Aikidokas: Michelle
I spent the evening working with Michelle on backfalls, ukemi, the walk and releases.
Aftermath: none of note
Aikidokas: Leonardo, Michelle
I spent the evening working with Leonardo and Michelle (a new student) on backfalls, ukemi, the walk and releases.
Aftermath: none of note
Aikidokas: Leonardo
I spent the evening working with Leonardo (a new student) on backfalls, ukemi, the walk and releases.
Aftermath: none of note
Aikidokas: Tim, Randy, Fred, Marty, Keith, and Oliver.
Ukemi: Not bad.
The Walk: We probably wouldn't have done the walk tonight if some of us hadn't needed a refresher.
The rest of the evening was spent working with Oliver getting ready for my demonstration. We went through releases twice and through the techniques once. Sensei Raymond recommended we take a breather before going through techniques a second time. We never got back on the mat for the second practice.
The first practice run went ok except for forgetting which technique I was supposed to do on left side Gedan-ate. I got to the first off-balance and froze. I'm starting to develop a routine when running through a consecutive set of techniques.
I recite, internally, the technique number (I really ought to start reciting technique name instead), which side we're performing the technique and which foot the tsugi ashi starts with. I then take a breath and am ready to proceed.
The Demonstration:
The walk went ok.
The releases stunk. My pivots were horrible.
Techniques:
Shomen-ate: went well.
Aigamae-ate: went well.
Gyakugamea-ate: went well.
Gedan-ate: It didn't rock, but it did go well. :)
Ushiro-ate: I did not manage to get the hook with the working hand very well.
Oshi-taoshi: went ok.
Ude-gaeshi: went ok on the right side. Was a complete and unmitigated footwork disaster on the left side. I took about 73 small steps after the pivot when it should have just been one.
Ude-hineri : went ok.
Hiki-taoshi: went ok. Spent some time making certain of the hand positions. I think I ended up with them being correct. At least on the right side. I have no memory of the left side.
Waki-gatame : went well. I don't think I raised my arms out of center. I think I controlled the elbow with the non-working hand. This is a technique that I am well-suited to with my height, so I hope I'm getting it right.
After much discussion, the review board (6 black belts) gave me the brown belt. Actually, it's more of a latte belt. Sensei did not have a brown belt in my size in the dojo, so he made do with a latte belt just one size too small. I'll still be wearing my green belt on the mat since it fits, but the certificate of Sankyu is in my hot little hands.
We then adjourned to off-mat discussions and consumption of the beer I brought. Sensei was surprised as beer is apparently only a "requirement" for dan-grade promotions. I didn't want to be caught unprepared.
And the beer was good. Pilsner Urquell. My local liquor store didn't have any, so I had to go to the local grocery store to get some. That just seems wrong somehow.
Must go collapse now.
Aikidokas: Stanley, and Oliver.
Ukemi: Not bad.
The Walk: nothing unusual.
Releases: Worked with Oliver and Stanley.
Techniques: Worked with Oliver and Stanley. I wanted to work on 5 and 9. Oliver had some comments on 7. Then I did two run throughs of all 10. Sensei Raymond had some comments after the first one. Demonstration is still scheduled for today!
Ushiro-ate: I wanted to work on the "hook". I think it improved. I had some problems adjusting to Stanley on this one.
Ude-gaeshi: Oliver saw that my footwork was not quite right on this one. I need to step through with the working foot after the pivot. I managed this quickly and Oliver was impressed with the difference it made.
Hiki-taoshi: Worked on hand position before the hip switch.
Comments after the demonstration that Sensei Raymond watched:
Hiki-taoshi: I got it right on one side, not the other.
Waki-gatame: Operate at your shoulder level, no higher.
Aftermath: Mentally out of it. At one point during releases I had about a 1 minute brain flatline. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do on the next release. I hope that doesn't happen tonight.
Got to remember to bring beer for joseki. I think two 6 packs of Pilsner Urquell is what I'll try to pick up.
Aikidokas: Randy, Martin, Oliver, Sheila, and Kim.
Ukemi: Not bad. Didn't do the tumbleweed rolls. Took some big falls and landed not-so-hot on one rightside. Made my calf muscle tense up somehow. Stretched it out and experienced no aftereffects.
The Walk: nothing unusual.
Releases: Worked with Oliver.
Techniques: Worked with Oliver. Did 3 sets of 1-10 with Sensei Raymond watching and critiquing. I may be testing for Sankyu on Wednesday! :0
Gedan-ate: Propel uke off-balance with the off-hand above your head, not just above your shoulder. Return to neutral posture before moving away from uke.
Ushiro-ate: I'm getting the entry well, I think. I'm not "hooking" uke with the acting hand on his should. That need to improve.
Oshi-taoshi and Ude-gaeshi: Make certain uke's hand is in a vertical line with his elbow before you push the elbow through his ear.
Ude-hineri: Small steps. Get out of uke's way in a hurry so he doesn't fall onto your shin.
Hiki-taoshi: Small steps. Hand position before the throw. Make certain your off hand is able to handle uke's friends if necessary. Don't have it trapped by the acting hand.
Waki-gatame: Operate at your shoulder level, no higher.
Aftermath: I was beat. Mentally and physically tired. Going back tonight for more run-throughs with Oliver.
Aikidokas: Stanley.
Releases: That's what Stanley wanted to work on and I was happy to oblige. It'd been a couple of months since he'd spent much time at the dojo and we knocked a little rust off. We got some input from Sensei Raymond on #7 and he pointed on some things that need tweaking on my releases.
Stanley did a number 6 release that resulted in a throw. Shocked the heck out of both of us. We couldn't figure out how it happened, but it did. I'm guessing that he was moving a lot more quickly than I was and it added extra oomph to me moving backwards. My feet couldn't keep up with my upper body, so I just took the fall.
We also had some discussion on figuring out, on the fly, transfers from one technique to another. Practice, practice, practice was the main recommendation. The terminal technique that Sensei was able to achieve an amazing, to me, number of times was Ushiro-ate. It was a mind blowing discussion.
Aftermath: None of note.
Troublesome vehicles over the past month or so.
Taurus SHO ("Blizzard"): Four new tires, new a/c control panel, new fan motor.
F-150 ("Mat Burns"): New clutch, new clutch slave cylinder, new flywheel.
At least they're paid for. The repairs are cheaper than having to buy a new car. But, at over 100K miles each, I don't know how much longer they'll last.
We've asked our local shop if there's a limit to the number of times we're allowed to visit them in a month. :)
Aikidokas: Tim, Fred, Marty, Keith, Oliver, and Joey.
Ukemi: Tim had some corrections to the footwork for the regular forward rolls. I was leaving my trailing foot behind. I need to bring it up near the leading foot to simulate a near-trip.
The Walk: I managed to count, do the walk, and kind of listen to Sensei Raymond talk on the phone. It was tough, but someone's got to do it.
Releases: Worked with Oliver. Went ok.
Techniques:
Worked with Oliver.
Shomen-ate: went well.
Aigamae-ate: went well.
Gyakugamea-ate: went well.
Gedan-ate: It didn't rock, but it did go well. :)
Ushiro-ate: first attempt was a little off. Went well after that.
Oshi-taoshi: push through the ear, don't row uke's arm. Remember to do the foot switch after the first off-balance.
Ude-gaeshi: went ok.
Ude-hineri : went ok. I think I'm still getting a big step on the first off-balance. Staying closer to uke generates a better reaction on the eye-flash.
Hiki-taoshi: I think this one went well. I'm doing better on floating the foot waiting for uke to pull me in. Also, my spacing seems to be better.
Waki-gatame : went well. I think I hit it on both sides, first try.
Spent some time working on 1-10 as Oliver's uke. We got up to 6. We spent a lot of time trying to get his off-balances correct. I asked Keith to throw me with #6 to try to figure out what's going on. We made some progress, but still need to make some more. Marty also tried #6 with me and was far more aggressive than I'm used to.
Aftermath: No new pains from this session. John came through surgery well (that's what Sensei Raymond was discussing during the walk). Fred is a longtime student who's been off for a while. I don't know if he'll be back consistently or not.
In-laws come in today. I might try to "sneak out" to the dojo to work with Oliver on my demonstration.
Aikidokas: Randy, Martin, Stanley, and Kim.
Ukemi: Not bad. Didn't do the tumbleweed rolls, but everything else went well. Kim took her first big falls and did great!
The Walk: nothing unusual.
Releases: Worked with Martin. It'd been a while since he been in our dojo for a regular session, so we refreshed his memory.
Techniques: Worked with Martin on my 1-5 and his 1-5. He's spent time with a JAA dojo, so the approach he's used to is different from ours.
We spent a fair amount of time working on Ushiro-ate for both of us.
Aftermath: None of any note. Radiator on the car may have died. At least a hose sprang a vicious leak. So it'll be going in to the shop. We got the truck out of the shop just before heading to the dojo.
Aikidokas: Tim, Keith, Greg, and Oliver.
I got there a little later than I should so warm-up was a strange mish-mash. I also spent a good bit of time on the phone with a prospective student, so that cut in even more.
Ukemi: Just slaps. Didn't have time for rolls. :(
The Walk: joined in the middle.
Releases: Worked with Greg.
Techniques:
Worked with Keith, 1-10.
Shomen-ate: ok.
Gyakugamea-ate: ok.
Gedan-ate: better than Thursday.
Ushiro-ate: we spent some time on this, exploring how to get your hand out of uke's way and maintain it in center. The key is the step off-line. You maintain your hand in your center, but you've got a minor fall off-line that gets the hand out of the way. That seems to make a huge amount of difference.
Oshi-taoshi: ok.
Ude-hineri : ok
Waki-gatame : don't let hands rise out of center.
Worked with Greg on 1-10 and then on as many of his as we could get through.
We spent some time transferring the information Keith and I had worked on for Ushiro-ate over to Greg. I hope it helped.
Aftermath: We folded up the mat to clear some floor space for the party. Went home and made pralines and pecan pies for the party.
Aikidokas: Oliver and Joey.
Ukemi: A little work on the new rotator roll. Improving, little by little.
The Walk: Counted for the group. Once in Japanese and once in Czech. Got some of the numbers wrong for a while in Czech and then corrected them when my brain corrected the verbal rhythm
Releases: Worked with Joey. He's now worked on 1-5. Good improvement.
Techniques:
Worked with Oliver
Shomen-ate: First off-balance was better.
Gyakugamea-ate: went ok.
Gedan-ate: Not as good as last night, my continuation of intent of eye flash was faulty.
Ushiro-ate: what a bloody disaster. I need to continue through and not try to continue up. Pivot around mid-humerus.
Oshi-taoshi: push through the ear, don't row uke's arm.
Ude-hineri : went ok. Need to apply pressure to uke's elbow to encourage the fall. I had too much distance between myself and uke after the pivot.
Waki-gatame : went well. On left side I raised my arms out of center and it was not nearly as smooth as it should be.
Aftermath: No new pains from this session. Sensei Raymond was mildly surprised to hear that Oliver and I were working toward my demonstration. He'd heard nothing. *puzzlement*
First attempt at a logo. I've got some slight mods in work, mainly borders around the outer circle and the inner circle.
Aikidokas: Tim, Keith, Oliver, and Joey.
Ukemi: A little work on the new rotator roll. Rolled once over the wrong arm and, while ugly, it did not hurt. Spent a lot of time mentally prepping before each roll and, after the wrong arm one, they went really well. Didn't do many, but the initial mental freakout has subsided, so the count should increase. Still holding out on the tumbleweed rolls as the ankle is not happy.
The Walk: what a disaster. The first rev through was a mess. Keith and I got lost on, I think, the third stone. My excuse is I was counting the rhythm, listening to Sensei Raymond in the background introducing a new student to judo and trying to remember all of the stones. I'm good at doing two things at once, but throwing in the third item sent things all higgledy-piggledy.
Releases: Worked with Keith. We then did a little exercise of attacking tori and tori has to counter with a release and turn it into a technique. I did a lot of pre-thought before being attacked each time, but it ended up being ok.
Techniques:
Worked with Oliver, who has agreed to be my uke for my demonstration. Thanks, Oliver!
We spent some time adjusting our separation for three-step approach. We're pretty close. Sensei Tim wants us a little closer than our tendency in order to get a far more fluid technique. I think we got the distance right a couple of times and it worked well.
Shomen-ate: went well, but need to reduce the first off-balance to a flicker of an off-balance. I was doing too much.
Gyakugamea-ate: must remember to continue to slide with uke and be at his shoulder level after he hits the ground. Being near his legs is a *bad thing*.
Gedan-ate: I was really pleased with this. Don't know what Sensei thought, but I thought it rocked.
Ushiro-ate: went ok. It felt a little strange, but gake happened.
Oshi-taoshi: push through the ear, don't row uke's arm.
Ude-hineri : went ok. Need to apply pressure to uke's elbow to encourage the fall. I also think I'm letting up on uke's arm, not extending as I make the eye flash.
Waki-gatame : went well. On left side I raised my arms out of center and it was not nearly as smooth as it should be.
Aftermath: No new pains from this session. Ankle is mildly displeased with the world. Party on Saturday. WooHoo! Need to get my proposed logo for ATAA up here for folks to look at. I have some tweaks to make to improve its look when embroidered as a patch.
Aikidokas: Randy, and Keith.
Ukemi: A number of big falls tonight. I think the main problem, that results in garuma-ish endings, is I look towards tori's center when taking the fall. If I look to my center I'd bet I correct the issue.
The Walk: Not tonight.
Releases: Not tonight.
Techniques: Since it was just Keith and me, we worked on my 1-10 to start prepping for my demonstration.
Shomen-ate ::: ok
Aigamae-ate ::: ok
Gyakugamea-ate ::: ok
Gedan-ate ::: ok
Ushiro-ate ::: need more intent when meeting uke
Oshi-taoshi ::: as usual my first attempt for the night the first off-balance was lacking. Footwork needed tweaking.
Ude-gaeshi ::: Footwork needed tweaking to enable the pivot required
Ude-hineri ::: more flowery. Extend uke's arm above his head and not to his side after the takedown
Hiki-taoshi ::: allow uke to pull me through. Continue pushing throughout. Get hand position, but don't force uke to bend his elbow
Waki-gatame ::: maintain shoulder level
Aftermath: None of any note. Ankle is still bruised/swollen. Might be next Monday before I try the evil rolls again.
