This week, Chris, Nat, Pete and Zac drove out to the Te Miro dojo to train. We had a great night making the most of the good tatami to practice body throws. The Hamilton Dojo has thin, hard, puzzle mats that are not comfortable to fall on repeatedly, so having the thicker tatami was a great opportunity for Chris to have us work on these falls. It was the last training session for me before my family takes to the road for Christmas holidays.
We started with practicing different forms of ukemi. After spending quite some time on this Chris took us through the kuzushi for body throws then we proceeded to work through the Shoden Tachiai Tai Nage. These are great fun and on the thicker mats we could throw one another around with little chance of anyone getting hurt.
Zac had some trouble adjusting to the smaller space. He hit the wall with his heel in one instance and knocked over a jo later during the session. He reminded me of a giraffe let loose in a cluttered shop.
After the training Ricci and I invited them in for a hot drink and a chat, then they headed home for the evening. It was a lovely way to finish off the year.
I always know if it has been a good session if I can feel some stiff muscles the next day and this was the case. Good training indeed!
I don't intend to post anything else before Christmas so train hard but train safe out there people!
See you in 2017.
