My First Day at Judo
“Please take your shoes off before entering,” is written on the sign of the door. I remove my shoes, inhale deeply, and then unsteadily open the door. I look over to the mats and see everyone dressed in a uniform- which is called a gi but I didn’t know that at the time- and realize that I am going to look odd working out in gym shorts and a tank top.
A man with a black belt recognizes my flushed face and comes over to offer help. He walks me over to the back, shuffles through a couple of gis, and then says, “Here you go; this should fit.”
As I put on the put on the gi, I realize that I have no idea how to tie my belt so I tie it like a shoelace (two bunny ears). Dudi laughs and then fixes it for me. Together, we bow before entering the mat.
***
Seven months ago I walked onto the mat for the first time at Kano Martial Arts. As a boxing instructor, I wanted to continue learning martial arts, but I wanted to learn what to do on the ground- I could handle myself with my hands but what if I was outside and it was cold and I couldn’t use my hands, then what? I thought.
Jiu jitsu has become so popular in the United States and I wanted to know what it was all about. I went in thinking that competing would be great, but my main focus was on learning as much as I can and becoming a better coach.
In New York City, Renzo Gracie is probably the most well known jiu-jitsu school. Their coach John Danaher is known as one of the highest level jiu-jistu coaches in the world. Of course I wanted to train under him. But since he was already so popular I figured there were going to be so many people at his classes that I would just get lost in the mix.
A colleague mentioned that there was a new school opening up very close to Renzo’s and the head coach was a Danaher Jiu Jitsu black belt. She called him “Judo Garry.” I figured there wouldn’t be many people at classes in the beginning because it was so new, so I would get close to 1 on 1 attention. And if it wasn’t instruction from Danaher, then it was the next best thing. Also, I would get to see what it was like to start and grow a gym in New York City, which could be a future option for me. It was a perfect situation.
Since June 1st 2019, I have trained 4/5x a week consistently, only taking a hiatus in December to nurse an injury. Every day I jotted down notes on at least one lesson learned from class.
I am going back into my archives and publishing one lesson a day. Some classes there was more details than others. Some classes there was just one small thing. And some classes there is just a moral lesson. My plan is to share at least one lesson a day.
The first lesson I wrote down in my notes was the details of an arm bar on June 13th, 2019: the right knee goes into the Uke’s (Japanese word for partner you are practicing on) armpit, left leg goes over the Uke’s head (wrapped tightly), knees squeeze together, and hips go up to the sky. And then you finish the arm bar.
