As reported in my last post, the competition I was due to compete in on Sunday was cancelled and with DJC being closed for the school holidays I was left feeling slightly frustrated. However I received a text on Monday inviting me and a couple of other Dorking club members to Witley Judo Club for their Monday night Randori class, which kind of made up for it.
This was my second visit to Witley Judo club, having trained here once before almost a year ago to the day. Last year I trained here in preparation for the Redhill competition. This year I trained here as a substitute for the Redhill competition.
The instructor got us warmed up and then we progressed to some uchi-komi using Tai-otoshi, Ippon-seoi-nage, uchi-mata and harai-goshi, all with movements.
Following this we practised some turnovers from the turtle position for about 5 minutes before we started the Newaza randori which consisted of four rounds, each round lasting 3 minutes.
I tried to make a conscious effort to play a more aggressive top game but after struggling to get anything going against my first opponent, a blue belt, we ended up knee wrestling for most of the three minutes. Realising this was a waste of time I went to my back and attacked from there, quickly securing a san-gaku-jime and getting the tap. I pulled guard again and this time finished him quickly with a face down Juji-gatame.
I went on to roll with a couple of brown belts, and an Orange belt, and managed to secure another San-gaku-jime and Juji-gatame as well as an ude-garami, all the while managing to avoid being tapped or pinned in the process.
We had a quick water break before the standing randori started. We each took turns staying on the mat for two consecutive fights before standing out of one. I must have had about 10 rounds by the time the class ended and on the whole I was quite successful with my throws. Uchi-mata and Ko-uchi-gari were my favourite throws as usual and I also had some success with Sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi and Tani-otoshi. I desperately wanted to land a Harai or a Tai-otoshi but never quite managed it.
I really enjoyed the session as did the other DJC club members, so i'm sure I won't leave it so long next time before returning.
