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Old 06-28-2006, 05:25 PM   #10
MaryKaye
Dojo: Seattle Ki Society
Location: Seattle
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 522
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Re: Extremely short students

A few things may just not work. I train with a smallish Asian nine-year-old, and having him attack me ushirodori is not reasonable; I end up wearing him like a cape *before* I even try technique. To do shihonage I need to drop to my knees, and even then it is difficult. You will need to be flexible about this. His aikido is quite good, however--his pins are particularly excellent--and if he is physically able to get in position to do a technique, I haven't yet seen one he can't do.

For "bear hug" attacks, if uke's arms will not go round nage, make fists and press them into the hollows of nage's shoulders instead.

For koshinage it may be best to start with the closest size-matched uke you can find and work up from there; initially I found trying to pick up larger people *very* intimidating. But I have been successfully picked up by nages half my size (I'm a medium-large woman) once they had enough practice and confidence. The low center of gravity can actually be a big advantage in koshinage. I train occasionally with a shodan who is about 5'2" and her technique is very efficient as she needs to do very little to get under my center.... She also has a charming way of entering irimi *under* uke's attack and throwing them while they are still wondering where she went.

If you do weapons, you may want to cut down a jo appropriately; we''ve done this for our kids' classes. A 4' jo in the hands of a 4' user is not really a jo anymore, more like a bo, and it is hard for them to make the kata work normally.

Mary Kaye
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