Track or Martial Arts Recommendations for 11 Year Old Boy
My son is interested in joining a track team or trying martial arts. He's currently 11 years old and in 5th grade. Can you recommend a fun program that will get him moving and out of his comfort zone to try something new? We'd like something structured and supportive. The goal is for him to get some exercise and meet some friends, so a non-competitive team or class would be a great fit too. Also open to other recommendations of programs that your pre-teen loved that involved exercise, fresh air and a supportive and kind environment.
Jan 30, 2023
Parent Replies
We have had a wonderful experience with the Raptors running group. They usually meet on Sunday mornings in Albany or Berkeley. You can just show up. This link has directions on how to join their Facebook group. the RAPTORS - How to Join the Raptors Facebook Group (runningraptors.com)
Not exactly fresh air, but you might consider fencing -- I signed my son up for similar reasons years ago, not really knowing anything about it, and it turned out to be the perfect fit for him. It turns out the Bay Area is actually a hotbed of fencing. An organization called The Bay Cup organizes regular tournaments held at the various local clubs -- it's a wonderful community and you can just participate for fun, but if your child ends up getting serious about it there are also world-class coaches and fencers right here. We started at the Sport Fencing Center in Richmond -- it later moved to El Cerrito and the website hasn't been updated for a few years so I'm actually not sure whether it's still open, but there is a new-ish club called the West Berkeley Fencing Club that looks good. There are multiple clubs in San Francisco that you might also consider -- two that I can recommend as having wonderful coaches are Halberstadt, in the Mission, and M Team, which is all the way in the Outer Sunset but is worth the drive if your child eventually wants to get serious about competing. That's where my son ended up (there was, and I'm sure still is, a carpool from Berkeley) and to my surprise, in spite of the focus on competition, we found M Team to be a warm and supportive environment with just as much emphasis on being a good person as on winning fencing bouts. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions!
We have a Shaolin monk come every Monday after school to teach at Strawberry Creek Park in Berkeley. It's amazing! Our 11-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter both love it. After some training period where they had to do something hard for a while, they are loving the newfound strength and power they're developing.
PM me & I'll send you the phone number for our coordinator
My son (12) and daughter (9) both study karate at Karatedo Shinyokai on Fairmount in El Cerrito. It is a wonderful dojo, they have kids of all ages as well as a separate teen class for ages 12+. Sensei Mark is wonderful with the kids, and there is a strong tradition of the advanced students assisting in teaching the more junior students which has allows my son to really develop as a leader. If you go to the dojo during the year you can also attend summer camp, which has lots of fun activities such as weapons, calligraphy, and sushi-making. The style of Karate is gōjū-ryū, a rather traditional Okinawan style with hard and soft techniques. Both my kids (who are quite different) love it!
Thank you so much for these suggestions. We are set to do some trials in the next few weeks.