A Personal Favorite

Today was a fun day, though I am feeling it now... I can still take a beating at my age, but I feel it later. We spent about half an hour teaching my personal favorite judo throw, tai otoshi, to our advanced students. Tai otoshi is a funny throw, a hand technique which looks like a leg technique. In this video, watch the instructor's hands as he finishes the throw, it's that push/pull combo which impels his partner over his extended leg:





We had our students practice the technique from both standing (traditional) and kneeling (emphasizing that they can follow up with the kesa gatame pinning technique). We also encouraged them to get creative, playing with one handed variants (being a brute, I used to play around with a one-handed technique emphasizing the lapel grip, while my main sensei prefers one that emphasizes the sleeve grip... a matter of push versus pull). One of the girls, at the wise age of seven, figured out that tai otoshi is a good follow-up to an unsuccessful shoulder throw, seoi-nage... clever girl! I was very proud of everybody, they played well with each other, and they are a mixed group- we had students seven to fifteen, white belt to green, and they mixed it up regardless of relative size and experience. They are a wonderful bunch of kids. I especially loved the fact that they were taking so well to my favorite throw, a throw that plays well with other techniques. Even better was the fact that some of them figured out how to incorporate it into a suite of techniques, something which we've demonstrated to them with other combos.