On 23 August we shut the normal timetable down and put the entire academy on the mat at once. No belt divisions, no age groups training separately. Everyone in, all day.
The seminar came first. Four blocks — sparring, fitness, patterns and acrobatics — and every student rotated through all four. That part matters more than it sounds. Left to their own devices, students spend their time on the thing they are already good at. The kid who loves sparring avoids patterns; the kid with beautiful patterns finds a reason to sit out the conditioning. Rotating everyone through every block takes that choice away for one day, and you learn a lot about a student from the block they are worst at.
Then the tournament, run as teams rather than individuals, with all ages mixed together. Points carried across events instead of being won or lost in a single match — which meant a student who lost their round could still put points on the board for their team in a challenge.
That one change does something to the room that is hard to describe until you have seen it. Kids who are normally nervous about competing found themselves being shouted for by teenagers they had never spoken to. Adults ended up cornering nine-year-olds. Nobody left having only had one moment that mattered.
The JKA Games runs once a year and is open to every student in the academy. If you want your kid on the mat for the next one, the only thing they need to do between now and then is keep turning up.