1. Who is coaching the children?

Colm O’Reilly and Daniel Iannelli coach at Clever Little Monkeys.

Colm began his training in Martial Arts (Kenpo Karate at the time) aged 9. Aged 16 he began teaching children’s classes in Drimnagh. In 2000, Colm began training with Straight Blast Gym Ireland, and was awarded his SBG Trainer’s cert in 2002, at which point he began teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in UCD. In October 2003 Colm started Clever Little Monkeys in Scoil Carmel, Firhouse.

Colm has a BSc in Sports Management from UCD and is 25 years old, though he still doesn’t consider himself a real grown up.

Daniel started training in Spartan MMA in December 2002. After a long soccer and rugby career he finally decided to try his hand at combat athletics, inspired by his younger brother’s success with Clever Little Monkeys. Daniel began helping out with the children’s classes in September 2006 and quickly developed a fan base amongst the children.

Daniel is working towards a personal training qualification from the National Training Centre, and his favourite colour is yellow.

2. Who is the club affiliated to?

The club is affiliated to Straight Blast Gym Ireland. Colm also has a coaching certificate from the Irish Amateur Wrestling Association.

3. Isn’t it dangerous for children to learn martial arts?

It depends on the instructor. If the instructor tells the children they are learning “lethal techniques” or they will all be invincible ninjas then yes. Ultimately the child will believe what he or she has been told. Usually this will end with them standing up to a fight when they could have easily avoided danger.

Also, if the instructor breeds any sort of fear in the class martial arts can be very destructive to the child. Fear is often used as a tool of persuasion and can manifest itself in a number of ways. The instructor can use fear of isolation, or embarrassment, if the child fails to perform. In another way, the child may be afraid to ask questions, as many martial arts instructors assume a distant and domineering persona while teaching. Also, as is common in martial arts, a number one rule is do not question your instructor’s orders. This, I believe, is detrimental to learning of any kind.

Fear of failure also ranks highly in martial arts schools, as many competitions are held throughout the year. The emphasis at these competitions is on winning, usually at the expense of enjoyment. Whilst it is nice to see your child excel at his or her sport, as long as they enjoy competing/playing throughout the competition, knowing their parents and instructors care more about them than some cheap plastic medal, who cares if they win? Fun is the gold medal at Clever Little Monkeys!

Martial arts can be of great benefit to children if the environment is right. Through game playing children can develop essential skills for combat, foster their creativity, and have fun whilst doing so. Also instructors should not concentrate solely on the dreaded “street fight” that lurks around every corner. In my opinion this is not a healthy attitude to adopt. Whilst it is important to teach children to be aware of the dangers, these should not be exaggerated into horror stories. By constantly preaching of fear and living worrying about what might occur we loose sight of what is likely to.

A far better approach is to develop a healthy competitive attitude, where the kids are not pressured into performing better than X or Y, but improving on their past performances. An athletic approach to martial arts fosters a healthy lifestyle. Kids will not be so inclined to hang around the street corner and will learn to avoid situations/places where danger is more likely to arise. As long as the children are taught with love and understanding, competition can allow children to develop their confidence to tackle their challenges, rather than avoiding reality and escaping into the “mysticism” or “invincibility” of most military style martial arts.

There is also a concern (and a justified one at that) amongst parents over whether their children should learn violent techniques. Which would you prefer, a child to learn defence skills in a safe environment, whilst supervised by a qualified adult, and wearing protective equipment? Or in the street, unsupervised, by some bully? Children can learn respect for violence; learn when NOT to use it. And also use martial arts as a means to avoid unpleasant situations, rather than emerge the victor, as is so often preached in martial arts.

4. Will martial arts training help my child develop discipline?

Above all else at Clever Little Monkeys, we strive to provide an environment that will allow children to develop confidence and nurture their natural, brilliant creativity. Discipline, or order, is not enforced by strict rules, or punishment. This approach does not encourage children to use their imagination or resourcefulness. Instead, using the Play As The Way method developed by Luis Gutierrez in Florida (www.onedragon.com), children learn to tackle problems head on through game playing. They learn self-discipline by adhering to the rules of the games.

5. Will they use their training on the street?

Whether or not a child is allowed to use their martial arts training to defend themselves is a matter we leave up to the parent’s and their children. Only they can decide when it is okay for a child to use their skills should a fight arise.

At CLM we have some guidelines to help the children should they be given the green light to defend themselves by their parents.
a. They are never allowed to start a fight.
b. They are not allowed apply submissions of any kind.
c. We’d prefer, if possible, that they try and take the bully down with a throw or takedown they’ve learned. Hopefully this shall knock the wind out of the bully and then the child can make their escape. If not, they can pin the bully until a teacher comes along. This, we believe, is a lot better than having either child’s face bloodied up.

Every now and again throughout our training cycle we’ll have a “Danger Awareness” class where we can discuss with the Clever Little Monkeys how to recognise dangerous situations, how to avoid them, and how to deal with them should anything go wrong.

6. Do the children get a chance to compete?

Clever Little Monkeys have the opportunity to compete in submission grappling events throughout the year. The rule sets allow the children to compete safely (the competitions are the exact same as their training). Although the children are encouraged to compete, they are not forced to and no child is held back if they can’t take part in a competition.

7. Are there belts? Like in Karate?

At Clever Little Monkeys we have a belt system. While fun and performance are our number one goals, we do this so the kids can have something to work for and as a reward for their effort and dedication to the sport. We don’t think of belts in terms of any sort of hierarchy. Everybody is an athlete in the class, and no one is above or beneath another student.

Belts are awarded through time put in at our training sessions, and performance. Obviously the more time put in the greater the increase in skill. They are not a reward for memorising a certain number of techniques. What good are 100’s of techniques if the child cannot apply them in sparring? Also it’s important to stress that its relevant improvement that’s important: are you moving better than you were last month, not can you beat Little Johnny or Mary every time.

When a child is ready for a grading, they are given a permission sheet that they need to get signed by their parent/guardian and their teacher in school. This is to encourage the child to develop themselves as a person in all areas of their life and also so that as parents, coach and teacher can work together to provide the best environment for the child.