Judo again

9/20/08 - told you I was behind on posting!
This was my third judo lesson. We reviewed deashi barai and kosotogari. We also went over a variation of deashi, with a later timing. The new technique today was osotogari (big outside reap).
Things for me to remember:
1) during the sweep, legs connect at the back of both knees.
2) pull with right hand slightly before left hand.
3) left hand pulls uke’s elbow to naval.
4) Generally, when there’s an opportunity for osotogari, either person can do it. Usually the person who recognizes it first gets the throw.
5) If you can get uke’s elbow to your naval, it’s very hard for him to recover.
6) use the pull to help throw your leg into place for the sweep.
7) the throw can actually be done without the leg if the hands are right, even though it’s a leg technique. Just lean your chest toward the ground once you’ve pulled him in.

We went over the following principles as well:
1) pushing too much on the “bump” (kuzushi) actually helps uke step back and maintain balance.
2) 3 feet in a line. Whenever you find 3 feet in a line, somebody has a good chance of going down – it’s an unstable structure. You also have opportunity when one of your feet is perpendicular to the line formed by uke’s feet. Learn to recognize when 3 feet line up. This has been pretty difficult for my to recognize on-the-fly. Time will improve that, I think.