It's that time of year again… when masses of kids aged 4 to 15 gather at the Pyramid for a chance at a coveted Pan Kids championship title.

For academy owners, it's a chance to prove the success of their children's programs. With an overall team trophy at stake, numbers count.

On that front, Atos - and the Art of Jiu Jitsu Academy in particular - is way ahead of the game.

This year, Atos boasts an incredible 132 registrations, including 98 from AOJ alone.

We have over 350 kids in our academy and having almost 100 signing up for the competition to test themselves is amazing

...said Gui Mendes, who leads AOJ's youth program. "It shows that Jiu Jitsu is giving them the courage to test themselves in a competitive scenario, and its a hard decision to make in the young age."


Following close behind, Gracie Barra sits second with total of 125 registrations from all of their affiliates, and Alliance third, with 103 kids registered.

However, AOJ has nearly twice the number of registrations as the second leading single academy, Alliance Los Angeles, with 55 kids registered.

Numbers count, but performance does, too. Atos has held the team trophy for four years running.

The difference, according to Mendes, is in the organization and professionalism brought to the kid's classes.

"We are a school not a gym, we have many different age groups with different goals to be reached in every class," he said. "The style of teaching, techniques, environment and staff team makes the kids want to train more and dedicate more, and it reflects in the competition results."

For Mendes, investing in the kid's program is key for building a strong team well into the future. 

"Its a cycle that we planned on having when we opened the academy and started working on our kids program: these kids will become our juveniles champions and soon our adults champions and new kids will start at the bottom of the program," he said.

"With this model and a strong foundation we know that we will have the best team for a long time."

2017 Registrations per Single Academy
AOJ - 98
Alliance Los Angeles - 55
Checkmat USA - 37
Team Lloyd Irvin - 29
GD Jiu-Jitsu - 26

2017 Registrations per Team
Atos - 132
Gracie Barra - 125
Alliance - 103
Checkmat - 65
Gracie Humaita - 34

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2016 Results
1 - Atos Jiu-Jitsu - 386
2 - Gracie Barra - 354
3 - CheckMat - 196

2015 Results
1 - Atos Jiu-Jitsu - 379
2 - Gracie Barra - 347
3 - CheckMat - 169

2014 Results
1 - Atos Jiu-Jitsu - 281
2 - Gracie Barra - 241
3 - CheckMat - 231

2013 Results
1 - Atos Jiu-Jitsu - 149
2 - Team Lloyd Irvin - 147
3 - Nova União - 100