Teaching judo in Sioux Falls, SD

I made arrangements with Brad Walker, the head instructor at the Dakota Budokan to conduct a judo seminar on Tuesday evening, on the trip to Rochester.  The Dakota Budokan is in Sioux Falls, SD. 

It was not a regular practice night for judo and it was really heartening to see 14 adults on the mat. Brad sensei warmed up his students and went through an impressive sequence of falling drills... his students, from yellow-belt on up, had very respectable falling skills.  I spent 45 minutes teaching a throwing drill from the Zen Judo syllabus. I spent the second hour teaching half a dozen throwing techniques.

I set a folding chair next to the mat with my oxygen machine at the ready and after each teaching segment I would sit down and hook myself up. From the seated position I could see the entire mat and would call over students so I could make adjustments to their movement patterns.

While the short teaching sequences followed by longer times sitting worked well, I found that this evening I was extremely short of breath, more so than my previous seminar in Bismarck in September (Judo is a great gauge of my physical health because I have been doing it for so long that I know what my energy expenditure should be... and I am getting weaker and my breathing worse.)

I want to thank the people at Dakota Budokan for their incredible hospitality and their eagerness to learn. It was a great pleasure working with them.  Brad sensei, it was a pleasure meeting you and I hope that we can get together again soon.

In judo,

Vern