Monday 25/5/15 Session (Hybrid Training)

Monday's group was smaller than Saturday's. There were a few beginners but many were competitors so it was a bit of a hybrid training where it was competition oriented but not overly so. I'll save the hardcore competition stuff for Saturdays which are dedicated specifically for competition training.

I showed them a video clip of Yasuhiro Yamashita's 1984 Olympic victory to educate them about judo competition history and to also motivate them a bit.

Today's newaza lesson is the "trap choke" -- something I learned from the LA Judo Training Centre in the early 90s. It's a deceptively effective strangle.

When done right, it ends up as both a strangle and an osaekomi that's really hard to escape from. 

As usual, I get everyone to work on drills, the best way for them to learn the technique. 

During the newaza drills, where players give resistance, you sometimes have bodies colliding. Here I am acting as a buffer.

See what a tangled mess it can be. But that's newaza!

For tachi-waza, I teach them a throw you don't see a whole lot of in Malaysia: Ura-Nage. But it's an important throw to counter against uchimata and other forward attacks since te-guruma is no longer allowed.

Securing the grip around the waist is important.

As is using one of your legs (the non-supporting leg) to aid in the lift as you thrown your partner backwards.

Showing Reza the right grip needed to make this technique work.

He's quite a natural at it. Actually quite a lot of the players picked it up really fast.

Showing Qaini the importance of securing the right grip to make this technique work. She's quite good at it too. She managed to fling many partners into the air and land on them. Luckily we have crash pads!

Suan Wah, our youngest elite trainee -- all 12 years of age. But he loves it. He enjoys training with the seniors and learning competition style techniques. By the time he's 17 or 18, he will be unbeatable at the senior level.

Nazrul from SBU paid us a visit. I had trained with him before. He's physically very strong and aggressive. Unfortunately there weren't any other black belts on the mat. But I gave him a good randori.

We had a fierce battle for grips.

Aishah and Qaini experimenting with grips during their randori.

I adopt a high right-hand grip against Qaini to get her used to fighting against players who might try to pull her head down.

I tell my players to follow into groundwork when the fight goes to the ground. And here, Qaini does just that. Many players like to just stand up after they end up on the mat. We want to discourage that and instead encourage them to finish up on the ground.

We end with our circular bow. It was a smallish group today but everyone had a good practice. The players said it was very intense. But that's how they like it!