Judo adventures 3.56

[yuuago]

Attending: Me, C, Mo, K, and Ed. J-sensei and T-sensei instructing.

There will be no judo next Saturday because all of the instructors will be away at the Edmonton International competition.

Anyway. We started off with a beep test. I made it to 8.1, and I partly think that's because I didn't do any warmup exercise before the beep test; just went straight into it. So, I could run longer.

After that, we got into it. We started by doing moving exercises, working on foot sweeps. Then we did hip throws. It was mostly a circle exercise - go loosely, then enter.

We did learn one new throw: ura nage. It's a brown belt throw that can be used as a counter. Basically, if somebody is going in for a forward throw that requires putting their back to you - such as ippon-seoinage - then, you keep your hand firmly on their lapel, and grasp their belt with your right hand. Then you lift them off their feet and throw them to the side and down, kinda over your shoulder. You have to go down with them, and you end up partially on top of them, which gives a position to go into a hold down - though usually it's not necessary as you'd get a point if you can pull this off.

I tried it on C and J-sensei. It was fun! Tricky, but fun. You don't need to lift them far off their feet; only slightly, just enough to complete the throw.

After that I partnered with Ed and we did a whole bunch of entries. Close toward the end of the class he requested that I complete the throw onto the tatamis so he could practice falling. I was happy to do that. I practiced a bunch of different throws on him, and he was falling pretty well.

T-sensei bought me one of the white shortsleeve rashguards that the club has for sale. He says it's as a thank you for helping out during class, but I haven't done anything! I wonder if it might be hinting at going into competition - if you're going to wear a shirt under your gi, it has to be white. ...Anyway, that was very nice of him. I don't know if I'll wear it to class because I prefer the longsleeve ones I've been using, but I can definitely wear it for other things.