Judo adventures 3.51

[yuuago]

I wasn't sure if there would be class today, but I went down anyway, and sure enough we had class. So.

Attending: Me, C, Ma & Jo, E, and Mo, who hasn't been around for a while. Ed also shows up; it's been ages since he was able to come to a class! So that was cool. Ry-sensei and J-sensei instructing.

Due to the numbers, it didn't work out well for pairs. So while the others did some newaza warmup games, I did some upright uchikomi with J-sensei. I have issues getting strong kuzushi, so we worked on that for a while. I still have issues with it - the problem is that if I am doing kuzushi enough for it to actually break the balance, I gas myself out really quickly, because it takes a lot of effort. I don't know what will fix that aside from like... building muscle and working on endurance.

Then we worked on tani-otoshi for a while. This one, we focused on using it as a counter. So if your opponent is trying to do a forward throw like ippon-seoinage or ogoshi, you can use the fact that they are forward to your advantage, grab their belt and drop behind them. You have to make sure to rotate so that you're on top of them, and then you'll be able to get a hold. When your opponent is doing a drop throw, you can do it as well, by stepping far to the side as a counter and then dropping to haul them over. It's challenging, but can be very effective.

We did some randori at the end. It was fun! I partnered with Mo for a bit. She's very strong and pretty good, but I managed to psych her out by fighting with a left-handed grip. I ended up having to get that grip by accident, but it worked out really well for me and it turns out that I'm better at it than anticipated. Or at least I am when fighting kids. I also partnered with Ed for a while, which was fun.

Good class! Glad I went.