ between grades is between 1st Kyu (Brown with 2 white stripes) which is a 1 year period. As a rule of thumb if a student trains regularly it takes about a School Term to achieve a new coloured belt, but this depends on how often the Student trains, and this is very much a partnership between the Student and the Sensei. The Tag system breaks this longer 4-5 month period up into chunks which continues to engage the Juniors in their learning. Junior (otherwise known as Cadet) Black Belts must be at least 13 years old. Black Belt gradings are by invitation only when the Instructors believe they are ready. When 18 years old a Junior Black Belt is eligible to take the Adult Black Belt grading to transfer their grade to a Senior one if they meet the requirements.