Judo

As I said, I'm learning Judo at the police station as my Community Involvement Project, and I went to my first lesson on Friday night. The kids' class was still finishing up when I arrived, and as the only white person in the room, I was a bit of a distraction. But anything distracts little kids, so no big deal.

I exchanged business cards (which I now have) with the head instructor, and went into the back to change. I was much more of a distraction when I emerged with the Judo gi and white belt. Once the kids' class dismissed, I went to talk to the sensei, and a group of about fifteen little gi-clad kids crowded around to see what I had to say. I apparently hadn't tied my belt satisfactorily, as the sensei tightened it up for me, much to the amusement of the children. A couple of them asked, in English, "What is your name?" I gave them the English pronunciation of my name, rather than the Japanified "Kebin," so that I could laugh at their inability to pronounce the letter "v" and thus get revenge for the belt thing.

Then practice started. Much to my not-at-all-surprise, I was physically incapable of some of the warm-up excercizes, which included things rolling backwards and, rather than just completing the roll-through and standing up, pushing oneself up into a handstand midway through the roll.

After that, rather than practicing throws and groundwork like everyone else, I spent the entire class being taught ukemi by one of the instructors. Ukemi is the technique Judo practicioners use to minimize the chance of injury when being thrown or otherwise falling. Here's a video of someone demonstrating it. Except I didn't get to do the thing where you roll forward and land. Watch carefully the part where he lands and slaps the mat. That's really all I did. I'd slap one side, stick my arms and legs straight up into the air, and slap the other side. They do this in the children's class every day, but the sight of a 200 lb. American man flopping around ineptly may have been a new one for the sensei, who actually laughed at me on several occasions.

Any you know what? I'm sore. I'm sore from flopping around on the mat. I can't wait until they start actually throwing me onto it.