The STUPID drill!

There is this flow drill that we do that we affectionately call "The STUPID drill!"  There is a story there.

The drill that I'm talking about involves  release#4 into a backwards kotegaeshi that is done as a control behind uke's shoulder instead of a throw.  If uke pushes out of kotegaeshi, he gets kotehineri.  If he puts his other arm into the grinder(i.e. punches or grabs with the free hand) then he gets the same treatment on the other arm.  Plus, as icing, there is a shomenate or gyakugamaeate that can be added before and after each hand change or step.  It's a lot like dribbling a ball named "uke."

Anyway, one of our instructors some years back got on the kick of making his classes do this exercise for a few minutes each class.  It became so repetitious that one of the students finally exclaimed, "Not this STUPID drill again!? Can't we do something else?  ANYTHING else!" To which the instructor replied, "No, shut up and do the drill some more."

Well, it turns out that this same student came back the next week and exclaimed, "This stuff really works!  I got jumped by this big monsterous coal miner named Mongo with wrists as big as my thighs and he went to grab me and I was behind him holding kotegaeshi, and he went to punch at me and all of a sudden I was behind him again!  and he turned towards me again and I was behind him and he sat down!  This thing aint so stupid after all!  Mongo couldn't even touch me!"

To which the instructor responded, "Shut up and do the drill some more."

We have thenceforth called this exercise, "The STUPID Drill!"

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com