Shihonage anyone? or..

Getting to play with the big kids! Huzzah!

Two new guys started tonight. I wasn't able to practice with them, but both of them seemed to enjoy themselves. Scott Sensei led us through a nice warmup, followed by rolling practice, a few undo exercises and then a katatetori shihonage backstretch. I was really limber tonight. My head nearly touched the mat a few times. O_o

Before I go into detail, shihonage was the waza for the night with about a dozen different attacks. Whee! I've developed a real love/hate relationship with shihonage because of tonight. (let's just say my arms are going to HATE me tomorrow..hehe)

Shihonage//

Katatetori
W/Mark. Love practicing with this guy! I practiced with him last Saturday, and we seem to get along great on the mat. We did our backstretch and then took ukemi. No stumbling through the technique. huzzah. He asked me at one point if my wrist was okay (after a loud POP!)..I told him I was "bendy" He said "I like bendy uke's" hehehe

Yokomenuchi
W/Aida & Ron. Wow, I CAN tenshin! While watching those two practice, I finally came to the realization that I am not the only one who struggle with the tenshin. In fact, I looked around the room and saw alot of my dojomates having the same problem. Suddenly I felt alot more confident, and I managed to get a "not bad" from Ron when it was my turn. He told me to focus on getting more distance in the cut down before moving into shihonage--focus on getting uke off balance. Funny, that cut down motion came so easy for me tonight. I also surprised Ron with what he said was a good yokomenuchi strike. He said "I actually thought you were going to hit me... good!"

Ryotetori
W/Aida. Shihonage is really difficult with her because I am about a foot taller than she is. ( and to be honest, I outweigh her by what seems like a million tons... O_o.. okay, maybe it's not THAT bad. I'm not overweight, but she is tiny, and I feel like I could tip her over with a feather ) I tried REALLY hard to sink down lower while keeping my back straight during the technique. We got into a pretty decent rhythm until Sensei came over and pointed out that we weren't *really* doing shihonage but a kokyunage exercise instead. The difference, he said, was that neither of us were grabbing uke's wrist.
After we made that correction, it made a big difference. :)
But I do think I was getting the feeling of the cut up/cut down movement Scott and Bob Sensei always talk about. Hurray for repetition.

Mune Tsuki
W/Klara & a guy who's name I don't know yet (he's never seemed inclined to introduce himself)
He seemed to be very confused about the technique, but I did not offer any clues as he doesn't seem to be the type to listen. Sensei demonstrated on me the opening, and he managed to muddle through. Klara had to leave mid-technique with Sensei's ok because she had to move, so I was left with the guy. He wasn't really putting any effort behind his throw, so I said "it's okay to throw me.. really! I won't break." I proceeded to throw a particularly forceful tsuki and he reacted accordingly, unfortunately he did not continue with that energy throughout the technique. After talking to some of the other women at the dojo, it seems he doesn't like partnering with women. Ahh well, his loss, because we've got some good women practicing. :)

Ushiro Tekubitori
W/Bill. All I can say is WHHEEEEEEEE :rollin Bill and I usually have great energy when we practice, and tonight it was at an all time high. Sensei helped me through it once. (I haven't done this technique more than once or twice) He told me to keep my arms in front of me but to wait to swing up until uke is right about to grab your arms. From there the step back and cut down came easy for me. I surprised Bill with it a few times. hehe We probably did that technique about 40 times, and it got to the point where I was jumping up and immediately grabbing him again. We hit a great rhythm and I looked around briefly realizing that we had the most energy on the mat. I didn't hesitate, I didn't get lost. I just DID it. WOW! It's really hard to describe how awesome it felt to get to finally play with the big kids...so to speak. I started getting really short on breath, and I realized Bill was too. (after class he compared that round to sprinting a few miles) He threw me so hard towards the end that I was actually getting the wind knocked out of me. (that's probably partly due to my poor ukemi, though Sensei did not seem inclined to interrupt.) We got a wide berth on the mat for this one. After what seemed like forever, I thought I was going to collapse on the mat. I kept telling myself "one more fall.. one more fall" finally Sensei clapped and we hustled to the end of the mat, red-faced and out of breath. Sensei demonstrated a katatori shihonage (weird!) and suddenly I felt a wave of relaxation hit me. I went from almost wheezing to being completely refreshed. Whatever tension was left in my body just went away, and I felt amazing. I think I could have done UT again! Wow..

Katatori
W/Mark, again. This was a difficult and strange technique. Scott Sensei opened up by saying "I hate this technique, but you will be tortured with it for the rest of your aikido training, so I may as well be the first to torture you" O_o
Nage grabs uke's arm that is grabbing the shoulder, puts the inside cheek against uke's elbow while stepping in and then pivots and stands up, dropping uke. We all struggled with this one. Sensei didn't really have any pointers beyond just getting us through the technique. I can see why he hates it! lol

Finally kokyudosa. Class ran over about 10 minutes. We swept the mat and then WATER! I've never been so happy to see water in my life. While sitting there recovering, Bill and Ron both said I did very well tonight. Another guy (who I've yet to practice with) said he had tried to partner up with me, but someone beat him to it. :D He asked me if I was coming on Saturday so we could practice. Another one of my dojomates said he was watching me tonight and said I was suddenly taking off. I was grinning ear to ear. I must say after all the stumbling and blundering, it was a great feeling to have all the "big kids" expressing an interest in practicing with me. Bill said "she wore me out!" I told him the feeling was mutual. :p

Told Scott Sensei I really enjoyed the class. He asked me if he had confused me too much tonight.. for once I was able to say no!

Now I'm exhausted. All this on 2.5 hours of sleep and nothing to eat since 11am. I don't know where the energy came from.
Definitely a good aikido night :)

Liz