Third Judo session

This session followed my second-ever judo session.

I turned up fifteen minutes late.

At the station, I discovered I forgot my jacket at home, and so had to
go back home to retrieve it. That ate up about fifteen minutes, and
Saturday traffic was bad too. I was almost at the point of not going in,
but making it all the way to the club obliged me to go in.

The instructor - a superbly fit former champ - told me to warm up for a
few minutes before joining class. Having warmed-up the class for about
fifteen minutes, he was now going through the same move I had seen a
couple of days ago. This involved the easy to describe, yet hard to
execute: choke and turn. You are taught to grip your partner in such a
way as to create a very uncomfortable choking sensation around his neck.
(As soon as he taps you - indicating discomfort, you stop.)

The execution of this move seems - when the instructor is explaining it
- perfectly easy, and natural. Yet, the grip must be tenacious, the
angles at which your arms confine your partner's neck must be tight, and
you have to cross your arms and use the weight of your body to twist
your "neck-lock" even tighter around his neck ... it is difficult. In a
competitive situation this move must be executed in split-seconds!

But - before you hurry away in horror - just think about this: I am
submitting myself to someone who is _strangling_ me, and I am not
getting worried about it - isn't that something! My coloured-belt (more
advanced) partner was even telling me how to strangle him better! "Now
is good, ya, tighter, yes, yes, okay, stop. Was good."

The instructor gathered us again and now taught us another move. What if
you are astride your partner and you are well on your way to counting
off the 25 seconds of put-down, but then he gathers enough energy to
push your chest off him? "Highly unlikely - but he's been bench-pressing
a lot. So what do you do?" It would seem you would try to force his arm
down or try to overcome him again. But, no.

"He's extended his arm. So, fine, I'll take his arm. He's given me his
arm, I won't resist it." Now the instructor demonstrates a move that
abandons the initial put-down in favour of a highly-uncomfortable combo
of push-pull on the arm, while smothering your partner's face with both
of your legs. When we tried it on each other, it was very uncomfortable.

After we had all practised the new moves for a bit, it was time for
_randori_. Fights! This is the customary twenty-minutes round of fights
between random partners. Each fight is about three minutes. You rest for
a bit while the higher belts do their own randori. Then it is off for
another random pairing. I ended up having three fights. I was fully
prepared mentally to lose them all.

The first fight was with a 19 year old lad who comes from a Karate
background. He was confident and moved quickly, but I discovered that
once I had parried his attacks, he was easy to try stuff on. Except I
did not know how to really use the advantages. And to be fair to the
guy, in true Judo fashion, whenever he felt I had made a good move, he
went with me and made my move backfire. That's exactly how it's supposed
to be done.

The next guy was way too good for me, and very gentlemanly about it. He
wanted me to try stuff on him and did not attack me at all. But I also
felt he was having a breather. (We were all panting and heavily sweating
by that point.)

I was worried about the third guy. He is one of those people who gets
clumsy when he is exhausted, and he was exhausted. He started off
catching his breath, waiting for me to attack. The instructor yelled
out: "Stop dancing around each other, this is not boxing. Get a grip on
each other and fight."

Sure enough, the guy went straight for my robe and yanked it so hard, I
feel the yank in my collarbone even as I type these words. Later, he
grabbed at my robe with such intensity, he scratched my chest. He tried
a move on me and it worked very nicely: yank with one arm, and push the
other arm-bone into my neck. He did it three times in a row. Each time, he
knocked me down. He clearly was too tired to think of anything else.

I knew what my question was going to be in the showers. I sought out one
of the more advanced players and asked him the defence for the
yank-and-arm-bone-into-neck move. He came up with two answers. "Think of
his weak spots - the elbow in this case. Try to hit him there." And also,
"Go along with his arm-bone and turn your head so that your neck
is not affected by his hit." Then he reassured me: "Don't worry, I got
knocked down 100, 200 times before I learnt a few things."

I had a little chat with the instructor on my difficulties with executing certain
moves. "Where do you live?" he asked. I told him.  "Well, if you can turn up
on time - that'd certainly be a start."