Aikido Friday Night - 7/3/09

Aikidokas: Tim, Trey, Tom and a new student, Sal. Sensei Tim was back on the mat!

Ukemi: I helpd introduce Sal to ukemi.

The Walk: Twice as usual. Then I spent the evening helping Sal to learn the Walk. He did amazingly well. We actually made it all the way through.

Releases: Not tonight.

Techniques:

I ran through:

1. Kubi-guruma - neck wheel
2. Kata-otoshi - shoulder drop
5. Aiki-nage - fitting in throw

Kata-otoshi is the throw that is most vulnerable, in my opinion, to the slightest error. There just feels to be a very small window for this technique to work.

A couple of items got pointed out to me/I figured out while working on this. The first is that the entry really needs to be with a knife hand, you don't want to push in the direction from which uke attacked. Doing that stops uke's motion and stops the technique. If you keep the knife hand and can get it on the outside of uke's shoulder, pivot and then push on the back of the shoulder, the technique is more likely to happen.

I also need to pay attention to my pivot. If I stop it short, or if I fall away from uke, the technique will not happen. My center must stay involved with uke's center.

Trey ran through 1, 2 and 17 of Ju Nana Hon Kata. We spent a bit of time on Hiki-otoshi (#17). He was able to get roll-outs from me on right and left side.

The next step is to have him hold on, replacing the roll-out with a big fall.

Aftermath: None of note.