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Old 12-16-2013, 10:47 AM   #12
jonreading
 
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Dojo: Aikido South
Location: Johnson City, TN
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,209
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Re: An Experiment in Assessing my ukemi

Matt-

Its takes some courage to post vids. Even more so waiting for the critical feedback.

I think there are some good comments in this thread already. I would also voice my opinion about changing your mentality from "guy being thrown" to "feedback system" for nage. This is a big message coming down from some of the aikido people I respect and its becoming an issue because we need good uke people to push our leaders up to that next level.

Granted, not everyone wants a "better" uke, so buyer beware.

Some of the things we work on in the dojo that place attention on some of the comments you have already heard:
1. The attack is successful. We will practice uke applying techniques. With some change to semantics, the initiated attack is successful.
2. Strikes are fair on both sides. Unspoken rule in the dojo is that if nage can use strikes, so can uke. We un-complicate things by taking out the strikes; but, like an equation, they need to come off both sides.
3. Uke is not a victim. Uke's job is to provide a metric of successful for nage - not be a punching bag.

You'd be surprised how quickly you can change the relationship when uke can (and does) swing that second hand around. Or walk through nage. Or snap that offered hand out of the way and shoot the front leg. It's a work in progress, but a change in religion when you stand in front of someone who may just eat your lunch and they don't care if you are wearing the white hat. And for the record, it is a work in progress.

Jon Reading
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