Judo adventures 2.43

[yuuago]

Attending: Me, A, L, H, C, M2, Ja, and a whole bunch of kids. T-sensei instructing!

There was some kind of communication mishap, and a bunch of the older kids showed up for the adult lesson. That's fine; none of them were like, super duper small. And the numbers meant that they could just work with each other. But it was a little surprising.

We started off with practicing counters. Scenario: Your opponent goes in for ippon seoi-nage. You step to your right, catch their foot with your left foot, and bring them down. If you go down with them, you can get them in a hold.

I worked with L for this. It was a bit tricky at first because I kept going for the wrong foot; but once we got the hang of it, it was pretty easy. We tried it with countering ippon-seoinage, and then after that, uchimata.

After that, we practiced form for uchimata.

T-sensei showed us an exercise for practicing this throw. Your partner gets on the ground, right knee up and bent. You grasp their sleeve and lapel, then do the movements - just lift their leg with your foot, that's enough to flip them over. It's less about doing the throw and more about getting a feel of the movement for the throw.

He also showed us an exercise that you can do against a wall for practice. So, you go alongside the wall, hand against it for balance. And you swing your leg forward, and then backward, keeping it straight, extended like it would be in uchimata. This helps get used to the movement - because you don't bend your leg when you're doing uchimata; you pitch forward and extend your leg backward and use the turning motion to lift and drive downward. I think I might have enough room to do this at home; will have to try it. Might help with practicing balance, also.

Anyway! This week, there will be a class on Saturday, led by T-sensei. I'm undecided about whether I will go or not, but leaning toward yes. It depends on whether I'm able to get my shit together or not. :V