Teaching by the Book

I was thinking about what to teach today and then it occurred to me, hey, I wrote a book. I could use something from that!

One of the things Jim and I argued about (besides everything) when writing our book - Winning on the Ground  - was whether or not it should have techniques and drills for beginners, and if so, how much.

As with everything, it was kind of a compromise, but unlike some compromises, it came out for the better. There's nothing on how to tie your belt, bow or fall. There are, however, plenty of techniques and drills (mostly written by me) that are for people who are beginning - as in, had at most a few months of lessons - and plenty of techniques and drills (mostly written by Jim) which are much more advanced.

We finally agreed that
a.) Even extremely experienced players sometimes make basic mistakes and get caught,
b.) Everyone needs to drill the basics. I ask my kids class "Don't you think Michael Jordan does free throws?" but now I am getting so old and out of touch, most of them don't know who he is and I will have to come up with a new analogy.
c.) Many of those more advanced moves stem from the basics.  So, you learn steps 1 to 6 when you are in judo for a year or two and then when you move into more advanced competition, you learn steps 7 to 12 to add on to it.

So,
For a) we are doing the help 'em up drill at practice today.
For b) we are going to be drilling your favorite throw, whatever it happens to be, straight into a pin, and
For c) we are doing the Collect the Arm drill into a pin, into an arm bar. It is a little bit advanced but these kids have been doing judo since September, so I think they will get it okay. Yes, they'll look a little raw, but hey, they're new at it.

The collect the arm drill we're doing is going to go from pin to arm bar. You can also go from the collect the arm to pin to punching. That had nothing to do with anything, I just like to tease Crystal about that picture. That move IS in our book, by the way.

A client of mine, who has nothing to do with judo, saw that picture on my screen and said,

"It looks like a judo race riot."

I told her,

Oh, no, those are our friends. We've known Crystal and her family since our youngest kids were babies.

She just shook her head and said,

"Holy shit, I'd hate to see what you people do to anyone you DON'T like!"

Since I know you are dying to know .... you can buy our book
for the Kindle, here
the Nook, here or
Sony or other ereaders, here

You can get it in the iTunes store, too. And it comes out on paperback in March, those of you into dead tree media can order it in paper back from Black Belt here 

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