7 year old Maxim (almost 8) is currently on vacation with his family and came to join us for a class at the Noda Shunpukan dojo.
Maxim has been training 2 or 3 times a week for about a year and half at his home dojo near Ekateringburg, Russia. We had some fun with suwariwaza and ikkajo nage.
Enjoy the rest of your time in Japan and we hope to see you again sometime, somewhere. Osu!
Tonight in Kasukabe we warmed up with breakfalls, mainly focusing on hiyaku ukemi. After that we practiced pivots, both big and small. Turning on our toes and big circular movements with the back leg. Then worked them into techniques - shomen uchi kotegaeshi 2, katate mochi kotegaeshi 2
Twice a month on Wednesday we have been a holding a class just for seniors at the Kasukabe Budokan. This class is held from 9:15 to 10:15 with free training until 11am.
This class breaks down techniques and tries to simplify and focus on an important point, rather than the running through the whole thing. Today we worked on the connection of the initial movement in both #1 and #2 shihonage.
On Sunday in Kumagaya we first warmed up with kihon dosa renzoku. As for techniques we focused on the big pivoting movements in shomen uchi ikkajo osae 2(tachi, suwari), shomen uchi shomen iriminage 2(kihon, oyo). With all the spring tests finishing up the day before, you could feel the difference in atmosphere. Today was a much more fun and relaxed class than the prior weeks buildng up to test day.
Yesterday at Noda we spent almost half the class on basic movements. If you can`t do them properly by yourself, you will have trouble with a partner. If you are having difficulty while with a partner, then pairing up for basic techniques will be even worse. Always go a step or two back to fix a problem.