Junior Leaders

A youth class where teaching is the technique — every teen coaches something tonight and leaves knowing the show-say-watch-praise loop

Kids martial arts
Youth 10–14 · Any art
60 min
8–16 youths (works best with kids who know their basics)
1 coach
Effort 3/5
Full mat area
leadership
character
teens
teaching

The MatPlans curriculum teamBJJ black belts & coaches · 12+ yrs on the mat

Kit: Mats, 8 cones, 4 spot markers, 2 hand targets, a whistle or drum for rotations

Warm-up10 min

Bow In & Leader's Shadow

Setup: Bow in, then a big circle, everyone facing inwards. Explain the night in one line: tonight you learn the hardest technique in the club — making someone ELSE better.

How it works: Rotating warm-up leaders: the first youth steps into the circle, leads one exercise of their choice for sixty seconds — jumping jacks, stance switches, fast feet, anything safe and known — and the class follows exactly. On the whistle, they name the next leader and rejoin the circle. Everyone leads once. The only leader rules: face your class, count out loud, and finish your exercise with a clap the class copies. Nervous leaders get you beside them, not instead of them.

Rounds: 60 seconds per leader — with 8–16 leaders that is the whole warm-up, and every child has already led before the teaching starts.

What to say

“Face the class, count aloud, end with the clap — three leader habits, installed in minute one.”
“Follow the shy leader's exercise HARDEST — the class copies your enthusiasm, so aim it where it's needed.”
“Debrief in one breath after each leader: 'we followed Zara because she was loud and sure.'”

Easier

Lead in pairs, and the coach quietly feeds an exercise to anyone who blanks.

Harder

Leaders must chain two exercises and manage the transition without the whistle.

Drill12 min

The Coach's Loop

Setup: Half-circle seated in front of you. You are about to teach them how you teach — pull the curtain back on the job.

How it works: Teach the show-say-watch-praise loop with a live demo: SHOW the move silently, twice; SAY one thing only — the single most important detail; WATCH your student try it three times, saying nothing; PRAISE one specific thing you saw, by name. Demonstrate the loop teaching a volunteer a basic technique, exaggerating each stage. Then pairs: one teaches their partner a fundamental they know cold, using the loop and nothing else — no lectures, one detail only. Two minutes, swap. Walk the room listening for the loop; interrupt lectures with a grin and one finger: 'one thing.'

The technique, step by step

SHOW it silently, twice.
SAY one detail — the most important one only.
WATCH three attempts without speaking.
PRAISE one specific thing you saw, by name.

Common mistakes

Lecturing — three details at once teaches none of them.
Vague praise — if the praise could apply to anyone, it reached no one.

What to say

“One detail per loop — 'the fastest way to teach nothing is to say everything.'”
“Silent watching is the hard stage for teens; praise the teachers who managed three quiet reps.”
“Specific praise or it doesn't count: 'good job' is banned, 'your heel turned this time' is coaching.”

Easier

Coach assigns each pair the move and the one detail to say.

Harder

Teach a move the partner genuinely finds hard, and run the loop twice with a different detail each time.

Drill14 min

Teach Stations

Setup: Four coned stations, each with a card naming one fundamental: a stance, a strike, a kick, a block — your art's four. Pairs assigned to stations, one pair per corner to start; spares float as students.

How it works: Each pair now OWNS their station's move. Rotating groups arrive every three minutes, and the owner pair teaches their move using the loop — one partner shows, the other says-watches-praises, swapping roles each group. Visiting students are told to be honestly imperfect so the teachers have something to see. You float, coaching the coaches only: never correct the move, correct the teaching. On the final rotation, owners pick their best student and that student demonstrates for the arriving group — proof the teaching landed.

Rounds: 4 rotations × 3 minutes plus transitions; every pair teaches three groups and produces one demo student.

What to say

“Coach the teaching, not the technique — 'you told them two things; which one mattered more?'”
“Make the students act like real students: a too-perfect student teaches the teacher nothing.”
“The best-student demo is the scoreboard: 'your teaching is whatever your student can now do.'”

Easier

Coach stands with the youngest owner pair for their first group, sharing the SAY stage.

Harder

Ban the demo on the last rotation — teach with words and hands-shaping only, like coaching an injured student.

Ask the class: Owning one small thing completely beats sort-of-knowing everything — the station cards go home with the pairs.

The rest of this lesson is free — along with 3 more this week.

MatPlans curriculum team

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