I expect more from myself, now that I am sankyu. On Saturday we were doing a katate dori into a standing kaiten-nage. Once again, I did not take the first circular move of my hands down far enough; I wasn't getting uke down. That's why it was so difficult getting uke's arm over the top and his body into the forward roll. Once sensei reminded me, I improved immediately and things quickly improved.
Later, our chief sensei grabbed me to do ukemi on a henka-waza technique that started in an uchi-style sankyo, that moved into a kokyu-nage throw. He was going to use me to demonstrate to the rest of the class, which is always an honor. I even did three break falls on my ukemi, which for me was great.
I realized recently that I will be able to do all these moves again, but it's going to take me longer to get there. Take those break falls, for example: I often land full body on the mat, which is hard on my body. Saturday's break falls were different, mostly. On my first and last, I felt myself go over, I extended my arm, and felt my hand slap the mat before my legs hit. That was pretty good, I thought. I was also able to get up off the mat without too many after-effects. Carlos, a first kyu, who is good enough to be a shodan, said he was impressed by the break fall I took in front of the class. I felt pretty good about that, considering my old-man body.
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