The Two Nights That Cover Our Whole Family's Schedule

Monday evenings at our Riverside academy have a rhythm to them now, and it's not one we planned exactly — the families made it happen. A dad drops his daughter off for Kids Jiu-Jitsu at 4:30, watches from the bench for a few minutes, and instead of leaving to run errands and coming back, he just stays. Grabs a gi bag out of the car. By 6:30, when Adults BJJ starts, he's on the mat two feet from where she trained an hour earlier.

We didn't design the schedule around that idea, but it turns out Monday and Wednesday cover almost everything we offer for families — Little Ninjas at 3:45 and 4:30, Kids Jiu-Jitsu at 4:30, Youth BJJ at 5:30, Adults BJJ at 6:30. One trip to the academy, and depending on how old your kids are, everybody who wants to train gets a class those same two nights.

It's the last week of July, and a few families have asked us some version of the same thing lately: with school starting back up soon, is there a way to simplify the calendar instead of adding one more separate activity to shuttle between? For a lot of households, the answer's been sitting on our schedule the whole time.

What that actually looks like week to week

Here's a version of it we see play out a lot. A mom used to drop her son off, leave for an hour, and come back — a whole extra round trip through Riverside traffic for a class that only runs forty-five minutes. Now she brings her own gi bag too. Her son trains Youth BJJ at 5:30, she trains Adults BJJ at 6:30, and they walk out to the car together at 7:30 instead of at two different times on two different days.

It's not just convenience, though that's real in July when nobody wants extra time in a hot car. Kids notice when a parent is actually doing the thing, not just watching it from a folding chair. Our coaches notice it too — kids tend to train a little more locked in on nights their mom or dad is training right after them. Nobody's performing for anybody. Jiu-jitsu just stops being "my kid's thing" and starts being something the whole family does on Mondays and Wednesdays.

It works the other direction too

This isn't only for parents who already train, either. Plenty of adults who'd never set foot on a mat started because their kid asked why they only ever watched. If that's been sitting in the back of your mind, sharing two nights a week with your kid is a low-pressure way to find out if it's for you — no experience needed, no gear beyond a t-shirt and shorts for that first class.

Before the fall calendar fills back in with school nights and everything else September brings, it's worth asking at the front desk whether your family's ages line up for a Monday/Wednesday combo like this. The first class is always free for anyone in the household who wants to try it. Give us a call or text at (951) 337-3781 — and since our Riverside academy is in the middle of a move right now, we'll get you current directions when you reach out.

Two nights a week, one trip to the mat, and a family that trains together instead of taking turns watching. That's turned out to be one of the better byproducts of how our schedule fell into place.

Ask About Training as a Family