Teacher's pet

Yamada-sensei taught Sunday morning's class. As usual, the dojo just fills up whenever a shihan is teaching.

We did several sumi otoshi-type throws, mostly tenkan and across the body. Jenny and I were in a pretty "heavy" group and as soon as she saw the throw, she said to me, "Oh, I can't do that!"

"Yes you can," I told her, "just follow. It's actually easier than most other break falls as you are guided the whole way." She gulped and marched up to a particularly strong nage (as I hoped he wouldn't make a liar out of me) and took the ukemi with ease. You go girl.

When it was her turn, she was getting preoccupied with grabbing uke's arm, though that's the least important part. Chuck stopped her and showed her to use her center rather than her upper body to make the throw. No sooner had he done so, when Yamada-sensei stopped the class to point out the very same thing. I though that a coincidence, but after his demonstration, he walked by our group and said to Jenny, "OK?" Hmm. Teacher's pet again. Haha.