Your Kids First BJJ Tournament 

Thanks for this. My 6 yo beginner nephew just had his first tournament and he got paired up with a State Champion that has been competing for over a year. I thought it was so unfair but I now understand why. Thanks!

I took my daughter to my first competition in February. I didn’t do as well as I hoped but I got on the mats. My daughter is going to compete in her first tournament next weekend. Coach has concerns if she’s ready but she wants to. I’m not telling her no. Even if she loses she’ll learn from it. I signed up for this one too. Setting the example. This gives me some confidence. Coach acts like she’s going to be getting on the mats with a bunch of assassins. She watched me win some and lose some in the last tournament. I think she understands enough to know what’s happening. I think I’m more nervous for her to get on the mats than I was when I was competing.

I think one of the most important things for my sons first tournament was to really respect and listen to where his Coach thought he should be. It seems to me when sideline dads with no jiu jitsu experience such as myself sign their kids up with no knowledge of the sport, you either end up with ringers or some poor childre simply not ready. On the flip side, you are doing a tremendous disservice to the sport if your child has been training for 5 years, rolling hard and really skillful and you put them in the beginner bracket. Yes, they make take home a medal but what did they really earn by beating a child who has been training for 6 months? My son has been training for 5 years now and is a yellow black belt. There were not a lot of kid in the tournaments at the younger ages and even fewer as the matches get 10x tougher. From local tournaments to Kids Pans, the amount of kids as he approaches orange belt are getting slimmer and slimmer, the herd is thinning. All and all the sport has been a huge gift to my son and he loves it. I think this video is Awesome because it brings up all of the variables, kids getting bumped up, some tournaments run poorly, ringers etc. It sounds cliche, but I think driving home the point that as long as your son/daughter pushes and fights with all they have, they definitely will have gains that are sometimes not possible to put into a medal. Making the first one as fun as possible without putting the pressure to win in their first match is the most important thing in my opinion.

Love your honesty , my 7yr son is having he’s first tournament as a white belt in two days from now . Glad I found your vid

ha i can relate. they always seem like they enjoy the experience though. that's the most important thing.

Great content as always Paulie, keep them coming.

Found this video super helpful - will update in a few months when my 4 year old has his first comp! (He’s been doing it for 1 year)

Is this no-gi that your daughters did? Here in Ontario, kids are split by age, weight and belt (ie. I compete in 7-8yr olds, grey belt,

You don't go by competition experience🤦‍♂️ you go by EXPERIENCE AND BELTS . STOP MAKING UP YOUR OWN RULES.