Tonight we started our kids judo class by working off those delicious Easter eggs! Push ups, sit ups and core strength work… ichi, ni, san, shi, go. Oohh, Sensei. These traditional Kodokan Judo exercises are tried and true for the core strength, chest, arms, abdominals. Strengthening these muscle groups will help to keep our back healthy and carry us with good posture through out our lives.
Next our Kaizen Martial Arts Australia judo kids reviewed and practised their forward roll techniques, for a moment there I forgot I was watching judo for kids in our Wyndham Vale dojo and thought I was at a synchronised forward roll competition. I was very impressed by the obvious improvement in everyones judo skills.
After our drink break we moved into the balance breaking part of training. This is such a fundamental skill in Kodokan Judo. First we revisited the finer points of breaking our opponents balance ‘kuzushi’ in the stand up position using our ‘steering wheels’ technique. Then we moved to the floor where we covered the scarf hold also know as ‘Hon-kesa-gatame’ which is a hold down or Osae-komi-waza technique in Kodokan Judo. Everyone loves it when Sensei Garry gets held down by one of their own, little people can achieve big things.
The kids absolutely love the ground work or Katame-waza part of judo training, the ear to ear smiles on their faces says it all. Everyone pairs up then sitting back to back on the mat eagerly awaiting the begin command, all of a sudden they’re on their knees getting their strong judo grips and trying as hard as they can to break their opponents balance, get them down on the floor and into a scarf hold for three seconds. A quick change of partners and it begins again. A little bit of good old fashioned rough’n’tumble. Parents love it too, ‘Thanks Sensei, good job on wearing out the kids, they’ll sleep well tonight!”
Judo for kids in Wyndham Vale is growing fast and again our club waiting list are growing daily and all the sessions are full…
Kids love learning judo and they learn so quickly through the specifically martial arts designed fun and games. Everyone is really motivated to practise being the best that they can be and excited at the prospect of their very first grading coming up very soon.
