I need a little advice, or maybe just an encouraging word;
I've just gotten the orange belt in Judo (in DK), after training for 1.5 years. I had a long break after breaking my arm in competition last november (got thrown on outstretched arm, still don't know how it could have happened), and also a break of about 2 months during the exam period. I have this friend who started not long after me and became my primary sparring partner, and I used to dominate him in randori's, almost always throwing him 3-4 times while he struggled to get a throw in. He's still a white belt, and weighs less than me. However, after these two breaks, he's suddenly loads better than me. Recently he threw me maybe 9-10 times, and I simply couldn't even put him off balance. My club is what you'd call top-heavy, with mostly black and brown belts, and the few other beginners are too light/weak/female to be worth fighting, because I can overpower their often superior technique with strength. I'm the worst fighter in my club right now, and it's pretty humiliating.
Anyway, the purpose of this litany is not to wallow in selfpity, but to figure out how to get back on track. I am aware of the things I have to work on; timing, kuzushi, and combinations. I have good strength, but I can't use it. I was having a randori with this guest blackbelt, and he stopped me in the middle of it, to show me bloody osoto gari, and he was right, I was doing it all wrong; I didn't put his weight on the leg I wanted to sweep, and my timing was horrible - but at graduation last week, I did it perfect. A 3rd dan coach actually praised me for good technique. It seems that my technique in nage-komi is pretty good, but I just can't for the life of me use it properly in randori. When I ask my coaches to train these things, they respond with "this stuff comes with experience, you need to get better all over, etc."
All in all, I'm tired of not having thrown anyone in randori for the past two months, and I want to do something about it, but I don't know how. I used to be a promising student, but that seems to have faded away.
I've just gotten the orange belt in Judo (in DK), after training for 1.5 years. I had a long break after breaking my arm in competition last november (got thrown on outstretched arm, still don't know how it could have happened), and also a break of about 2 months during the exam period. I have this friend who started not long after me and became my primary sparring partner, and I used to dominate him in randori's, almost always throwing him 3-4 times while he struggled to get a throw in. He's still a white belt, and weighs less than me. However, after these two breaks, he's suddenly loads better than me. Recently he threw me maybe 9-10 times, and I simply couldn't even put him off balance. My club is what you'd call top-heavy, with mostly black and brown belts, and the few other beginners are too light/weak/female to be worth fighting, because I can overpower their often superior technique with strength. I'm the worst fighter in my club right now, and it's pretty humiliating.
Anyway, the purpose of this litany is not to wallow in selfpity, but to figure out how to get back on track. I am aware of the things I have to work on; timing, kuzushi, and combinations. I have good strength, but I can't use it. I was having a randori with this guest blackbelt, and he stopped me in the middle of it, to show me bloody osoto gari, and he was right, I was doing it all wrong; I didn't put his weight on the leg I wanted to sweep, and my timing was horrible - but at graduation last week, I did it perfect. A 3rd dan coach actually praised me for good technique. It seems that my technique in nage-komi is pretty good, but I just can't for the life of me use it properly in randori. When I ask my coaches to train these things, they respond with "this stuff comes with experience, you need to get better all over, etc."
All in all, I'm tired of not having thrown anyone in randori for the past two months, and I want to do something about it, but I don't know how. I used to be a promising student, but that seems to have faded away.