What’s a PeeWee? The PeeWee class consists of five and six-year-olds. Their class is a simplified version of a regular class. It runs for 35 minutes: 15 minutes of warm-ups, 15 minutes of drills, and 5 minutes of “splash” time.
This age group’s short attention span makes anything longer useless or detrimental to their learning. The student may not “pay attention” to the entire class for the first few months. We allow the children to develop attention on their own time. The kids aren’t disrupting the others, and it helps them focus on their class objectives.
A Special Class
Each session works on developing the physical skills they’ll need for Kempo and school. These skill development drills take the form of games. We segment individual skills from “regular” techniques and have the children work on one skill at a time. Some of my favorite activities (or games) are jumping and rolling.
Jumping develops strong legs. We also teach proper landing to prevent shin splints. Physical and mental skills will give them a “leg up” when they must learn jumping kicks in the older Children’s Kempo class. Rolling is just a tiny part of the ukemi regiment. Groundwork is the most challenging for adults to learn. When small children learn how to do it properly, they don’t fear falling.
He’s no Jet Li
The PeeWees isn’t going to be “excellent” at Kempo. That’s not the objective of this class. Their requirements are lower than that of other students.
It bears reiterating that this class teaches skills disguised as games and a limited number of techniques. They rarely work out with partners because that leads to distractions. This age group loves to perform movements in sync with the large group. Everyone is doing the same thing at the same time.
Then why do they take Kempo?
You must remember these are small children in a very malleable period of their life. We want them to enjoy exercise, enjoy learning, and be able to follow directions. They should feel good about what they’re doing and want to do it again.
Let them have fun. Small children aren’t physically or mentally able to defend themselves from adults. If others tell you otherwise, they’re lying.
PeeWee Class is Part of Ninja Kids
Our entire Children’s Program is called Ninja Kids, which divide into age groups. The PeeWees are in the Little Ninja course, while the Keiki and Kempo Kids are in the Junior Ninja and Mighty Ninja courses, respectively. All courses use the same structure, stripe, and rank structure, making it easy to understand.
For more information about our Ninja Kids program, contact us today.
