Involve your kids in a program providing a valuable experience run by academic professionals who teach skills on and off the mats.
What Sets Mat Chess Kids Above Traditional After-School Programs?
Most after-school programs settle for being supervised playtime.
We designed Mat Chess Kids with growth and education in mind, developed by child education professional Andrew Perkins.
What Does This Look Like?
Education Through…
Chess
It offers daily academic time. We provide dedicated time for teaching, studying and playing chess.
Why chess? We’ve found that playing chess is invaluable for our students in developing mental focus that translates into the classroom.
Even more than that, we’ve seen our students go on to win statewide chess tournaments.
Jiu-Jitsu
Kids love this! Brazilian jiu-jitsu is both a practical and engaging martial art that focuses on controlling a fully resisting opponent.
But more than a martial art, it’s a discipline in which students will confront the frustration of losing and being physically controlled by smaller but more skilled training partners.
Students who learn to persevere through these challenges develop greater self-control and calmness under stress not just on the mats — in life, too.
Focus and Perseverance
With these, students are better equipped to learn today and to grow into who we all want them to be in the future.
Monitored playground time may “check the box” for your child.
But we go beyond that to help build the skill and character that will empower them to shape their own life throughout its stressors.
An Afternoon at Mat Chess’ After-School Kids’ Program
Get your kids involved in a program providing a valuable experience run by academic professionals.
After-School Playground
2:25-3 p.m.
We pick up kids from school at 2:25. We take roll call by 2:30 and spend the next 30 minutes on the playground before the 10-minute walk back to the gym, where we arrive at 3:15 p.m.
Snack Time and Preparing for the Afternoon
3:15-3:35 p.m.
Your child has a dedicated 20-minute block of time to prepare for the afternoon. That includes changing into their gi for practice later in the day and having time to eat a parent-provided snack.
Dedicated Academic Time
3:35-4:15 p.m.
Your child has a dedicated 30-minute block of academic time every day they stay with us, where they receive one-on-one tutoring time with teachers.
This can involve one of three options:
- Homework
- Reading
- Playing chess
Led by Andrew Perkins, who spent over 9 years with the Edmonds School District and holds a master’s in education, this is the only program in the area that ensures your child has professional academic support to help them with their homework studies, reading or chess education.
Kids’ Martial Arts Class
4:15-5:15 p.m.
From 4 to 5 p.m., your child can participate in the kids’ Brazilian jiu-jitsu class, where they can make friends who participate from all over Seattle.
The kids’ martial arts program at Mat Chess shares the same unique advantages of being led by Andrew’s 20-plus years of experience in education, including 9 years with the Edmonds School District.
These classes do more than strictly teach jiu-jitsu — they provide a uniquely excellent environment for your child to learn these invaluable qualities and more:
- Confidence
- Respect for others
- Attention to detail
- Perseverance and determination
- Teamwork and leadership
End of the Day
Jiu-jitsu class ends at 5 p.m. for kids.
The pickup window is between 5 and 5:30 p.m.
This is flexible if necessary for parents.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Competition Opportunities
Mat Chess Kids has a long-standing tradition of competition wins and life lessons learned from competing.
Competition Preparation
Before competition, students go through a six-week training camp to prepare mentally, physically and strategically.
Each student works with our coaches to create a game plan of their own unique “superpowers.”
That is, they develop the techniques they’ll use from each position they may find themselves in during competition.
Sparring sessions focus on using these “superpower” moves — emphasizing doing what moves they do best. This helps them prepare to use those movements in competition.
But more importantly, the experience helps them build confidence in themselves and in their movements.
Competition can be a great force for motivation and concentration. It tests the techniques and the skills that students have been learning in a way that’s difficult to replicate in the gym. Practicing martial arts is intense, and so are Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments.
Ultimately, the environment can lead to great moments of self-discovery and focus.
Pricing Information
We currently have openings for the program, but they typically fill up quickly. We collect the first month’s payment as a way to reserve your space.
| 1 Pickup per week | $105 per month |
| 2 Pickups per week | $210 per month |
| 3 Pickups per week | $315 per month |
| 4 Pickups per week | $420 per month |
| 5 Pickups per week | $525 per month |
We design tuition rates to provide parents with the most flexibility possible. We aim to be not only the most valuable program but also the most cost-effective.
Kids’ Martial Arts Instructors
Head Teacher and Program Manager
Andrew Perkins
Andrew holds the following degrees:
- BFA of philosophy from Boston University
- Master’s in teaching from Boston University
He spent 9 years in the Edmonds School District teaching these courses:
- History
- English
- Philosophy, in the program that he started at Lynnwood HS
- Physical education
Andrew has an additional 13-plus years of teaching both children and adults since opening Mat Chess for a combined 20-plus years of experience teaching — and coaching — kids.
Assistant Teachers
Carson
Matt
FAQ
That’s no problem! We’re flexible and work with families. Let us know your needs, and we can likely accommodate them.
Absolutely! BJJ is a grappling art. As such, it doesn’t include kicking or punching and is similar to wrestling in that regard.
Because of this, kids can spar at full intensity, which safely gives them a lot of experience with a fully resisting opponent. We’ve had students who’ve encountered self-defense situations that they couldn’t deescalate. And we’re proud to report that each student was able to keep themself safe through the conflict.
Yes, but we strongly recommend that students attend at least two days per week.
Jiu-jitsu is an effective sparring-based discipline. Because of this, more skilled kids can control less skilled kids. Students who attend one day per week struggle to maintain parity with their peers.
Additionally, jiu-jitsu is a sport focused on control, and most of that control happens on the ground. Students have a lot of context for ball sports but typically don’t have any context for jiu-jitsu. As a result, orientation can take significantly longer for a student who attends one day per week.
That said, we do have a few families who elect to enroll in one day per week, and we maintain the option.
Absolutely! We have students of all sizes and skill levels, so they always have a productive training partner to work with.
One of the hopes of martial arts is that through training and technique, a smaller practitioner can control a bigger, stronger opponent. Students realize this hope during every Brazilian jiu-jitsu training session!
BJJ is tough, and losing at sparring can be intense.
When you lose at basketball, someone put a ball into a hoop more times than you. When you lose at BJJ, someone physically controlled and dominated you. This can be intense and difficult to deal with. Kids also fall funny and get bumped during training. It’s not uncommon for kids to say they want to quit after a hard sparring session or a funny fall.
We find that BJJ gives students a healthy bit of frustration — and that the experience of going through frustration can be of enormous value.
Year in and year out, we see kids (and adults, for that matter) being able to deal with life’s frustrations a bit more easily after their BJJ experience. Life outside the mats seems a little less intense thanks to their experience.
Again, going through something difficult like BJJ and coming out on the other end can be a confidence-boosting experience. We find that once they have another good day of sparring, they’re back to enjoying training and having great fun on the mats. Almost without fail, every kid who’s been training more than a year has had a moment when they’ve asked to quit.
Most of those who stuck with it were able to experience the tremendous value that BJJ training can provide. We find that a little calm and staying the course go a long way in their human development — and we hope you find the same.
As with any sport, there’s always risk of injury. That said, we haven’t seen a serious injury stemming from kids’ BJJ training since our 2011 inception.
This is quite a powerful statement, given the thousands of kids who have been on our mats. Personally, we were injured far more frequently while playing basketball as kids than while training BJJ as adults.
Yes, they may! We’ve successfully integrated students from ASB, Laurelhurst, Thornton Creek and many others.
The only hurdle is that we can’t provide transportation. If you can provide transportation to either Bryant Elementary or the gym, we take care of the rest!
No, that wouldn’t be very safe or productive.
We teach roughly half the class together as one large group going over fundamental technique. Then, we break into two groups according to size and skill for sparring so that students can spar with others who are safe and productive for them.
That’s no problem! You have many things to do in life, after all.
Absolutely not! Almost all kids who come in have never trained before. Plus, we have a robust system to orient new students and teach them the fundamentals.
