By Thor and Agnes Schwartz, Member until 2015

I attended the course together with my son Thor, who, however, believed that he could both fall to one side and the other and roll forwards and backwards.

We were about 30 people, including many Jokokids.

The course included theory, demonstration, sore toes and nausea on and off

Søren and Brian Renshi-Dai were the course instructors and opened with a bit of theory.

• Why do we have to learn to fall?
• Is it optimal to let yourself fall?
• When do we use a fall?

Is it when we crash on the bike or trip over the firewood stack.

We were promised some good examples of why it was good to learn ukemi, but first we had to do some training.

Forward roll fall: Down on your knees which should form a 900 angle. Roll up, look under your back leg, at the same time the front arm/hand must go under the back leg and if we wanted to support with the other hand we had to. So, now we could do the roll drop, but only 20 %. This is where it got difficult!

Yame, yame was shouted.

Why is the bench biter so good at rolling? This is where the children came to the rescue.

“They can roll up COMPLETELY”

Backward roll fall: Here we also had to search down. But now we had to think differently. First down to sit, chin down to the opposite side of the front leg, arms in front of you and now we have to roll backwards. But you also had to think about your front leg, it should not be vertically up but pulled over you - otherwise we would roll crookedly.

Then stand up, but do not use your hands for help. This is where your center of gravity came into play.

Yam, yam! Why do we roll crookedly? Again the children came to the field.

"Because you don't have control over your body".

Side dip: Squat. The right leg is slowly stretched out to the left and you will discover that you are slowly falling down to the right.

The same way is repeated with opposite legs.

All in 20 % and preferably with Kiai.

Falling forward: Søren and Brian Renshi-Dai showed it many times. It was shared by Brian Renshi-Dai. Squat down, kick your legs back and you will land on the point directly in front of you with your arms in a "triangle" in front of you. Remember to look to the side so your nose stays nice.

Yame called Soren Renshi-Dai. Isn't it a gunshot (that's what he said)?

Yes, was the answer.

Do you know why?

It's because you don't listen, whereupon he parodied us, making everyone laugh and laugh.

Then Brian told Renshi-Dai that he had needed that very fall once when he was walking in his garden with some firewood in his arms. He showed how he walked and VUPTI he did a standing forward fall. Wow, there must have been a gasp or two.

Backward fall: Squat, find your center of gravity, push your hips forward and your knees down. Now you land on the upper part of the back, the arms slightly out from the body and the hips shot up. All in 20%.

Side fall with partner: It was about trust, but you quickly got brave and made some huge runs and huge jumps. Søren Renshi-Dai also asked about this, when we might as well search down. 20%

Then it was 21:00 and time for the weekend.

Thank you for an entertaining and educational course!.