Kids getting a little rowdy? Hitting that age where they want to wrastle? It’s time to admit it… It’s time for martial arts. If you’re out there Googling “kids martial arts in bastrop tx” wondering if this is the right move, you just found the right place. You’re welcome in advance.
We run daily kids jiu jitsu classes at 10th Planet Airlock in Bastrop for ages 5 and up. Two programs. No contracts. No sign-up fees. Month to month. First class is free. But before we get into the logistics, let us tell you what this program is actually about.
We Teach Kids Jiu Jitsu to Make Them Kinder
Tougher, yes. More disciplined, obviously. More confident, absolutely. But the thing that surprises most parents is the kindness piece.
Here’s how it works: when kids develop real confidence in themselves and their ability to handle a physical situation, they stop feeling threatened by the world. They stop needing to prove anything. And what fills that space is compassion for the people around them who don’t have that same confidence yet.
New kids in our program are welcomed by the experienced ones. A new kid on the mat is a chance to practice bringing up a teammate. That’s how we frame it. That’s how the kids internalize it. And over time, it becomes who they are.
Most parents come to us looking for discipline, confidence, and some self-defense skills. They get all of that. But the thing they tell us about months later is that their kid is just… kinder. More patient. More willing to handle frustration without melting down. Toughness and kindness aren’t opposites. Jiu jitsu teaches both at the same time.
Why Jiu Jitsu Over Karate or Taekwondo
We get this question from parents all the time, and we’re going to give you a direct answer.
Jiu jitsu is the only martial art that can be practiced at 100% effort WITH RESISTANCE FROM AN OPPONENT without long-term danger of injuries, particularly head injury. That’s not a small thing when we’re talking about kids. Grappling doesn’t involve striking. Nobody is getting kicked in the head during class.
Beyond the safety piece, grappling is genuinely better for kids than striking because it doesn’t give them a false sense of confidence. Anyone can swing punches and kicks. Grappling tests your control. Your patience. Your ability to think clearly when someone bigger than you is putting pressure on you. You develop mental fortitude getting smashed that kicking practice will never give you.
And we’ll say the quiet part out loud: jiu jitsu is the martial art that actually works. There’s a reason every MMA fighter in the world trains it. There’s a reason the UFC exists because of it. There’s a reason the military teaches grappling-based combatives and not taekwondo forms. If you’re going to invest years of your kid’s life into a martial art, invest it in the one that translates to the real world.
Two Programs, Two Age Groups
Tiny Astronauts (Ages 5-8)
This is where most kids start. Tiny Astronauts classes run Monday and Wednesday at 4:30-5:15pm. Trial classes for this age group are on Mondays.
A typical class involves a warm-up built around jiu jitsu’s fundamental movement skills, learning and practicing technique with a partner, live positional work where kids practice specific techniques against a resisting partner, and positional games that reinforce what they learned while keeping the energy high. As kids gain experience, they progress into guided rolling and competition prep.
At this age, the games matter. Five-year-olds need to have fun while they’re learning or they won’t come back. We know that. The games are structured to teach jiu jitsu concepts in a way that a kid’s brain actually absorbs. They just happen to look like games from the outside.
Lil’ Astronauts (Ages 8+)
Lil’ Astronauts classes run Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30-5:15pm. Trial classes for this age group are on Tuesdays.
Same structure as Tiny Astronauts, but the instruction goes deeper. Older kids are held to a higher standard for maturity. They get more technical details. They play slightly fewer games because at this age, the live drills themselves are what keeps them engaged. They’re starting to feel the puzzle of jiu jitsu, and that puzzle is stimulating enough on its own.
Friday Competition Class (Both Age Groups)
On Fridays at 4:30pm, we hold a mixed kids competition class for both Tiny and Lil’ Astronauts. This class is for kids who have trained with us long enough to have the experience needed and who have an interest in competing. Not every kid will enjoy it, and not every kid comes to it. That’s completely fine.
No kid is required to compete in jiu jitsu at our gym. Ever. Competition is always their choice, and if they have the interest, we prepare them for it.
The Team Thing Matters More Than You Think
This is probably the biggest thing that separates us from a lot of kids martial arts programs.
In both our kids classes, the philosophy of being a team is critical. We are not “competing” inside the gym. There are no medals in class. There is no “winning” a drill. We compete together as a team at competitions. In class, we are there to learn and to work together to make each other better.
Some parents show up expecting to see their kid “winning” in jiu jitsu class. They want to see dominance. They want to see their kid on top. If that’s what you’re looking for, respectfully, you should find a different gym. That is not what we do.
What we do is build a team of kids who lift each other up. Kids who get better because they’re working with training partners who care about each other’s growth. The experienced kids help the new kids. The new kids push the experienced kids to learn how to teach. Everybody benefits. That’s the system.
The Wild Child Factor (This Is the One for Busy Parents)
This is the part where training at 10th Planet Airlock gets really convenient if you’re a parent. Wild Child Bastrop is an indoor playground for kids ages 2-10, and it’s in the same building as our gym.
So if you’ve got a 7-year-old in Lil’ Astronauts and a 3-year-old who’s too young for jiu jitsu, drop the little one at Wild Child and bring the older one to class. Same building. Same parking lot. You don’t need a babysitter.
Or better yet: drop both kids (one at Wild Child, one at Airlock) and grab some coffee at the Bastrop Cafe in the building. We have parents who do this every week. It’s one of the best things about training inside Bastrop Fitness Project. (If you’re new to Bastrop, that post explains everything under this roof.)
What About Safety?
Parents always ask. Here’s the honest answer.
Jiu jitsu is a close-contact martial art. Kids will get sweaty. They’ll occasionally get bumped. They might come home tired. There are tears in class. Those tears usually relate to FEAR of an injury. It’s extremely rare for a serious injury to occur. Meanwhile, they face fear in the eye and become stronger about it. Tears are a part of the process. But grappling is a zero-striking sport, which means the risk of serious injury in a well-coached class is lower than most team sports your kid already plays.
We run a structured class with clear rules. Kids learn to tap (the universal signal for “stop”) from day one. Their training partners respect the tap immediately. Good behavior in class is a safety requirement, and we hold kids to it. If you want to see what the adult version of this looks like, we wrote a full walkthrough of a first jiu jitsu class that gives you the feel for how we run things.
Will It Make My Kid Aggressive?
Parents ask this one a lot. And the answer is consistently the opposite of what they expect.
Kids who train jiu jitsu know they’re capable. And kids who know they’re capable tend to be the ones who walk away from the fight at school. They have nothing to prove. The confidence is already there. It’s the kids who feel uncertain about their ability to handle themselves who feel the need to act out.
We reinforce this constantly. In class, we teach kids that everyone on the mat is a teammate. Learning to manage their own intensity while grappling, to separate the competitive drive from aggression, is one of the most important life skills they’ll take from this. It carries way beyond the gym.
But the other part of the honest answer is… it depends on the gym. Our take is above. Every gym does it a different way.
The Details
Tiny Astronauts (Ages 5-8): Monday & Wednesday, 4:30-5:15pm. Trial class on Mondays.
Lil’ Astronauts (Ages 8+): Tuesday & Thursday, 4:30-5:15pm. Trial class on Tuesdays.
Friday Competition Class: 4:30pm, both age groups, experienced students only.
No contracts. No sign-up fees. Month to month.
We’re inside Bastrop Fitness Project at 303 Martin Luther King Dr, Bastrop, TX 78602. Right off Hwy 71. Near the Buc-ee’s. In the greatest city on Earth.
If you’re a parent in Bastrop, Elgin, Smithville, Cedar Creek, or anywhere nearby and you’ve been thinking about kids martial arts for your child, come see what we’re building. Your kid’s first class is free.
Book your kid’s free trial class at 10th Planet Airlock →
Or call us: (512) 271-5260
Or email: airlockbjj@gmail.com
Check out the full class schedule here.
10th Planet Airlock | 303 Martin Luther King Dr, Bastrop, TX 78602 | Inside Bastrop Fitness Project | Voted #1 Best Martial Arts Gym in Bastrop County 2025 | We Defy Foundation Partner
