Wednesday Night at the Dojo 6/28 - Yonkyu!

Attendees: Randy, John, Raj, Keith, Robert, Stanley, and Oliver. A big crowd.

Ukemi: Not too bad

Releases: Worked with Stanley and Keith. Full sets with both.

John came into the dojo and asked, before the session started, if I was testing for green belt. I told him: "Not to my knowledge." My knowledge was faulty.

They wanted me to demonstrate for my green belt. Ack!

I spent most of the evening going through the 5 techniques with Keith, who was to be my uke for the demonstration. We must have gone through all of them 10 times each. Keith's main suggestion was to get the first off-balance, and it helped. My Gyakugamea-ate was pretty awful, I hope I wasn't killing Keith. I was getting some nice elevation of uke on Agamai-ate, so my timing was on.

I did a dress rehearsal, then they gave me 15 minutes to work on anything I needed to, so I spent the time on Gyakugamea-ate and Agamai-ate. Then Keith had me go through all 5 a couple more times.

The demonstration. I had to demonstrate the Walk, the 8 releases, and the first 5 techniques. I got through the walk okay, thanks to Keith joining me in the demonstration. My mind was blown, so I needed a little help.

The releases went ok. I mucked up one, but did not improperly react and subsequently successfully executed what I was supposed to do.

After I was done, the black belts got together and talked for a long, long time. at least it seemed that way to me. They eventually bestowed the rank of Yonkyu upon me. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait for the belt as the dojo did not have one in my size.

Aftermath: Tired and sweaty, but happy.

tag : Aikido