Camp Day

A big, loud camp hour — three teams, a tournament, one skill smuggled into the middle, and an awards circle where every team wins something true

Kids martial arts
All ages · Camp · Any art
60 min
12–30 mixed ages (one adult per ten)
3 coaches
Effort 4/5
Full mat area (hall or marked outdoor space works)
camp
games
teams
summer

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

Kit: Mats, 20 cones, bibs in 3 colours, 3 kick shields, soft belts for tails, beanbags, water bottles lined up before the start

Warm-up8 min

Bow In & The Team Draft

Setup: Camp-day bow-in first — bigger and louder than term-time, but still a bow-in; camp runs on the same rituals or it runs on chaos. Bibs in three colours ready, coaches pre-assigned one team each.

How it works: Draft three teams FAST and fairly — you sorted the lists before camp, mixing ages so every team has bigs and littles; announce, bib up, done in ninety seconds. Each team then builds its identity: a team name (thirty seconds, coach has casting vote), and a team kiai — one word, one clap, invented together and performed to the room, judged by decibels and togetherness. Then straight into the first warm-up relay: whole team in a chain, jog the mat's edge together, leader peels to the back every whistle so everyone leads and nobody races.

Rounds: Draft, identity, one chain-relay lap — eight minutes, and the room now belongs to three tribes.

What to say

“Pre-sort the teams on paper before camp — live drafting is where feelings get hurt and minutes die.”
“The team kiai is your control switch all day: one word brings any scattered team back to you.”
“Mixed ages on purpose, said out loud: 'every team has bigs to lead and littles to lift.'”

Easier

Names and kiais offered by the coach as choices to vote on rather than invented cold.

Harder

Teams also invent a two-move team salute — five seconds long, performed at every scoring moment today.

Drill12 min

Camp Relays

Setup: Three relay lanes with cones, one team per lane, a coach per lane keeping score and spirits. Handicap the legs by age, announced as jobs, not adjustments: bigs bear-crawl, middles stance-walk, littles sprint.

How it works: Round one: travel relay — each runner crosses and returns in their age's movement, tags the next hand. Round two: equipment carry — a beanbag balanced on a flat palm out, on the head back; drops are picked up with a smile and carried on. Round three: the stance baton — the waiting runner must be holding a strong stance for the incoming tag to count, so the whole line trains while it waits. Points for finishing, bonus point for the loudest team kiai at the end of each round. Keep score big and public on fingers; keep every round close with your handicapping.

Common mistakes

Lanes too long — littles' legs and attention both max out at the mat's width.
Coaches scoring quietly — camp scoring must be pantomime or it may as well not exist.

Rounds: 3 relay rounds ~3 minutes each plus kiai bonuses — twelve loud minutes.

What to say

“The waiting line has a job every round — camp discipline is just queues with jobs.”
“Score theatrically and keep it close — a 3–2–2 camp is magic, a runaway winner is mutiny.”
“Praise the bigs who cheer their littles by name; that behaviour is the camp you actually want.”

Easier

Shorter lanes, all runners choose their own travel style, no scoring for a round.

Harder

Final round chains all three: travel out in your movement, carry back, tag onto a stance-holding teammate.

Drill10 min

The Camp Move

Setup: Teams stay in their tribes, one coach per team, one kick shield per team. Pick one technique the whole camp learns today — a front kick, a straight punch, your art's favourite — announced as The Camp Move with full ceremony.

How it works: Ten minutes, three stages, run inside each team. Stage one: the coach teaches the move in four beats to everyone. Stage two: pairs of big-and-little — the bigs peer-coach their little using one detail at a time, and the coach coaches the coaching. Stage three: every camper lands the move three times on the team shield with their name announced by the team and the team kiai after their third. By the end, the youngest camper and the oldest have learned the same move on the same afternoon — say that out loud, because it is the sentence that makes camp feel like a club.

The technique, step by step

Coach teaches the camp move in four beats.
Big-little pairs polish it, one detail at a time.
Three reps each on the shield, name announced, team kiai.

What to say

“One move, whole camp — the shared move is the day's souvenir.”
“Bigs coach with one detail only: 'tell them the best thing to fix, not everything you know.'”
“Announce every name at the shield — three reps with your tribe shouting for you beats thirty alone.”

Easier

Littles do the first two beats of the move only, celebrated identically.

Harder

Stage three becomes a combination: the camp move plus each camper's own favourite, back to back.

Ask the class: Peer-coaching inside the tribes is the quiet curriculum — camp is where your next assistant coaches are discovered.

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

MatPlans curriculum team

Free on MatPlans — new lessons weekly.