What martial art would you recommend for a teenage girl?

[Simon Hayes]

I have two daughters.

Molly is 14 and Poppy is 11.

They both started WTF Taekwondo at 5 years old.They progressed to full contact kickboxing at 7 years Old.At 8 years old they began Judo.

Throughout this time i taught them BJJ privately.

Their weekly training schedule now is

1 DAY JUDO,1 DAY BJJ,1 DAY KICKBOXING.

Molly (the 14 year old) holds 2 Black Belts (Taekwondo & Kickboxing),a green belt in Judo and an orange belt in BJJ.

Poppy passed her Black Belt grading for Kickboxing TODAY!!!!
and also holds a red belt in TKD (equivalent to brown) and a green in
Judo,and orange in BJJ.

They have both played around with Muay Thai since they were 5 and train classes occasionally,but have decided that Thai sparring is too dangerous
because of the elbows and knees.

My reasoning behind teaching them to kick first was because a young girl will never win a grappling match with an adult (kidnapper etc) but i taught them to kick hard to the balls and run away as a self defence mechanism
as this is a little ones only chance.

My primary reason for teaching them these arts was for self defence and safety.The sportive aspects were/are secondary.

[Simon Hayes]

Here's some footage of Molly sparring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWDo_uUzFKY

[Iconoclast]

Well done Poppy, a black belt already.

Simon, which one is Molly in that vid?

Also, would the Budokwai be a good place to recommend to the 14 year old I'm talking about?

[Simon Hayes]

Molly is the shortest of the 2 girls with long blonde hair in pony tails.

The Girl she is sparring is an 18 year old Instructor.

The Budokwai on a Sunday morning from 9.45am-11.30am would be a good place to start.

Where does your friends daughter live?

[Iconoclast]

LOL I wouldn't mess with Molly, not at all.

They live in acton, which isn't too far from The Budokwai. That's why I thought it'd be a good place to suggest. I just wasn't sure if it was kid friendly or not.

OK I'll let them know and leave it at that. She'll have to decide herself if she wants to go up there.

Cheers fella.

[Simon Hayes]

The class i told you about at The Budokwai is when Molly and Poppy train,so she'd be sure to have girls her age there,and it's a small class with a lot of personal attention from a great coach.

The thing is,Judo is quite hard core.If she doesn't like it try kick boxing.

[Simon Hayes]

Regarding Molly,

When you look at that sparring video on it's own,it's easy to think that Kick Boxing is ineffective,which in isolation it is,but when you take the gloves off and mix those punching and kicking skills with the throws of Judo and the groundwork of BJJ you have a very effective self defence system.

Molly and Poppy are comfortable in all 3 phases of the fight (punching/kicking * clinch * ground ) and that makes me feel as comfortable
as is possible with them growing up in London.
Luckily they haven't had to use their skills against an adult but Molly has had
to defend herself against a bully who was older than her and the situation was dealt with in a controlled but effective manner,which only came from her being used to sparring in every fighting phase and being comfortable
enough in a violent attack not to over react and hand out a beat down.

[Iconoclast]

OK That sounds right up her street. I get the impression that having girls around her own age is a big deal.

Just checked The Budokwai site, they do kickboxing there also. I didn't know that. Cheers mate.

[Meerkatsu]

Interesting post.
All the above a good suggestions.
But what does SHE want to do?
She must surely have been inspired by someone in cinema, magazines, music, websites etc teenagers are very clued up about all sorts of issues and it would be very surprising if she didn't know about any martial arts.
At the club I train, we have a 16 year old female, an 11 year old girl and a couple of much younger girls. They absolutely love BJJ and I know one or two have personal issues with stuff going on in their lives - so who's to say that 'closeness' would be an issue here?
I guess your role would be to simply present 3 or 4 options, describing what they involve and where are the best nearby schools to attend.
Hope she enjoys it whatever her choice. I can't imagine the pain of losing your parent at such a young age must be for her. good luck.

[Iconoclast]

But what does SHE want to do?
She must surely have been inspired by someone in cinema, magazines, music, websites etc teenagers are very clued up about all sorts of issues and it would be very surprising if she didn't know about any martial arts.

That's a good point. I don't know what's sparked her interest in martial arts.

I shall endevour to find out.