Young Grasshoppers Have Much To Learn

It's been a week of judo classes! This weekend I observed Liam trying to instigate fights with Emilia by grabbing her arm/shirt and tugging or pushing her. I have also seen Emilia call Liam over for some judo/bjj play, then do a take down with a shirt/arm grab and a leg sweep. Emilia seems to like doing the take downs. Liam seems to like the grappling aspect more.. aka sit on Emilia.

Emilia's attention span in class is decent. She has above average grip strength for a newbie 5-yr-old and can follow instruction well. Liam.. oh my Liam, is just the opposite. He has been called out by the sensei numerous times, has been picked up by the belt and put back into line, put in front of the class for something only to start making faces, sticking out his tongue, rolling his eyes, and having the whole class laugh.

Can you spot the kiddos? (The little kid running back to the L-line just finished doing a demo with the instructor.) Most of the kids are paying attention.. most.

While sensei is teaching/demonstrating, Liam can be found laying down and rolling on the mat, or poking the kid next to him in the head, or turned 180 degrees in the opposite direction of sensei, watching the MMA boxers. Another kid even tried to get Liam to pay attention only to cause a disruption in the class. Luckily the senseis at this dojo are VERY good with kids, but also somewhat strict. The senseis will usually call out the kid, but they will also discipline the kids, put them on time out, have their belts or stripes taken away from them if necessary.

These young grasshoppers have much to learn!