Teen Girl's Jiu Jitsu

We are working on a new strategy to help grow female participation in our club. You'll already have seen some changes, and we're still working on it.

In the last few months we've-

• After feedback, made a new custom Black Gi for female members

• Stocked an emergency supply box for females

• Created an all new Women's Only class

• Increased social media visibility of women (can't see it, can't be it)

But we still have work to do, and we've made this one of our major priorities in the next while.

Girls and Participation in Sport- The Issue

We all know that young girls begin to drop out of sports in their teen years. And boys do too, but not at the rate of young women.

94%

- The number of Primary School Girls Participating in Sport

64%

- The Number of Secondary School Girls Particpating in Sport

This compares to 89% and 79% in boys. So there's an issue. What is it?

Well, that's difficult to say exactly. There's a difference in what girls report is the issue versus what deeper research shows. The top, self reported answer to Why Did You drop Out? is "Lack of interest", but as anyone who has raised a teenager will tell you, what they say and what they feel are rarely the same thing. Lack of interest could be a catch alll term for loss of confidence, body image issues, or the environment not suiting them.

One thing is clear across male and female research is that there are issues in terms of the sport becoming more serious and competitive. This is where Jiu Jitsu comes into its own. Less than 10% of all members in Kyuzo compete, meaning there is a recreational side to Jiu Jitsu that doesn't exist in many other sports. We have that in our arsenal against the dropout scourge!

We also need to examine other ways and keep the communication flowing. Teen years are a time of discovery as kids explore new interests. If there's a dropout risk, we want to hear about it. We have ways and means of managing that through goal setting, conversations, or just leaving the door open to a return in the future.

We just hate to see talent and personality walk out the door. That's all!

Managing the Transition from Teen to Adult

We're going to start in the Teens Class, creating separate Boys and Girls pods for training. We can't as yet dedicate an entire session to boys and girls, and we do want these guys and girls, some of whom are great friends to stay together in the same room, but to increase comfort for new young girls coming into the club, we feel it's best to start giving the space to train seperately.

We're also going to start bringing Teen girls into the adult Women Only classes. They'll still train with their Teens group on those days, but they'll have the option of training in with the female only group on their days also. These sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm.

What we have always found beneficial is for Teens to be exposed to adult role models. We have a number of women in our club who have a wealth of experience in both coaching and training, and it will only benefit young girls to train with them.

We've had success with this. One session a week with Adults, while still remaining with their Teen peers in a group seems to be the best way to manage the transition. The alternatives don't work well- either keeping them in a Teen environment they're ageing out of, or thrusting them into the deep end.

If you are the parent of a Teen girl, and you think this approach would work for your daughter, email Barry now barry@kyuzo.ie to get more information.

The goal isn't to have totally separate male and female groups- training together is mutually beneficial.

Instead, the ultimate goal for us is to build and maintain a pathway from Kid, to Teen, to Adult for every girl in Kyuzo, and to have an entry point at every stage along the way for new girls to join. We think this is the best way to build our Female membership, and to stop the dropout rot!

This is a working plan, and it's open to new ideas and concepts as we see them. So please send us your feedback.

Barry