Y'all will be proud of me!

I've finally mastered the secret to a beautiful, effortless deashibarai! All you have to do is find an uke that is 1/8 your size and all of a sudden you are a shoe-in for perfect form!

How to tie your martial arts belt

Alright, some of my Kids' Judo parents have asked me how they can help their kids learn to tie their own belts. Here is a very good video demonstration of the simplest method for learning to tie your belt. Some judo instructors make this a pre-requisite to starting judo - you have to be old enough to tie your own belt. I'm not a stickler for this, but I would really like the yellow belts to all be able to tie their own belts by the beginning of next judo season (this coming September).

Persistence

"This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." -- Winston Churchill

Osotogari

munegatame

Graduation day

Today was the graduation day and judo demo and family night for the end of our first season of Kid's judo here at Mokuren. If you're coming into this story late, we decided to run kids' judo on a seasonal sports model, like teeball or soccer, since so many of the parents around here understand that sports model better than the usual 2-3 classes/week all the time model. We ran the season from last September till today and will take off during the busy baseball season and the intolerable heat of summer, to begin again this coming September. We practiced once per week and had club judo tournaments each month. It was a lot of fun and the kids learned a lot and we all had a lot of fun.

Following is the text of the program for tonight's judo demo for those interested:

Judo Embu (Demonstration)

Introduction

In Feudal Japan, samurai warriors learned jujitsu, a form of empty-hand combat, as a backup plan in case they were disarmed on the battlefield. But after the Restoration of the Meiji Emperor to the throne in 1868, Japan began to pull itself out of feudalism through a long process of westernization and modernization. During this modernization, the old feudalistic samurai arts, including jujitsu were considered no longer necessary, and perhaps even backward. Hundreds of years of refinements of the jujitsu arts were in danger of dying out within the space of a generation.

In the 1880’s, Jigoro Kano, a master of several of the ancient jujitsu arts, came up with the idea to preserve the aspects of jujitsu that were still beneficial to individuals and to society - qualities like strength and courage and discipline. Kano took some of the techniques from the ancient jujitsu arts and used them to create a wrestling sport, which he called Judo. Judo rapidly grew in popularity in Japan, Europe, and throughout the world as both a sport and a form of self-defense.

Tonight you will see a demonstration of some of the skills that your children have learned over the course of the last few months; demonstrations of their maturing strength, technique, persistence, and courage. Thank you for joining us in this celebration of their achievement.

Demonstration

• Line-up, salutes, and warm-up
• Safe falling skills (forward roll, forward fall, left fall right fall, back fall)
• More falling skills with a spotter (deashibarai, teguruma, hizaguruma, seoinage)
• Throwing skill: osotogari (the big outside reap), that we call the “1-2 throw”
• Holding skill: osotogari→kesagatame (the scarf hold)
• Escape skill: osotogari→kesagatame→uphill escape
• Ground grappling skills: crawling man contest
• Standing wrestling skills: standing randori

Presentation of certificates and new belts

• All students will be presented with certificates, and the older students will be presented with new belts. The younger students’ new belts are on back-order and will be presented during a post-season play-day during the Summer.
• Gavin - Yellow Belt - Gavin is the oldest, and because of the age and mass advantage, had the coordination and strength to do well. Gavin especially improved in his mental control of his frustration when someone (like Whit) would grind him or play rough.
• Whit - Yellow Belt - Whit is naturally athletic and coordinated. Particularly agile on his feet, he was able to dominate much of the standing work. Whit developed a good osotogari and a fair deashibarai this season and he is making progress in learning to control that alpha-male ego thing that he has going.
• Mason - Yellow Belt - Mason is nearly indomitable on the ground because of his fierce persistence. He absolutely refuses to lose if there is anything he can do about it. He has also shown a great deal of control over natural frustration when he is dominated to the point of exhaustion on the ground by a larger opponent (like Gavin). Mason also has a naturally good leg pick.
• Knox - White&Yellow Belt - Knox is the kind one. He has enjoyed being able to develop and express a more vigorous aggression in randori this season, but tonight in standing randori he absolutely refused to throw Emma because he thought he might hurt her.
• Emma - White&Yellow Belt - It's hard (impossible?) to keep the attention of kids this young, but Emma has done very well and has improved her attention span greatly. She has had a lot of fun especially in the randori and groundwork games with Knox and Quin.
• Quin - White&Yellow Belt - Got a late start this season, and was handicapped by his small size (a 000 gi swallows him), but he has a natural aggression and a will to power that will serve him well in judo as he picks up a little more mass and coordination.

Congratulations to all of our newly advanced students!

Busy, busy day

5:00 am aiki with Rob.

• we worked on the Sankata knife stuff. I enjoy getting his CSSD Modern Arnis ideas at work on the aiki knife stuff.

5:30 PM Kid's judo with Gavin, Mason, and Emma

• Laps of the mat with silly walks for warmups.
• ukemi, including the demonstration forms and the crash pad forms
• osotogari
• osotogari→kesagatame
• osotogari→kesagatame→uphill escape
• taiotoshi

6:30 aiki with Kel and Rick

• ROM & ukemi
• tegatana with emphasis on using some ideokinesis ideas to improve posture and relaxation of the shoulders.
• hanasu with emphasis on loose, relaxed shoulders
• hand randori
• aigamaeate
• 2-3 of the Rokukata knife-taking and knife-retention techniques

Last night's aikido

Aikido with Knox, Quin, Rick, and Kel

• Warmed up with the kids with a contest to see who could run across the mat in the silliest way. There was a lot of arm flailing and head wagging, hopping, and wiggling of butts. In short, good warmup.
• Ukemi with me throwing/spotting the kids into the crash pad for about 20 minutes before class started. Then the kids bailed and the grownups showed up and continued with the ukemi in the crash pad, emphasizing forward roll falling from a reflexed position.
• Tegatana emphasizing rapid recovery, bringing the back side of the body with you, and doing it as near-instantaneously as possible.
• hanasu #1-4 emphasizing tori staying centered on the power hand and uke flowing with tori.
• knife evasions, aiki brush-off, and stab-twice.
• The brush-off led into the tantodori section of sankata, including the ushiroate brushoff, the udehineri, the kotegaeshi, and the stab-the-knee gedanate.

Chad from Akari Judo

Judo with Chad, Whit, Knox, and Quin

• Ukemi for about 30 minutes before class with me throwing/spotting Whit, Knox, and Quin. then the kids bailed out and Chad showed up.
• We had Sensei Chad Morrison down from Akari Judo of Richmond VA, now teaching at McCoy MMA. Chad and I traded ancient oriental secrets, me showing him some of the kumikata material we've been working on lately, and him showing me several good groundwork tricks, including a cool sankaku entry from ukigatame. We spun off into several bouts of randori, spinning back into lessons every so often. Chad's positional control and ground mobility have improved a lot from rolling with the MMA dudes.
• The things that Chad seemed to enjoy and he'll want to remember include: 1) the sweep-prop combination that makes uke feel so stupid, 2) the bump-and-sweep deashi/kosoto from the outside cross grip, 3) the footsweep-to-control drill that we start each class with, 4) treat uphill escape as a bridging technique with the emphasis on smashing uke's nose into the ground - you'll get more mileage from uphill escape and bridge&roll (downhill escape) will be easier when it occurs, and 5) Chad, you need to start a judo blog. Do it today.

Armbars for kids

The following is an awesome video of some kids doing judo. I don't especially like having kids this age working chokes and armbars, but that might just be my particular prejudice. The jiujitsu guys train kids to do this stuff and they swear it doesn't tear up kids. I personally only teach throwing and positional wrestling to any student of any age below about green belt because I feel the positional skills are prerequisite to good choking and joint manipulation skills. But in any case, these particular kids are doing a fabulous job practicing and demonstrating these skills. I learned a thing or two myself that I intend to put on Rob next week (so Rob, don't watch this video or you might spoil my fun ;-)

PM judo and aikido

Kid's judo with Gavin, Whit, Knox, Emma, and Quin

• Ukemi - and lots of it with me throwing/spotting Whit, Knox, and Quin for about 30 minutes before class started. Then the others arrived and we went through the ukemi routine for the parents' demo in about a month.
• osotogari into kesagatame
• quiet sitting counting sounds that we can hear.

Aikido with Kel

• tegatana with emphasis on taking small enough steps that the heels do not strike or lift off the mat.
• hanasu with emphasis on 'stay-off-me' hands.
• chain #1, including shihonage, iriminage, and ushiroate
• some various interesting techniques from Sankata as the cool ninja techniques of the night.

I am exhausted from the three workouts today. Elise, my darling wife, has gone to purchase me a bottle of whiskey to drink while I lie in a scalding hot bathtub.

Osotogari and taiotoshi uchikomi

Kids' judo with Whit, Mason, Knox, and Quin

• ROM, ukemi, movement skills
• osotogari ("the 1-2 throw) uchikomi sets of 3, throwing on the third. Emphasis on hitting the back of uke's knee with the back of your knee and pulling with your arms.
• taiotoshi ("the 1-2-3 throw") uchikomi sets of 3 throwing on the third, emphasizing tori turning his leg downward.
• standing randori
• intro to the shoulder-push-knee-lift turnover

1-2 counters 1-2-3

Judo with Whit, Knox, and Quin

• Warmup
• osotogari cueing off of uke putting a foot forward - every time uke gets a foot forward, tori throws osotogari (which they are calling the "1-2 throw").
• osotogari as a counter to taiotoshi. At the last tournament, all the kids were throwing taiotoshi (the "1-2-3 throw"), so I have been working with Whit and company on how to turn and reap the leg for osotogari.
• While Whit was practicing osotogari on me I was practicing the R1/R3 gripfighting patterns on him.

Last night's judo

Kids' judo with Gavin, Whit, Mason, Knox, Emma, and Quin

• warmup
• ukemi - we're practicing their ukemi set (fwd roll to standing, face fall, left fall from plank, right fall from plank, backfall) in proper order in preparation to demo it to their parents at the end of the season. We also practiced sidefalls from deashi with me as spotter alternating with laterals across the mat.
• osotogari uchikomi sets of three throwing on the third.
• newaza transitions from kesa to mune to ushirokesa and from ushiro kesa to tate to ushirokesa on the other side.
• crawling man randori
• standing randori to the first fall with each player staying out until the entire class had done randori with him.
• Somehow my students have gotten the idea that grabbing the opponent's legs is the thing to do, but they charge with their head down and often get smeared because of it(see the third iteration here), so we finished the class working on proper technique for shooting into a leg pick (level change, lunge, back knee touchdown and immediately back to feet, dumping the sprawled opponent off the side).

Judo by the numbers

Kid's judo with Gavin, Whit, Mason, Knox, Emma, and Quin.

• warmup, ukemi
• osotogari by the numbers: 1) stand next to uke, 2) stretch your leg out behind him, 3) sweep the leg. Worked pretty good with this crowd.
• kesagatame, again, by the numbers: 1) knee on the ground, 2) wrap the arm, 3) sit on your butt, 4)hold the head. Again, worked pretty good.
• uphill escape from kesagatame - no counting this time. worked pretty good except they had a hard time extracting the trapped arm, so I had them step over and pull uke to his back for a pin. This was good for a lot of grunting and groaning and energy expendature. Lots of fun. I even had kids where they would volunteer to be on the bottom of the hold-down.

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Mrs. Red, Here are the links to the video I told you about. They sure are having a load of fun:

• http://www.mokurendojo.com/2008/02/getting-better-at-randori.html
• http://www.mokurendojo.com/2008/01/kids-newaza-randori.html
• http://www.mokurendojo.com/2008/01/baby-got-backfall.html

Interested in Kids' Judo classes at Mokuren?

I know there will be some folks stopping by here looking for more information because I had a poster presentation at the regional Homeschoolers' Association meeting tonight, so here's the scoop: I teach kids' judo classes.

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Judo is a Japanese martial art that emphasizes throwing and grappling. Kids love judo because most all kids love to roll around on the ground and wrestle. Look here for some great video of some kids having a blast in our class. Judo is also a competitive sport and you will be seeing some great Olympic judo this summer. As both a traditional martial art and sport, judo offers a great opportunity for fun, fitness, discipline, and defense.

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At our training hall, we're running it as a seasonal sport in which we take the hottest months of the summer off, so the season lasts from September to April. We have classes once a week and club tournaments once a month. I am in a fairly unique position in the martial arts world, such that I can offer high-quality instruction in a family-friendly atmosphere for very low cost (roughly 1/3 the cost of the local competition).

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Right now we're in the middle of the 2007-2008 season, so we're not starting beginners right now, but classes are forming right now for the 2008-2009 season to begin in the Fall. Class sizes will be limited, so if you think it sounds like fun, click on my photo at the bottom of this page and send me an e-mail to get more info or to reserve your child a spot.

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If you have friends here in Southwest Mississippi that might be interested, then please forward them an email suggesting they check us out.

February kohaku shiai

Today was our monthly club tourney. Everyone did well but we mixed things up a little by changing the lineup. We added the rule that the winner from last month moves up 1-2 places to the heavier end of the lineup, handicaping him more and disrupting some of the advantage the guy in the middle of the line has. We also added a time limit to crawling man, so you only have to immobilize the crawling man long enough to recite a sentence (Today's winning sentence was, "Honesty means always telling the truth.") This time limit prevents players from being ground to exhaustion but it also keeps them from resting on the bottom - they have to stay active and stay in motion or they lose faster.

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Congratulations to month's shiai champions:

• 1st place: Gavin Jarrell (8 wins)
• 2nd place: (tie) Whit Parker and Emma Jarrell (4 wins)
• 3rd place: Knox Parker (3 wins)

Getting better at randori

Kids' judo with Gavin, Whit, Mason, Knox, Emma, Quin

• warmup, ukemi
• galloping, sidefalls rolling off of stacked mats (easy as falling off a log)
• leg-lift shoulder-push turnover to munegatame
• randori standing continuing into pins
• kneeling kubiguruma

In this video, among other things, you see a couple of pretty good leg picks, an exceptional aiki-like counter to a leg pick, a demonstration of how to absolutely NOT do a leg pick, a pretty good uphill escape from munegatame, a good, vigorous turnover, and an impromptu technique for dealing with the poor guy who wants to crawl out of bounds away from you to stop the match... enjoy.

The best, easiest-to-use, and least-expensive randori timers

The best way to time a hold-down in randori – especially with kids – is to make a rule that they have to hold the pin long enough to recite a sentence aloud. The sentence might be a scripture verse, part of your dojo kun, or some other moral. The ones I use include:

• Honesty means always telling the truth.
• Courtesy means showing respect for others.
• Courage means doing what is right even when you are afraid.
• Honor means always keeping your promises.

I’ll pick one of these each night that we’re going to do newaza randori or newaza holding drills and we’ll practice reciting it a few times. Then they become their own hold-down timers. I tried having the holder do a 3-count but you can easily count 1-2-3 in less than a second (I can subvocalize a count to about 8 in 1 second) but it usually takes most kids about 3 seconds to recite one of these.

Another cool thing about timing hold-downs this way is you have to keep your mind at least clear enough to be able to remember and recite the sentence even in the thick of the fray.

Kids' newaza randori

What you see here are some of my white belt judo kids doing some newaza (groundwork) randori (freeplay). The child in the yellow belt is not really yellow belt - that's just holding the gi shut. The kids in the foreground in this video are 3-4 years old. The kids in the background are 7-8 years old. Looks like fun? It is. I was there and it's a blast!