My shodan exam on YouTube

The two years weren't because of doubt, more like finding the time to get the video editing software running, open a YouTube account and get it up there. There are some other things I may put up if I can get my act together. I have a full time job and two kids (soon to be three), time is a rare commodity for me and I try to put most of the free time I do have for myself towards actual aikido training on the mat.

I agree that you learn a lot by training with beginners and doing some "teaching". But when preparing a dan exam, it can be nice to have ukes you don't have to hold back with.

For those who want to see if I've improved over the years. My nidan exam is now up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2ktVfruPnQ

Nice. Intresting format, many uke but no randori.

The last part was a sort-of randori. At any rate it was jiyu waza with any attack, any technique. But they had ukes keeping me surrounded and attaking one at a time, which takes some of the excitement out of it. This has become standard at USAF exams. I think the idea is to give nage time to do clean techniques in rapid succession rather than anything to do with multiple attackers. It also means the ukes don't get tired, only the nages.

I remember that particular set of tests last May....The shodan tests did have actual randori (after the rest of the test being some called techniques and then a bunch of jiuwaza with one uke).

The other difference for me with multiple-uke jiuwaza is that you don't get a chance to get used to one person, e.g. their body type or how they move. Each person who attacks you is different.

But agreed it's totally different from randori...