One of the best known, and slow to be associated with the martial arts, is the art of wrestling. Hands down, the best way to take an opponent to the ground without using clothing is by using wrestling. Greco-Roman (under body) wrestling and freestyle (entire body) wrestling techniques are extremely valuable skill sets to possess or add to your arsenal, whether you are a kickboxer or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Wrestling will allow you to dictate where you want to fight to take place. If you are a kickboxer, you can prevent your opponent from taking you down or if you are grappler, you can use wrestling to take the fight to the ground. Wrestling also has a tremendous amount of techniques on the ground.
If you are an active competitor or entering wrestling in Intermediate or High School, you will need to learn Folk style wrestling. This has a separate set of rules and in order to be successful, you must learn the intricacies of this type of wrestling.
Currently, our wrestling program is only for kids starting at 4 years old up to 14 years old. We are an official Police Activities (PAL) league team and compete in the PAL Wrestling tournaments.
This class is held seasonally. There are two PAL seasons (Sept-Dec) and (Feb-May), but off-season classes are also held to provide year around training. A couple of weeks are taken off after each season and the start up of the off-season classes. During the season, we practice three times a week and off season practices normally consist of two practices a week.
Our philosophy for our kids classes is simple; if kids have a lot of fun in class, they will WANT to train. Any child who loves going to the class, tries their hardest, and attends consistently will get good at the martial arts. There are so many things in a child’s life to be serious about, like their school work. Every child needs an activity that is fun. It is even better when that activity is one that gives the child exercise, teaches them how to defend themselves and the respect and discipline to know when to use it and, more importantly, when not to.
We do not want over demanding parents to bring their children to our academy and demand that we make them into the next champion of the world. If your child will become a world champion, he or she will make that decision themselves because the desire needs to come from within themselves. To reach that level, they cannot be forced to obtain those types of skills. Every child that we have built into a champion developed a passion for the martial arts on their own. We enjoy watching the children’s self confidence and self esteem grow as their technical proficiency grows. Not every child will become a champion, but every child deserves to feel a boost in their self esteem and feel better about themselves through the learning of the martial arts. We are not only building champions in martial arts, we are building champions in life.
“Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832, German Poet/Dramatist/Novelist
We reserve the right to not accept certain students both adults and children. Acceptance of children for the kids class will be based on the child’s level of maturity. If the child can sit still for a little while, pay attention, and TRY to attempt some moves when shown something, they will be accepted. We are not asking for young adults, but this is also not a baby sitting class. We also do not feel right about taking money from parents if the children is not ready to learn. Every child is different and progress at different rates. That is the great thing about kids. We are always open to ideas, suggestions and willing to try just about anything, so do not be afraid to ask or offer.
Our goals in the Kids class are to have fun, build self-confidence and self-worth, emphasize academics, build discipline, develop humility and respect for others, be an “extended family” support team for the child, and increase flexibility and overall fitness through the learning of wrestling.
Our wrestling program is led by our head coaches Cedric Yogi and Stephen Thai who both have an extensive grappling background. Coaches Jill Uyeda and Dave Crooke are our freestyle head coaches.