This Thursday at Kaizen Martial Arts Australia Wyndham Vale Dojo was a cracker of a night the kids put so much effort into training it was awesome, we started with a new set of Judo warmup exercises and many of the kids found some muscles that did not know they had …:-), after the warm up we went through some basic revision and then got into a full session on Grips and Breaking Balance in Judo.
The kids found this whole concept of breaking getting grips and then being able to break someones balance a fun process to see and learn, we took them through a couple of funny examples of trying to throw without grips which had the kids in stitches with laughter. 
We then showed them that Judo was based on a much smaller, weaker person being able to easily throw and overcome a much bigger, heavier opponent specifically through the use of grips and the breaking of their opponents balance.
The kids really got into doing the structured exercises including doing steering wheels and the push and pull exercise, the smiles of enjoyment and the recognition that they were able to easily move people bigger than them was very pleasing.
We then gave the kids a demonstration of grip fighting and a breakdown on the first Judo throw that they would be doing as part of the Kids Judo training at the Wyndham Vale dojo.
The first throw we teach the kids is in fact not the very first in the Judo Gokyo ( sequence of throws ) but in fact the 5th of 8 throws from the first set of judo throws, this specific throw is called Osoto-gari or Large Outer Reap in english. The reason we do this is because the kids find this throw simple to understand, easy to apply and as such they get it and use it fast, this promotes their mental as well as physical approaches to the Judo they are learning.
We closed off the judo class and training with some warm downs, 
stretching, meditation and breathing and this is something that the kids are just stating to get the hang off, just giving them time to slow down their minds, calm their down their bodies, relax and feel really great about the training they have done. This also provides the time for them to reflect on the things they have learned in the session that has just been completed.
The kids are doing so well and you can see so many of them must be putting in time at home on the techniques, one mother was telling me how her son was using a camping mattress in the hallway so he could practice his rolls, while others were saying the kids were out on the back lawn rolling practicing for the next lesson.
How good is it to hear that..
I guess the only sad part was how many kids we are having to turn away at this point and to them hear that kids were crying because they could not train.. really hard to know that you could not alter this although I am looking forward to doubling our classes starting next week thanks to getting more hours opened up to the club , the only question is how long before even with the new classes being added will it be before we are full again?
