How do you keep kids in this age bracket. They seem to all leave in droves at this age. Even some of the Gracie kids have taken this time off.
What can you do to keep them in class 
Unfortunately as soon as the boys start to notice girls and start to party there isn't much you can do until they get bored and want to come back. 
thegreatone287 - Unfortunately as soon as the boys start to notice girls and start to party there isn't much you can do until they get bored and want to come back.^ this.
We hired a very attractive, blond, former H.S. teacher who was forced to quit her last job because of a ummmm... "scandal" involving her and several male students.
--Just kidding!
We just buy them alcohol, weed and stuff like that.
--Convince the boys that girls will be more likely to go out with them if they are on a school sports team like wrestling.
--Talk to their wrestling coaches and have him encourage his team to do BJJ in the offseason.
--If this is your school, maybe offer some sort of pricing incentives/discounts for HS wrestlers.
Nature of the beast Im afraid. Girls, parties, laughs at this age override anything else
lol @ responses.
Hormones, no can defend.
Hire a very attractive woman to be your "girlfriend" and have her tell your students that she's only with you because your BJJ is amazing.
Drive a van around local high schools offering free bjj
It happens. As soon as the boys discover girls, it's over unless you can convince the boys that being great at Jiu Jitsu can get you more girls.
Get more girls aged 14 to 17 at your classes taking bjj. You will keep those guys for sure.
I am a school owner and have a 16 and 17 years old boys. Both are successful in Judo and BJJ competitions for the most part and both love the art. However, I don't see them much in practice due to their extra activities in high school such as soccer, football, wrestling, tons of homework and girls! So, unfortunately, this is the time that they take off. My boys still there, but they are not competing due to the lack of training and to the fact that there are not too many on their division.
If you figure it out, it will be an idea that is worth millions.
It is the transitional phase that frustrates everyone in the martial arts business. It is very difficult to compete with school sports at this juncture. At school they are surrounded by a group of people who are all within a few years in age. People who are in their social circles. School sports participation is usually more convenient, less expensive, and if they have a lot of talent, there is a path to higher education at reduced cost, if not free.
Teens are mixed in with adults in most programs. It is difficult to build scale with teens, so most clubs do not dedicate classes to this group. My guess is that given a choice most would prefer to play/practice sports with others of their own age and interests.
Hawaii and parts of Washington State have school judo teams which seem to attract hundreds of kids for their high school years. What I find interesting is that neither Hawaii or Washington seem to have been successful in transitioning those students into successful competitive judo careers. Like wrestling or most other sports, it is something they "did in high school".
Another thing to note is the aspirational interests of sedentary kids and adults. Martial Arts is ranked 3rd in "Aspirational" sports for those 6-12. It drops down to 9th for teens 13-17.
http://www.espn.go.com/pdf/2013/1113/espn_otl_sportsreport.pdf
You won't, they are too worried about being cool in high school. It's a matter of parents pushing them to continue their martial arts training and not sacrificing it for social time
High school is high school. Too many people believe it to be the best time of your life. It is a fun time of coming into adulthood but nothing more.
Get more 14-17 year old female students.
Akston - You won't, they are too worried about being cool in high school. It's a matter of parents pushing them to continue their martial arts training and not sacrificing it for social time
I want my son to continue to train judo and BJJ for the remainder of his life, but you don't get that many chances to be part of your school's sports teams-- I'd much rather that he be on the football, wrestling, lax, whatever team during his high school years and only do judo/bjj once a week or just during the summer than have him not do any school sports so that he can focus on judo/BJJ.
So, as a parent, I'd just let my 14-17 year old take the breaks from judo/BJJ that he feels he wants to take and then encourage him to train in the offseason(s). It's a tougher situation as a gym owner, but gyms are probably better off trying to work around school sports than trying to compete directly with them--- allow them to suspend payment during their season (but maybe they can still come in once a week for free), provide incentives for them to bring in a teammate to train with them during the offseason, reach out to their coaches and offer deals to get their team training BJJ in the offseason. Don't try to prevent them from doing school sports, just try to make sure that they come back to judo/BJJ when the school sport is over.
any of the kids that give a shit are going to be wrestling for 4 months out of the yr at that age.
shen -Holy shit. I'm dying
We hired a very attractive, blond, former H.S. teacher who was forced to quit her last job because of a ummmm... "scandal" involving her and several male students.
--Just kidding!
We just buy them alcohol, weed and stuff like that.
As a kids instructor. And being just out of that age bracket myself I can say it all depends on the kid and what exactly is distracting them
Honestly, unless my kid had his dreams set on giving his all to BJJ or MMA I would totally support him/her taking a break during the teen years to play school sports, be in a band, theatre, etc. Jiu jitsu isn't going anywhere, but you only have a few years in HS to dip your feet in everything. In my many years in various martial arts, one thing I've learned is that when the parent forces it on the kid it never ends well.
Now, from a school owners perspective, I really don't know. Id suggest paying those who are good with kids to help with kids classes. They're more likely to train if that's where they work as well.