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Old 06-10-2007, 06:16 PM   #6
Hanna B
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 647
Sweden
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Re: Teaching Rollfalls

Quote:
Donovan Faulkenbury wrote: View Post
Well, during this period of time, he's gotten the hang of the basic falls, but I can't seem to find a method to teach the rolls. I learned through Tomiki Aikido, and I've tried teaching him as such, staring from the kneeling position, the unbendable arm, etc...and the standing as well, but nothing seems to work.
So what do you consider "basic falls" - breakfalls? What about backward rolls?

On what kind of surface do you train? Most of the time one does not have budo mats or the equivalent outside of an actual dojo. Good rollers can roll on hard surface, but for most people it is almost impossible to learn unless you train on a softer, more forgiving surface. Giving up on it certainly is on option, and if you don't have a good training surface I would actually recommend it. If you have mats and if both of you are young and don't easily get hurt or injured... well well.

It sounds like you yourself were taught in not so careful ways, otherwise you could just have adopted the way they teach beginners in your home dojo. If you have a good surface to train on, still don't be careless. For safety reasons I very much recommend
  • Don't do rolls from standing until then work from kneeling.
  • Leave the front rolls for a while and do back rolls instead.

This is how many dojos teach rolls. A skilled instructor can do it differently, esp. if teaching small groups, but you are in a different situation. Actually, for most people backward rolls are a bit more tricky to learn so don't think it is a shortcut - but they are safer. Once one has gotten the hang of backward rolls, much of it can be transferred into front rolls. Well, not the "unbendable arm" thing maybe. Something that helped me my first term in aikido was to hold my both hands together, to form a rounded "wheel" to roll on. Letting the arms touch helps in maintaining the structure. That is a good image for the mind, maybe. The mat comes along and presses the arm from various points; the arms' job is to maintain their form, nothing more nothing less.

Last edited by Hanna B : 06-10-2007 at 06:22 PM.
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