Youth Program

Disclaimer

We are a family friendly gym, but we are not a bounce house or playground. At the forefront, we are a grappling academy that has produced countless champions in every age group at every level of competition.

The foundation of our success is our collective work ethic, aligned vision, nonnegotiable dedication to excellence, clearly defined core values, and our refusal to stray from them. We take great pride in running a facility that will be changing lives for the better and impacting families for decades on end.

To continue with the ability to serve our community with a premium service and consistently meet or exceed elite standards, we must make clear our rules and expectations for our youth athletes and their parents.

Youth Athlete Expectations

Self-accountability - athletes are responsible for their own actions, habits, words, and bodies
Sportsmanship - in training and especially in competition, we win with honor and lose with grace. The manner in which we carry ourselves is a reflection of our upbringing and values
Focus - the ability to concentrate on the task at hand is nonnegotiable. Lesson plans have been split into digestible timed segments that are age appropriate. If an athlete is unable, unwilling, or not making progress towards enduring our class structure without being a distraction, we will place the youth athlete’s membership on hold until they are ready to participate and add value to the training room.
Hustle - not just during rolling, this is an attitude. Hustle back to center from water breaks, hustle to begin drilling when we break from discussion, hustle towards clean up routines.

Class Rules

Treat others how you want to be treated. Respect your training partners, coaches, parents, and the facility. We have zero tolerance for bullying. Do not interrupt when the coach is speaking. Raise your hand high in the air until called on.
Classes are to start on time. Equipment is picked up, gis and belts are on, and athletes are lined up on the wall BEFORE our start time.
We do not care if you are a superstar athlete or not, only that you are giving your best efforts. Horseplay is waste of time, a distraction to the kids who want to learn, and should be saved for the backyard, not our structured classes.

Violations

Verbal warning
Time out
Removal from class
Chronic poor behavior will result in removal from our team

Additional Banned Techniques

All banned techniques in adult classes also are banned in kids classes, in addition:

No leg locks at all
No wrist locks at all
No neck cranks or twisters at all

Tips & Etiquette

Parents should not show up with children more than 10-15 minutes before classes begin and are responsible for their children until the start of class
Shoes should be lined up neatly out of the walkways
Children should learn to tie their own belts - this is an age appropriate task, the more parents help them, the more parents hurt them
Use restrooms before classes
Bring water bottles
Pick up your mess before leaving the gym

Our youth program is the pinnacle of kids grappling in Central NY. It is home to multiple Kids Pans Champions and multiple NYSPHAA State Placers.

Our youth coaching staff includes four IBJJF Worlds/Pans Champions/Medalists.

The results and resumes are incomparable, nobody comes close. But what really makes the program special is the dedication from top to bottom. I dare say that any child who has graduated from our youth program into our adult program is unbullyable.

Adult Program

Academy Rules

Treat partners, guests, coaches, and staff how you want to be treated. Bullying or harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. Respect the facility, equipment, furniture, and clean up after yourself.
Athletes must maintain impeccable hygiene. Absolutely no training while sick or with any rashes or skin infections. Hair, skin, nails, and body must be clean prior to training. Gis, belts, clothes, and all other training equipment must be washed after every practice. No street shoes on the mat. Please wear shoes/sandals in rest rooms.
Waivers MUST be signed prior to training.
Your partner’s physical safety is your number one priority. ATHLETES TRAINING IN AN UNSAFE MANNER WILL BE WARNED AT FIRST AND THEN REMOVED. Training safely is a skill!

Gym Etiquette

We have an extremely diverse group of athletes. Use common sense and read the room. Take into consideration age, size, and skill level and adjust your intensity, pace, and pressure accordingly. When not rolling, please move matside so athletes rolling have space.
What happens in training stays in training. Training is for improving, not competing. Tapping and telling creates a toxic training environment that does not encourage growth, taking chances, and causes animosity between athletes.
Unpaid membership dues result in uncomfortable conversations, but necessary ones. It’s also unfair to paying athletes. Please make sure payment methods are up to date so the gym can pay the bills. This way, everyone has a cool place to train and win championships.

Banned Techniques

Jumping guard and flying submissions
Slams, suplexes, trapped arm returns, and scissors takedowns
No heel hooks or twisters in the gi, MUST be applied slowly in nogi
No leg locks, neck cranks, or wrist locks in kids classes
No grabbing any less than four fingers at a time
Neck cranks and Estima locks can be set up for awareness and educational purposes, but must be applied with the most caution and gradual pressure possible
No starting rolls on the knees - this is not only useless, but dangerous
When a pair of athletes intrude upon the space of another, the static pair stays and the dynamic pair resets in their general area. We must take great care in not falling on our training partners as this is the most avoidable injury situation
When taking back control with hooks from top turtle position, do not pull your partner straight back where they can roll over their ankles
No forward roll for the bottom athlete when the athlete has both hooks in the quad pod position

Belts

It takes longer to progress in jiu-jitsu than in any other martial art by far, and that’s a great thing. Keeping standards high maintains its effectiveness as an art.
We do not do belt tests, as we don’t feel they are an accurate representation of skill and progress. Our belts are not attendance based, they are merit based.
The most important thing about belts is they ensure you are able to compete in the appropriate division. As this is a contact sport, this is a safety issue. Wearing a belt that you cannot represent can actually be dangerous.
Individual athletes may experience a lengthier or shorter time at each belt relative to others due to unique work ethics, natural abilities, and competition results - just like any other area in life
Belts should be a representation of your progress relative to your potential - the focus should be on daily improvement and the rank will take care of itself