Ages 5–6 · New Lenox, IL

Little
Champions 1.

Focused fifty-minute classes where your 5-to-6-year-old learns to listen the first time, wait their turn, and finish what they start — disguised as the most fun part of their week.

Listening, Focus & First-Day Confidence

Claim Your $19.99 Trial (815) 463-9327

A shy young child hanging back from a group activity

01 / Why parents and students start

What You Came
Here To Fix.

"He won't listen unless I ask five times."
Every drill starts with eyes on the coach and ends with a clear finish line. Kids repeat that loop 20+ times a class — it transfers home fast.
"She's shy and freezes in group activities."
No performing in front of the room, no tryouts. Partner work in pairs means she's participating from minute one, not watching from the wall.
"He's got energy I can't burn off."
Jiu-Jitsu is a full-body grappling workout — climbing, crawling, rolling. Kids sleep better on training nights. Parents notice by week two.

Gracie Barra New Lenox students and coaches together

02 / The promise

Fifty Minutes That
Change The Whole Week.

Little Champions is built around one loop: eyes on the coach, try it, finish it, get told you did well. Repeat that a hundred times and a five-year-old starts believing they're the kind of kid who finishes things.

Fifty-minute classes paced for a 5–6 attention span
Nobody performs alone in front of the room
Parents watch every minute from open seating
Coaches who specialise in nervous first-timers

03 / Inside a class

Exactly What
Happens.

01
Warm-up games
Movement games that secretly teach base, balance, and shrimping.
02
Technique of the week
One position, broken into steps a 5-year-old can repeat.
03
Partner drill
Safe, supervised reps with a same-size partner.
04
Mat chat + finish
One life-skill word — respect, effort, focus — and a win to take home.

Young Gracie Barra students lined up in uniform

04 / What actually changes

The First
Six Months.

Not a promise — the pattern we watch play out with almost every new student, class by class.

Young Little Champion bowing in and fist-bumping his coach on the mat

Class 1

Walks onto the mat with a coach beside them, bows in, and finishes a full class. Most parents are surprised they didn't look back.

Two young students drilling an escape with a coach watching

Week 2

Knows the warm-up by heart, answers "yes coach" the first time, and asks to come back on off days.

Little Champion receiving his first stripe in front of the class

Month 3

First stripe earned. Can shrimp, bridge, escape a hold, and hold a plank longer than most adults.

Little Champions students training together in uniform

Month 6

Listening at home changes. Teachers notice the focus before you tell them why.

05 / The path

Where This
Leads.

Gracie Barra runs one curriculum in 1,000+ schools across 60+ countries. Progress is defined, earned on the mat, and recognised anywhere in the world you walk into a GB academy.

White belt
Where every Little Champion starts. Focus is behavior, base and body control.
Stripes 1–4
Earned for attendance, effort and attitude — awarded on the mat in front of the class.
Grey belt series
The Gracie Barra kids belt ladder: grey-white, grey, grey-black as skills deepen.
Little Champions 2
Around age 7 they graduate into the next program — same coaches, harder technique.

Gracie Barra Kids curriculum used in 1,000+ schools worldwide

Uniform included with your two-week trial — nothing to buy to try

Coaches are GB-certified and experienced with first-timers

06 / Real classes, real students

This Is The
Room.

A look inside our mat in New Lenox — real classes, real students.

Little Champions class on the mat at Gracie Barra New Lenox

07 / Who is teaching your class

Ron
Poholik.

Certified Gracie Barra Instructor · 30+ Years Teaching Martial Arts

Ron Poholik has spent more than 30 years on the mats as a full-time martial arts instructor, teaching thousands of kids and adults in the Chicago southland before opening Gracie Barra New Lenox in 2018. In 2017 he was named the Greatmats National Martial Arts Instructor of the Year — a national award voted on for teaching, not for trophies. Today he runs his academy on the Gracie Barra standard: a structured, worldwide curriculum used by 1,000+ schools in 60+ countries, taught by coaches who look after beginners instead of throwing them to the wolves.

2017 Greatmats National Martial Arts Instructor of the Year

30+ Years

Full-time martial arts instructor

4.9★ · 100+ reviews

From local families

Since 2018

Serving New Lenox and nearby

Part of something bigger

One Curriculum.
1,000+ Schools.

1,000+

Gracie Barra schools worldwide

60+

Countries running this syllabus

1986

Gracie Barra founded in Rio de Janeiro

08 / The trial

Two Weeks.
$19.99.

Everything you need to find out whether this is your thing — including the gi you walk out with, whether you continue or not.

Start The Trial

Two full weeks of unlimited Little Champions 1 classes
Official Gracie Barra uniform, yours to keep
A short intro with a coach before your first class
A progress check with your coach at the end of week two

Your price today$19.99

You're never required to continue when the two weeks are up. Keep the uniform either way.

09 / Your first day

Nothing To
Figure Out.

Three things to know before you walk in. That's the whole list.

Come 10 minutes early

We'll show you the mat, the viewing area and where to sit.

Wear a t-shirt and shorts

No uniform needed for the first class — yours is included with the trial.

Parents stay and watch

Every class is fully visible from the parent seating. Nothing happens behind a curtain.

10 / Straight answers