My 6 year old son has trained BJJ for a year and loves it. He is pretty good on the ground, but his standup is very defensive. He stays engaged and hand fights well, but rarely initiates takedowns. Instead, he waits for mistakes and capitalizes when they happen. That approach worked for a while, but in competition he’s facing better kids who don’t make many mistakes. As a result, he gives up repeated offensive attempts and often gets taken down. Would cross training help at this age? If so, would you recommend starting with wrestling or judo? We have access to a good wrestling club and a high level judo academy. For context, he is very little for his age. Thank you!
Judo or Wrestling for Kids
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2 Comments
Take him to try out both for a week and let him decide which one is more fun.
My boys get proper judo training and treat it as its own sport with its own win conditions. They have gotten good enough to modify their techniques for BJJ competition. They also have some wrestling experience in from our gym's wrestling coaches. You can't go wrong with either sport but I feel like wrestling's mat work meshes more with BJJ.
For a 6 year old I'd probably say Judo if it's easily available. If he likes grappling as he gets older then both would be good in some way because they both have their unique benefits.