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Old 08-26-2011, 02:42 PM   #21
Phil Van Treese
Dojo: Tampa Judo and Aikido Dojo, Tampa, Fl
Location: Tampa, Florida
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 179
United_States
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Re: early kyu expectations

Ukemi needs to be practised every class---right and left side falls, rollouts right and left side and backfalls. The only way your ukemi will improve is with constant practise, practise, practise. There is no escape from that. If you want a diamond to shine, it has to be polished. Your ukemi is your diamond and you need to polish it over and over and over. I don't care what rank anyone has---I am a shichidan (7th dan) and I do rollouts and all falls with the class. They watch me and they try to imitate me. You have to do the same. Your students will copy you and imitate you. I was not being sarcastic when I said that you needed to take some judo lessons to learn how to fall. The judo class falls with Tomiki Shihan carried over into aikido and I thank him to this day that he was a bear on ukemi. Ukemi is the only technique, according to Tomiki Shihan, that you must master or strive to get there. We cannot expect to teach our students proper ukemi if we are sub-standard. Yes, I am a bear on Ukemi----ask my class!!!!! Growl.
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