The number one team under the Atos banner at the 2014 IBJJF Pan Kids. Photo: AOJ

The Mendes brothers, Guilherme and Rafael, have been at the top of podiums as athletes for years. Since opening their Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy in July of 2012 they have extended their knowledge and way of training to their students.

What makes them a bit different from other academies is their dedication to the kids program. At the 2014 IBJJF Pan Kids Championship on Feb. 16, the brothers led their team to victory for the first place team trophy.  This is the second consecutive year winning as a team under the Atos banner, and they improved from 15 gold medals to 25 gold medals.

Guilherme answered a few questions for an exclusive interview about how and why their kids program is so successful:

GRACIEMAG: What kind of training do your kids do in the programs at Art of Jiu-Jitsu?

GUILHERME MENDES: We have a very well-rounded program for kids of all ages and skill levels. We are always trying to improve upon it, by adding new things and removing the things that are not producing results. I think this constant evolution and attention to detail along with our will to have the best kids program make the classes at AOJ an amazing experience for the students.

Who teaches the classes and how do you determine which students take certain classes?

We offer 7 kids classes a day at AOJ which are separated by age. In the class we hold safety as our top priority and further separate the kids by belt level and size. Rafael and myself teach the competition team and we have seven more coaches who are all active competitiors that teach the other classes. The amazing thing about the AOJ coaching staff is the level of dedication and team work. We have weekly meetings to discuss the program and each individuals progress. This is really raising the level of our students.

Do the kids come to your academy with the goal of competing or do they decide after they start training?

Most of our students come to AOJ with the goal of gaining confidence, and that’s our goal on the mat: help them to develop a better personality, be able to handle tough situations and face and resolve problems they will encounter throughout their life. We believe competition is a great tool to test yourself, overcome your fears, and learn about self control. But competition is not the main goal at AOJ. We focus on developing our kids into confident adults ready to succeed in life.

What type of high level training do the kids at AOJ do and what is the weekly schedule like?

The kids at AOJ train every day. I do not recommend training more than once a day when they are young. I think this is the main reason for kids quitting Jiu-Jitsu because it stops being fun. The kids have a long way to go and I don’t want them to burn out. Having one great class a day is the perfect way to make them always feel excited to train and learn more. This system of training is working very well. Atos had 25 gold medals at Pan Kids coming from our academy.

We really enjoy seeing how much AOJ is influencing the Jiu-Jitsu community. New academies are opening up all the time with white mats, white walls, and polished concrete floors. Also when you look at the points from this year’s Pan Kids you can see that many schools are following our lead and investing in their kids programs. This makes us happy because since we started Jiu-Jitsu it was always our dream to change the sport and leave our mark. We believe that by creating a strong kids programs we are achieving our goal and creating opportunities for the next generation to use Jiu-Jitsu as a way to improve their lives.

You can follow the brothers and the AOJ kids team at www.artofjiujitsu.com

The full team at the 2014 Pan Kids. Photo: AOJ

Rafa and Gui celebrate Courtney Cardoza’s win at the 2013 Kids Pan Ams. Photo: Ivan Trindade

The Mendes Bros, Rafael and Guilherme or Rafa and Gui for short, are champions who are now extending their knowledge and experience to their students. Their academy, GMA Art of Jiu-Jitsu, is full of many students looking to achieve their individual goals although many of which aren’t even old enough to drive.

The kids program at Art of Jiu-Jitsu has fostered little champions while also teaching valuable life lessons. Many have wondered how they maintain such a large group, how they have built such a strong competition team in such short amount of time, what type of training they do and what attracts the young crowd to their Costa Mesa, CA location.

In an exclusive chat with Graciemag, the Mendes Bros let us in on how such a program is run:

GRACIEMAG: How many kids do you have training at your academy?

MENDES BROS: We have close to 200 kids training at our academy and our program is still growing. It was our goal when we first opened to develop a very strong kids program since they are the future of the sport. We offer 6 kids classes per day. We separate the kids by age and belt level so we can be sure we teach the appropriate techniques for their age groups. We also do this so we can manage the class size, otherwise the classes would be too large and we would not be able to give each child the attention that they need.

How many of them compete?

About 25% of our kids compete. Although we have a very large group of kid competitors, the majority of our students just train to learn and have fun. We always let the students decide if they want to compete. If they show interest and think they want to compete, then we will help them and make sure it is a good experience. We always make sure to give the students the same level of attention whether they are a competitor or just train for fun.

What kind of sacrifices do your kids make when they choose to compete?

Our students are hard workers! We are very proud of the commitment they show, especially at such young ages. One thing that we feel very strongly about however, is that all of the kids need to have the passion for Jiu-Jitsu on their own. In Jiu-Jitsu and in other youth sports, we see many parents pushing their kids too hard at a young age and it makes the kids lose their enjoyment for the sport. So we don’t really feel that our kids are making big sacrifices because they enjoy being here and training with their friends, and the kids that choose to compete enjoy the competitions.

Would you say that these kids are already working as full-time athletes?

We like to say they are doing all the right things to become future champions. We always do our best to be good role models for the kids and we want to give them all the right tools to achieve their dreams. We love to teach the kids and we admire their dedication. It inspires us to keep pushing forward to achieve our goals since we know all of the kids are looking to us to lead them. We know that as long as they keep up the good training, work hard, and believe in their dreams, they will be able to achieve their dreams.

What type of training do you have for the competitors?

We drill a lot of everything: takedowns, guard, submissions, passes, back attacks. After competitions we always study the mistakes to fix our game and improve to the next tournament and of course we do many rounds of sparring and specific training (this is their favorite part of the class).

How is it the same or different from the adult training for competitors?

The kids competition class is just like the adults competition class; we do a lot of speed drills, talk about tournament situations, and lots of sparring. I think this is the biggest difference between our training and most of the other schools. We teach them the same techniques that the adults drill when they are preparing for the biggest tournaments.

Check out more information about the kids program by going to www.artofjiujitsu.com

GMA members professors Rafa and Gui Mendes are hosting a Competition Training Camp exclusively for kids from August 23-25. This is an incredible opportunity for kids to take their Jiu-Jitsu game to the next level. Learn about their kids program in this interview.

The schedule is as follows:  August 23-25

• Friday, August 23: 12 p.m.- 6:30 p.m. with two training sessions
• Saturday/Sunday, August 24-25: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with three training sessions

Ages 7 to 14, grey belts and higher:

• Technique Instruction
• Conditioning Exercises
• Speed Drills
• Question and Answer Session

All training sessions will be lead by the Mendes Brothers

Price: $200 for Art of Jiu-Jitsu members, $350 for non Art of Jiu-Jitsu members

We will also have giveaways from RVCA. Sambazon Acai will be making free Acai bowls for all of the kids on Sunday. Space is limited.

To reserve your spot, please call us at 949-645-1679. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity for your child to learn from champions and develop as a competitor!

See more information by clicking here.