Two winning training programs are available for boys and girls at the New England Small Circle Jujitsu Academy. For younger kids, 5 through 7, there’s Golden Eagles. For ages 8 through 12, there’s the Super Samurai program.

GRAPPLING – Cassie Haas of Wakefield, top, executes a rear mount on Rose Meier of Malden in Golden Eagles class.

Both were developed and fine-tuned by Sensei Ed Melaugh, the internationally respected Small Circle Jujitsu master. Melaugh is a seventh-degree black belt and the award-winning veteran of more than 30 years in martial arts.

Training classes are available three times a week after school in 45-minute sessions. Parents choose how many times a week they want their child to train. And there's a comfortable, dedicated parents' viewing area. Parents are encouraged to observe their child's training close up.

Our young students receive

• Concentrated exercise
• Vital personal-safety, street-safety instruction
• Skill training and thorough, age-appropriate workouts
• A world of positive stimuli to build self-confidence and self-discipline

Here are the youth-program details.

Developed by Sensei Melaugh for 5- through 7-year-old boys and girls.

Sensei Melaugh -- The way this program is taught, it teaches hand/eye coordination, self-discipline, concentration and memory. It teaches skills of how to deal with other students, plus it teaches great self-protection skills.

The thrust at this age, especially in self protection, is not just to teach kids to kick and punch, like other martial arts do, but to develop the working knowledge of how to use good hand skills and body skills to take down that other person and hold them down so they don't fight any more.

I stress street safety, teaching kids to recognize potential danger and how to get away from it.

The Golden Eagles program teaches them great confidence in knowing how to use off-balancing and proper body alignment so that your child doesn't have to hurt another child to stop them. Yes, kicking and punching is part of it, but they're not the first things that I want to see coming from a young person.

Parents don't need to send their kids to martial arts schools to teach them how to kick and punch. They already know how to do that.

DOWN — Golden Eagle Kris Mollung of Medford executes a rear sitting trip on Nic Stephens of Tewksbury.    Thor Mollung photo

If a kid pushes one of my students, I don't want that boy or girl to punch him in the face or kick him or needlessly hurt that kid. I want my children - if they know how to protect themselves - to stop that kick or punch, take that child down and restrain him so he won't fight any more. And then they can stop and become friends again. Even without the potential for lawsuits against you, kicking and punching can mean real damage -- and I don't want that coming from a five- or seven-year-old. I want them safe, confident and empowered.

It's a fun class. The kids have a good time and they understand the boundaries I teach. It's just a great program for parents to get their children into.

Developed by Sensei Melaugh for 8- through 12-year-old boys and girls.

Sensei Melaugh -- This goes further on the self-protection side. They're taught how to use locking capabilities to stop someone from fighting any further.

I teach them how to use joint locks and control measures so that if someone is trying to hurt them they can lock them out, they can put them in a position so that other child or the adult can't fight back right away so they can get out of the situation safely.

They're also taught how to use kicking and punching as distractions to be able to stop that person. It's another development sign where hand/eye coordination comes in. The confidence-building drills and the kinds of things we do in this class are important, especially for kids going into their early teens.

All kids benefit from this training. We have some of the smartest, most accomplished kids around. And kids who have low self esteem, kids who have memory problems or ADD are also definitely helped because its all on an individual basis. It's not a team thing. If you're in a team, you're relying on everyone else around you to help you. In Small Circle Jujitsu, no one helps you except yourself. When you do something right, you're the one who has done it. That's another very important piece, especially for the Super Samurai. It develops confidence-building skills, memory-building skills, hand/eye coordination and physical skills. It helps kids of this age excel and build confidence.

How much time does a young student spend in training? That's up to parents. Youth training is available three times a week in 45-minute sessions. They can train on each of those days, if they want. Parents choose how many times a week they want the child to come to the school. I know that families often have busy schedules.

Here are some other questions parents may have and answers from Sensei Melaugh.

What if my child is overweight or a little uncoordinated?

This helps. Any extra activity is a benefit to that child. There are lots of exercises here, full-body exercises that will develop hand speed, coordination and power.

This also gets kids away from the TV; it gets them away from video games. And it gives them something real, something valuable that will make them safer and help them develop personal discipline. And they get to interact with kids their own age and are able to develop in that sense.

When can a child start?

I feel that age five is the earliest that kids are ready. Personally, I think programs that take younger children are more baby-sitting than training. We used to have a younger-kids program, but I feel that children benefit by waiting until they are five.

How can I enroll my child?

Call Sensei Melaugh at 781 932 9366. He will be happy to answer any of your questions. If he is teaching and you get a recorded message, please leave your phone number and he will call back. You can also send him e-mail by clicking here .