Fri 23 Nov.

Since sensei couldn't make it, Ben sempai and Jason sempai weren't around, I was 'elected' to take the class :wasn't really prepared for this:

Usual warm-ups for starters and a variation of the ukemis; mae, ushiro, gyaku and yoko were performed.

The first technique on the card was gyaku hanmi shomen uchiirimi nage. As I discovered, the beginners were having a tough time with if, which meant that the advanced student spent a lot of time explaining the technique, so no one really benefited and so I decided to start with simpler techniques.

Second technique, kotegaeshi ura and omote : we had a fair share of problems with ura, Tori doesn't pull uke during the technique!! and step back to give uke a place to fall!!

Next was shihonage, ura and omote. I don't know how many begginers will be reading this but MAKE UKE AS UNCOMFORTABLE AS POSSIBLE!! when performing this technique. Uke needs to be stretched as far as possible, if s/he is on his/her toes.... GOOD! and never do the technique behind you.

Second hour we did some advanced stuff, namely soto kaiten nage, uchi kaiten nage and juji nage... one word guys....ukemi :)

Lastly, we had a guest, Mr Nadao Kohno from Japan Meteorological Agency, who was in the country for a two week seminar, his calender allowed him to join us for the afternoon, but too bad he was travelling back the following day, a jolly fella he is :) Nadao, arigato and we hope to see you back again soon.