Judo Debrief - 2/27

Last night was a good workout. We worked on o uchi gari for most of the class. After that, we did a bit of ne waza randori, following by standing randori. I felt like I did fairly well in ne waza. I first went against one of the black belts, and both "matches" ended up pretty neutral. I'm pretty sure that he was simply countering my moves, but at least I didn't make any mistakes leading to a large opening for him. I then rolled against one of the brown belts and felt like I did quite well. I was able to counter his initial attempt to capture me in his guard and get a dominant position when he rolled over. In the past, I would try to go for a choke, and would spend too much time in a futile effort to get it. I've recently changed my tactics a bit to go for the arm bar instead. I hadn't been successful, though since I would try to force it using strength. Sensei said that once I have grabbed the wrist, I should roll my entire body instead. In other words, use leverage instead of strength. Now, I'm looking forward to trying it again.

I didn't do so well in standing randori. I seem to have fallen back into the habit of leaning forward. I went up against one of the white belts who is incredibly stiff and pretty strong, and I wasn't able to generate proper kuzushi. He was able to take me down twice, once pretty hard. I was able to recover the second time and get him into a pretty strong kesa getame, but it was still a bit rough. I then went against the brown belt. I'd say he got the better of me, but at least it wasn't as frustrating. I was able to block one of his throws, but took a second too long for the counter, so I ended up going down with him on top. Sensei said that I need to slide my leg and drop immediately after I block to successfully perform the counter. That's cool, since its something that I can work on in the future.

Overall, it was a pretty good workout. I'm a bit sore today, but its a good feeling. One thing that I have learned is that the counters can be pretty rough when they are not done successfully, since you are taking both your and your opponent's weight in the fall. It provides some incentive for getting it right in the future.