I missed the last lesson of the year last Thursday due to unforeseen circumstances so I thought I’d take the opportunity to write a quick review of my Judo in 2011.
In January my training was dominated by my Marathon training. I was quite often tired and sore but I was obviously feeling very fit and this was reflected when I did Newaza and would still feel fresh at the end of it. I did however have to sacrifice by BJJ training due to lack of time and energy, which is a shame as really enjoy it.
Of course the biggest event of 2011, and in fact my life up till now, was the birth of my baby daughter Florence. Her birth did force me re-evaluate my Marathon training and as a consequence I decided it wasn’t fair on either my wife or myself to continue to spend hours a week pounding the streets especially when I could be spending that time looking after my daughter and giving my wife a brief reprieve. I therefore decided to pull out of the Marathon but at least I managed to run distances I never thought I would be capable of (13 miles) and I will certainly be back some time in the future to have another crack at it.
Coincidently the London Marathon was on the same day as the High Wycombe Newaza tournament, which I had entered the previous year winning a bronze in the process. So with no Marathon to contend with I decided to enter again. The tournament had definitely grown from the previous year and there were guys there from other grappling arts such as BJJ, Greco Roman and other Wrestling forms who were competing, making the tournament a lot more competitive. This made the bronze medal I managed to win all the more satisfying but it did make me think about the differences of Judo Newaza vs BJJ.
I managed to re-visit Westcroft Judo club for a Randori only night. Westcroft is where I had trained briefly a few years earlier before getting injured and giving it up so it was nice to pay them a visit. Since I last trained there they have moved to a permanent Dojo which I was very impressed with. The head instructor, Andy Ede, recognised me and made me feel very welcome and both myself and Oli had an excellent nights training.
I got my Orange belt in July, just before my club closed for the summer months. I had already decided to train at Yoshin Ryu Judo club for the summer but unfortunately a broken toe on the last day of July meant that I was only able to attend one lesson there. However I got a lot out of that one lesson and was impressed with the guys that train there and the facilities on offer and will attempt to take as many classes there as possible in 2012.
On one of my visits to Yoshin Ryu I got totally dominated in randori by a fellow orange belt. This had the effect of making me re-evaluate my Judo training as a whole although it subsequently turned out that this orange belt was someone who had trained as a junior and was now training four times a week as an adult, so maybe it was to be expected. This is one of the reasons I want to take some extra classes.
It also made me a bit less belt hungry as I would much rather be a good orange belt than a poor green belt.
Subsequently I didn’t hit my target of getting my green belt by Christmas but hopefully I will make some good progress next year and be ready to grade before the summer.
After the summer break Ryan didn’t return to the seniors due to sciatica and Mark was also absent for the whole year due to injury. With no other new seniors joining and other senior members missing for large chunks of the year this meant that the class size was sometimes as low as 4 seniors. I understand that there are plans in the new year to try and attract some new seniors in to the club and that would be very welcome.
I made a concerted effort to weigh below 90kg as I felt I would do better in tournaments as a heavy under 90kg rather than a light under 100kg. Following a gym assessment yesterday at my work, I can confirm that I now weigh 89.5kg and have 16% body fat, which is classed as excellent for my age. My resting pulse rate is also down to 58 so I’m getting fitter as well. However I’m not sure I like the leaner looking me. I like the lower body fat but I think I’m going to try and put on some extra muscle in 2012 and get back up to 95kg. If I can do that with compromising my body fat I will be very happy indeed.
The blog is averaging around 30 hits a day and currently has 8420 in total so someone must be reading it. An anonymous person took offence to my links to BJJ and took it upon themselves to send an email to my Judo club to complain. After reading my blog I then got the full backing of all my instructors at the club to continue with what I was writing.
So there you have it, a brief review of 2011. My goals for next year are to get my Green belt and compete again in the High Wycombe Newaza tournament and hopefully at least one other tournament. Also to try and train as much as possible at Yoshin Ryu (probably on a Monday).
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Monday, 12 December 2011
Ude-Garami (Kimura)
I’m a bit late with my write up, following last week’s lesson, so you’ll probably get two posts in quick succession this week.
After we were warmed up Peter had us pair up for some light Randori, basically throw for throw, not resisting much. I was paired with Oli and decided straight away that I would try and throw him with an Uchi-mata at some point. After two or three throws each I decided now was a good time to go for it and although I had to hop a couple of times he finally went over. Oli commented afterwards that he was impressed that I tried it and this gave me confidence boost especially after last week where I seemed to forget all but the very basic throws.
As we changed partners the Randori got amped up a level. First we had one attacking and the other one only allowed to counter and then eventually hard Randori. At this point I was paired with Big Stuart so I realised I was going to get thrown and even though he did throw me a couple of times I did manage to counter him with a Tani-otoshi.
We then moved on to some Newaza. First we took turns starting from the turtle position, so I used the opportunity to attack using the Juji-gatame sit back and roll technique from the green belt syllabus. Then we took turns starting on our backs with the other person in our guard, the highlight of which was a particularly good tussle that I had with Big Stuart. He had briefly passed my guard on my left hand side but I managed to shrimp and turn in to him. Then just as I was going to get back to full guard he somehow cart wheeled over my body and landed in Mune-gatame on my right side. I was impressed and to be honest I think he was too.
When it was my turn to try and pass his guard we had an equally good tussle and despite him reversing me I managed to squirm out and hold him in Kesa-gatame.
Peter called matte shortly afterwards and he then moved on to show us some Newaza techniques.
First up was Hara-gatame, which I just couldn’t seem to get right. Stewart commented that perhaps it was because of my long legs that I couldn’t get the leverage right.
We moved on to Kesa-garami and this is a technique that Big Stuart has used on me a few times in the past. The technique is done from Kesa-gatame and although you wouldn’t normally give up a hold for a submission I think its used more if the person being held managed to get their right arm free and starts causing you problems. You can then stick under your leg and apply an arm lock and get the Ippon that way.
Peter then went on to show us a technique that is no longer allowed in competition, well at least not Judo competition but I’ve certainly seen similar looking leg locks in MMA and no doubt this is used in BJJ. Anyway Ashi-garami, being a leg lock, is no longer permitted in Randori or Shiai but nonetheless it was nice to be shown it.
Before the class ended Big Stuart wanted to show us a variation of Ude-garami. Instead of being done the traditional way it is shown on the BJA website this is more like a reverse Ude-garami. Big Stuart and I, both being fans of MMA, know that it is called a Kimura by fighters practising BJJ. Masahiko Kimura was the Judoka who famously defeated Helio Gracie many years ago and he defeated Helio with a Ude-garami. Out of respect to their victor the Gracie family named this technique the Kimura and it is still called Kimura to this day.
It was quite ironic actually that Big Stuart showed us this technique as Frank Mir used it to defeat and break the arm of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140 on Saturday night. It just goes to show you the importance of tapping when someone gets you in an armlock. I know the stakes that these guys fight for in the UFC is a lot higher than some plastic trophy most Judoka’s fight over in local Shiai but I cannot see the point in not tapping and effectively letting your opponent break your arm just to prove the point that you will never submit. If Nogueira had tapped earlier he could have been fighting again in a few months and training again within a week but now he will probably not be able to train at all for six months and all this due to his ego. I can understand it more when a fighter doesn’t submit to a choke as getting choked unconscious doesn’t usually have any lasting effects. That said I think Lyota Machida could have injured himself after he was choked unconscious in his LHW title bout against Jon Jones as he was choked out whilst standing and then just slumped to the floor after Jones let him go. Anyway I digress this is a Judo Blog not MMA.
Next week is the last class of the term so I will need to train elsewhere, probably Yoshin Ryu, until the second week in January.
After we were warmed up Peter had us pair up for some light Randori, basically throw for throw, not resisting much. I was paired with Oli and decided straight away that I would try and throw him with an Uchi-mata at some point. After two or three throws each I decided now was a good time to go for it and although I had to hop a couple of times he finally went over. Oli commented afterwards that he was impressed that I tried it and this gave me confidence boost especially after last week where I seemed to forget all but the very basic throws.
As we changed partners the Randori got amped up a level. First we had one attacking and the other one only allowed to counter and then eventually hard Randori. At this point I was paired with Big Stuart so I realised I was going to get thrown and even though he did throw me a couple of times I did manage to counter him with a Tani-otoshi.
We then moved on to some Newaza. First we took turns starting from the turtle position, so I used the opportunity to attack using the Juji-gatame sit back and roll technique from the green belt syllabus. Then we took turns starting on our backs with the other person in our guard, the highlight of which was a particularly good tussle that I had with Big Stuart. He had briefly passed my guard on my left hand side but I managed to shrimp and turn in to him. Then just as I was going to get back to full guard he somehow cart wheeled over my body and landed in Mune-gatame on my right side. I was impressed and to be honest I think he was too.
When it was my turn to try and pass his guard we had an equally good tussle and despite him reversing me I managed to squirm out and hold him in Kesa-gatame.
Peter called matte shortly afterwards and he then moved on to show us some Newaza techniques.
First up was Hara-gatame, which I just couldn’t seem to get right. Stewart commented that perhaps it was because of my long legs that I couldn’t get the leverage right.
We moved on to Kesa-garami and this is a technique that Big Stuart has used on me a few times in the past. The technique is done from Kesa-gatame and although you wouldn’t normally give up a hold for a submission I think its used more if the person being held managed to get their right arm free and starts causing you problems. You can then stick under your leg and apply an arm lock and get the Ippon that way.
Peter then went on to show us a technique that is no longer allowed in competition, well at least not Judo competition but I’ve certainly seen similar looking leg locks in MMA and no doubt this is used in BJJ. Anyway Ashi-garami, being a leg lock, is no longer permitted in Randori or Shiai but nonetheless it was nice to be shown it.
Before the class ended Big Stuart wanted to show us a variation of Ude-garami. Instead of being done the traditional way it is shown on the BJA website this is more like a reverse Ude-garami. Big Stuart and I, both being fans of MMA, know that it is called a Kimura by fighters practising BJJ. Masahiko Kimura was the Judoka who famously defeated Helio Gracie many years ago and he defeated Helio with a Ude-garami. Out of respect to their victor the Gracie family named this technique the Kimura and it is still called Kimura to this day.
It was quite ironic actually that Big Stuart showed us this technique as Frank Mir used it to defeat and break the arm of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140 on Saturday night. It just goes to show you the importance of tapping when someone gets you in an armlock. I know the stakes that these guys fight for in the UFC is a lot higher than some plastic trophy most Judoka’s fight over in local Shiai but I cannot see the point in not tapping and effectively letting your opponent break your arm just to prove the point that you will never submit. If Nogueira had tapped earlier he could have been fighting again in a few months and training again within a week but now he will probably not be able to train at all for six months and all this due to his ego. I can understand it more when a fighter doesn’t submit to a choke as getting choked unconscious doesn’t usually have any lasting effects. That said I think Lyota Machida could have injured himself after he was choked unconscious in his LHW title bout against Jon Jones as he was choked out whilst standing and then just slumped to the floor after Jones let him go. Anyway I digress this is a Judo Blog not MMA.
Next week is the last class of the term so I will need to train elsewhere, probably Yoshin Ryu, until the second week in January.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
How to Uchi-Mata
Following my complete mind blank last week where I literally forgot how to throw, I stumbled across this YouTube video that someone posted on the Judoforum. It's a green belt level throw, so I need to practice it but it is also a very popular competition throw for all levels.
Friday, 2 December 2011
Choke
I had one of those nights last night where I forgot everything. We were told to do some uchikomi Tai-otoshi and I couldn’t even think how to break Uke’s balance and to make matters worse the rest of my Tai-otoshi was sloppy to say the best. When we were then given free reign to perform any throw uchikomi, all I could think of was Tai-otoshi and O-uchi-gari. This was very frustrating as I wanted to use this opportunity to practice the throws in my green belt syllabus but I couldn’t think of a single entry to any of them.
Things didn’t get any better when we progressed on to Randori apart from a Tani-otoshi which presented itself to me. I’m not quite sure why this is. Maybe missing last week’s training due to Flu has something to do with it.
Something that I have been thinking about recently is that I need to train more than just once a week. I think I’ve come to a point in my Judo journey where once a week just isn’t enough to progress anymore so I will be looking at Yoshin Ryu and Westcroft for some additional training and will see which club offers the best days and times to fit in with my other commitments.
Other than the mind blank I had with my tachiwaza we had about half of the class dedicated to just chokes and strangles. Some of these I have seen before but a couple I hadn’t. I particularly liked the “hell strangle” which meant you ended up putting Uke in what BJJ’ers would call the “crucifix” position, and then you strangle them with the collar of their gi whilst they are totally helpless. This technique was performed against Uke from the turtle position and its one I will try and remember and maybe use sometime in the future.
Things didn’t get any better when we progressed on to Randori apart from a Tani-otoshi which presented itself to me. I’m not quite sure why this is. Maybe missing last week’s training due to Flu has something to do with it.
Something that I have been thinking about recently is that I need to train more than just once a week. I think I’ve come to a point in my Judo journey where once a week just isn’t enough to progress anymore so I will be looking at Yoshin Ryu and Westcroft for some additional training and will see which club offers the best days and times to fit in with my other commitments.
Other than the mind blank I had with my tachiwaza we had about half of the class dedicated to just chokes and strangles. Some of these I have seen before but a couple I hadn’t. I particularly liked the “hell strangle” which meant you ended up putting Uke in what BJJ’ers would call the “crucifix” position, and then you strangle them with the collar of their gi whilst they are totally helpless. This technique was performed against Uke from the turtle position and its one I will try and remember and maybe use sometime in the future.
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
New Faces
The day after my last lesson I embarked on a weekend’s trip to Snowdonia in Wales for a bit of climbing with a mate. Unfortunately I returned with a serious case of Man flu which has meant a delay in updating my blog and due to my head being all scrambled with various cold/flu remedies I cannot remember much of what went on so please excuse the briefness of my report.
The first thing I noticed when I turned up for last week’s lesson were two new faces who were already on the mat. One of them was a brown belt from Crawley Judo club who was trying to get as much training in as possible to get his black belt and the other guy, also from Crawley, was a white belt.
Following last week’s Newaza based lesson we had another one this week. Peter told us to start with some light randori and I paired up with the new brown belt guy. He decided to pull guard against me and then tried to work some sweeps but due to me posturing up well and being a few stone heavier than him I was able to resist his attempts. He then decided to get back to his knees and I was more than happy to pull guard myself. Now it was my turn to look for sweeps on him but he did a pretty good job of resisting my attempts until Peter reminded us both that it was light randori and subsequently called matte.
Peter then had us working through various holds on each other, for example I would start in Kesa Gatame and then move in to Mune-gatame then Yoko-shiho-gatame then Kuzure-kesa-gatame and finally in to tate-shiho-gatame. The person being held would slowly increase resistance until they were either able to escape or the person on top got bored and gave them ago. I think this is a very good exercise as being able to hold someone in a pin isn’t that difficult but to be able to move from one pin to another whilst keeping control is a different kettle of fish entirely. Of course in Shiai you wouldn’t give up a pin but there are times when you know you are slowly losing a pin and being able to switch to another one with minimal effort is advantageous.
We went through a couple of changes of partners and eventually went on to do some free Newaza before Peter decided to show us some Kata. We have done a little kata before but not for a while now. There is a big difference between the Kata one does in Judo to that which I performed in Karate or the form’s I had to do in Wing Chun and that is Judo kata’s are performed with another person.
I think the name of the Kata that we performed was Katame-no-kate and we only went through some of it but what I did find was that it was very useful for teaching us the correct position for the techniques.
Following the Kata we did some randori and finished up again with some more Newaza. As I said earlier my brain is slightly fuzzy due to cold/flu remedies so I can’t go in to any detail.
An interesting lesson with plenty of sparring and it was great to have some additions to the senior’s class. I hope they both return next week.
The first thing I noticed when I turned up for last week’s lesson were two new faces who were already on the mat. One of them was a brown belt from Crawley Judo club who was trying to get as much training in as possible to get his black belt and the other guy, also from Crawley, was a white belt.
Following last week’s Newaza based lesson we had another one this week. Peter told us to start with some light randori and I paired up with the new brown belt guy. He decided to pull guard against me and then tried to work some sweeps but due to me posturing up well and being a few stone heavier than him I was able to resist his attempts. He then decided to get back to his knees and I was more than happy to pull guard myself. Now it was my turn to look for sweeps on him but he did a pretty good job of resisting my attempts until Peter reminded us both that it was light randori and subsequently called matte.
Peter then had us working through various holds on each other, for example I would start in Kesa Gatame and then move in to Mune-gatame then Yoko-shiho-gatame then Kuzure-kesa-gatame and finally in to tate-shiho-gatame. The person being held would slowly increase resistance until they were either able to escape or the person on top got bored and gave them ago. I think this is a very good exercise as being able to hold someone in a pin isn’t that difficult but to be able to move from one pin to another whilst keeping control is a different kettle of fish entirely. Of course in Shiai you wouldn’t give up a pin but there are times when you know you are slowly losing a pin and being able to switch to another one with minimal effort is advantageous.
We went through a couple of changes of partners and eventually went on to do some free Newaza before Peter decided to show us some Kata. We have done a little kata before but not for a while now. There is a big difference between the Kata one does in Judo to that which I performed in Karate or the form’s I had to do in Wing Chun and that is Judo kata’s are performed with another person.
I think the name of the Kata that we performed was Katame-no-kate and we only went through some of it but what I did find was that it was very useful for teaching us the correct position for the techniques.
Following the Kata we did some randori and finished up again with some more Newaza. As I said earlier my brain is slightly fuzzy due to cold/flu remedies so I can’t go in to any detail.
An interesting lesson with plenty of sparring and it was great to have some additions to the senior’s class. I hope they both return next week.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Newaza
It appears that someone has taken offence to my blog and has therefore taken it upon themselves to email my club and complain. I haven’t seen the offending email but from what I’ve been told by the instructors, the anonymous emailer thinks that my blog is somehow damaging to my club and disrespectful to Judo due to the links I have to other martial arts like BJJ. There is an option to leave comments on my blog so should you take offence or disagree with anything that is written within it then please use this as a way of contacting me and we can then have a sensible discussion.
Just to add, all of the instructors have now read my blog and cannot see anything in it which in anyway damages the club or Judo. In fact they are of the opinion that it is a useful way of promoting Dorking Judo Club and they encourage me to keep at it. One thing that was pointed out to me by Black belt Stuart was that I have been spelling his name incorrectly as he spells his name Stewart. So from now on he will simply be referred to as Stewart, which means I can drop the black belt part.
On to last night’s lesson and it was a sort of Newaza master class. After we were warmed up I was paired up for some Newaza first with Oli and then without pause Stewart and then Peter. Following this Peter proceeded to show me various ways of applying Waki-gatame and Ude-gatame, specifically from a standing position. Although these techniques are not always successful when standing they can cause your opponent to move to a position where they are easily thrown or at the very least, give your opponent something to think about and put them off of a certain grip.
We then moved on to Ude-garami and finished with Hadaka-jime before Peter asked me to try and use the techniques I had just been shown, in some Newaza against himself, Stewart and Oli. Again I did this without any pause in between so it was a good workout but I really enjoyed it. I did have some success in applying these techniques but I cannot remember what technique I performed on whom. Stewart commented that I had a fairly good defense off of my back and in the most part I was able to stop anyone passing my guard.
Although we didn’t work specifically on my green belt syllabus tonight I felt like I got a lot out of the lesson, specifically with regards to my groundwork. I have commented in the past that I needed to learn some collar chokes as they seem to be presented quite regularly but I have rarely been able to finish them due to my lack of understanding of them, so hopefully this is something that I can start to address and improve on.
At the end of the class Peter said that he might show us some Kata in the upcoming weeks as it’s a good way of improving our technique and as Peter has won national Kata championships I’m sure he’ll be the right person to teach us.
Just to add, all of the instructors have now read my blog and cannot see anything in it which in anyway damages the club or Judo. In fact they are of the opinion that it is a useful way of promoting Dorking Judo Club and they encourage me to keep at it. One thing that was pointed out to me by Black belt Stuart was that I have been spelling his name incorrectly as he spells his name Stewart. So from now on he will simply be referred to as Stewart, which means I can drop the black belt part.
On to last night’s lesson and it was a sort of Newaza master class. After we were warmed up I was paired up for some Newaza first with Oli and then without pause Stewart and then Peter. Following this Peter proceeded to show me various ways of applying Waki-gatame and Ude-gatame, specifically from a standing position. Although these techniques are not always successful when standing they can cause your opponent to move to a position where they are easily thrown or at the very least, give your opponent something to think about and put them off of a certain grip.
We then moved on to Ude-garami and finished with Hadaka-jime before Peter asked me to try and use the techniques I had just been shown, in some Newaza against himself, Stewart and Oli. Again I did this without any pause in between so it was a good workout but I really enjoyed it. I did have some success in applying these techniques but I cannot remember what technique I performed on whom. Stewart commented that I had a fairly good defense off of my back and in the most part I was able to stop anyone passing my guard.
Although we didn’t work specifically on my green belt syllabus tonight I felt like I got a lot out of the lesson, specifically with regards to my groundwork. I have commented in the past that I needed to learn some collar chokes as they seem to be presented quite regularly but I have rarely been able to finish them due to my lack of understanding of them, so hopefully this is something that I can start to address and improve on.
At the end of the class Peter said that he might show us some Kata in the upcoming weeks as it’s a good way of improving our technique and as Peter has won national Kata championships I’m sure he’ll be the right person to teach us.
Friday, 4 November 2011
More green belt syllabus
After I updated my blog last week I also decided to post an excerpt from my blog entry on the judo forum as I was looking for some feedback specifically around how I was dominated by another orange belt and how it made me feel. Rather oddly I was contacted, through the Judo forum by the orange belt guy from Yoshin Ryu who had crushed me, as he was concerned that I should feel so demoralized after what was after all just randori. It turns out that he did have previous experience at a junior level and had graded to Blue belt and even though he had only been training for 8 months since his return he was training 3-4 times a week. This did make me feel a bit better about how easily I was dominated by his grips and again how easily he was able to throw me. We have exchanged a couple of emails since then and I look forward to returning to Yoshin Ryu sometime soon and maybe learning a thing or two from him.
On to last night’s lesson and Graeme had returned from his world tour but he was only joined by Peter and Oli, which meant there were only 4 of us on the mat. We discussed briefly before we started, about what had happened to me a week previously and Graeme commented that it was quite common when people returned to Judo after training as a junior that they would be a lot better than their senior grade, particularly as juniors usually have a lot of competition experience which makes them rather good at randori.
Graeme and Peter then said we would again go over some of my green belt syllabus and that I would probably get my green belt within a few weeks. When you consider how I was feeling after last week’s lesson this didn’t seem right, I mean being thrown around by someone your own grade is bad enough but being thrown around by a lower grade would be a lot worse. When I’ve graded previously I’ve always felt I was ready to grade and that I was deserving of my new belt but now there is a degree of self doubt creeping in over whether I am good enough to wear a green belt. I guess this will only get worse as I get closer to the elusive black belt.
First of all we went over some of the Newaza techniques from the syllabus and they were Ude-gatame, Waki-gatame and finally Hiza-gatame. I had a bit of trouble finding the space to get my knee on to uke’s arm whilst doing the Hiza-gatame, which is odd as I’ve not had any trouble with this in the past.
On to the Tahi-waza and I was fairly comfortable with both Harai-goshi and Uchi-mata, although I totally forgot about the higher grip that Ynez had shown me previously and also the nice entry techniques.
Morote-eri-seoi-nage was easier this week as Oli was not wearing a stiff double weave like Stuart was when I was shown this last time which caused me to struggle to get a strong grip. Graeme showed me another way of doing this throw and that was two hands on the same side lapel as opposed to opposite lapels, which if you look at the link is actually the same way Fallon is demonstrating this. I also think this way of doing the throw would be a lot easier against someone wearing a double weave.
Now I really struggled with Sase-tsurikomi-ashi and Hiza-guruma, which are quite similar throws. I had a habit of pulling Oli down instead of lifting him up and breaking his balance properly. I will try and practice some uchi-komi in the week to correct this.
At the end of the lesson Graeme asked for ideas on how to get new seniors interested in joining the club. My immediate response was to try and tempt some of the parents who bring their kids to the junior sessions to try it out; we shall see how this develops.
On to last night’s lesson and Graeme had returned from his world tour but he was only joined by Peter and Oli, which meant there were only 4 of us on the mat. We discussed briefly before we started, about what had happened to me a week previously and Graeme commented that it was quite common when people returned to Judo after training as a junior that they would be a lot better than their senior grade, particularly as juniors usually have a lot of competition experience which makes them rather good at randori.
Graeme and Peter then said we would again go over some of my green belt syllabus and that I would probably get my green belt within a few weeks. When you consider how I was feeling after last week’s lesson this didn’t seem right, I mean being thrown around by someone your own grade is bad enough but being thrown around by a lower grade would be a lot worse. When I’ve graded previously I’ve always felt I was ready to grade and that I was deserving of my new belt but now there is a degree of self doubt creeping in over whether I am good enough to wear a green belt. I guess this will only get worse as I get closer to the elusive black belt.
First of all we went over some of the Newaza techniques from the syllabus and they were Ude-gatame, Waki-gatame and finally Hiza-gatame. I had a bit of trouble finding the space to get my knee on to uke’s arm whilst doing the Hiza-gatame, which is odd as I’ve not had any trouble with this in the past.
On to the Tahi-waza and I was fairly comfortable with both Harai-goshi and Uchi-mata, although I totally forgot about the higher grip that Ynez had shown me previously and also the nice entry techniques.
Morote-eri-seoi-nage was easier this week as Oli was not wearing a stiff double weave like Stuart was when I was shown this last time which caused me to struggle to get a strong grip. Graeme showed me another way of doing this throw and that was two hands on the same side lapel as opposed to opposite lapels, which if you look at the link is actually the same way Fallon is demonstrating this. I also think this way of doing the throw would be a lot easier against someone wearing a double weave.
Now I really struggled with Sase-tsurikomi-ashi and Hiza-guruma, which are quite similar throws. I had a habit of pulling Oli down instead of lifting him up and breaking his balance properly. I will try and practice some uchi-komi in the week to correct this.
At the end of the lesson Graeme asked for ideas on how to get new seniors interested in joining the club. My immediate response was to try and tempt some of the parents who bring their kids to the junior sessions to try it out; we shall see how this develops.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)