i get the same feeling with my Judo club. the instructors feel so compelled to get us into randori before we even understand or are competent at the throw. Not enough drilling for lower belts i think. Same thing with BJJ. ive always been thrown into the works before learning the techniques. and instead of spending an entire class or two trying to understand one throw or technique, we learn several, get confused and get thrown into randori. there are enough instructors and lower belt students to split the class. On one hand. i understand the point. you cant learn to apply the throw properly like you can in randori, but i think the focus shoulld be on the technique first, then the application. and partly im grateful cos i have pretty slippery "floppy" unorthodox groundwork technique applications (some really odd ways to escape mount and prevent passes), but i also know that theres massive gaps in my understanding because i didnt drill the basic enough when i first started. You dont start to spar in boxing till you can throw a good punch.
This can be a basic weakness in any style. I've trained both ways and can attest that you're onto something here.
Even better... combine the two appraoches - use live practice to work and develop specific technique. #cough# :love::heart:I-method:heart::love:#cough#
whats up with Glasgow uni's club freeform if you dont mind me asking, never trained there just curious, iv only ever been told its a small but pretty ok club.
as a 17 year old beginner I was going to jump all over this but when I think about it your actually right lol, you kind of have to claw your way into judo clubs and not many people get past the floating in and out every few weeks for a few months stage. also reading this thread Im having a real hard time remembering if I was ever taken a side and taught to break fall like most of you are advocating. it wasn't till I'd been going every week for around two months till an old 4th dan, someone I still consider one of the scariest people to be thrown by to this day (moves like a ghost, throws with the impact of a freight train and has no qualms about letting you feel some pain during randori), but one of the best teacher's I'v ever came across in anything just spent a session doing exercises and drills which effectivlly involved him throwing me hard over and over again till I eventually started break falling properly, I had been shown how to slap the mat before this but effectively I had to put the time in and show I was serious before being given the instructors time to be properly taught how to do it, pretty much like moi and freeform alluded to at the beginning of the thread.
I have no idea of knowing what your class is like but in a way it could be argued this is exactly what makes Judo and BJJ as strong and effective as they are.
I can't find my original comment so don't know what I was talking about! When I was doing Judo at Uni (Heriot Watt over 7/8 years ago) Glasgow uni were a strong club, due partly to their heavy wrestling influence from their wrestling club.
Yeh as i said. on one hand its great for the development of personal style. on the other id really like to just drill the same thing for an hour to 2 hours then do randori. not drill 4 or 5 things for a few minutes.
