Checkmate Self Defense

Marko and Noelle tested for judo promotion on Friday and Saturday.

Congratulations to both of you on receiving recognition of your Judo progress from Sensei Leigh.

• Marko promoted to green belt
• Noelle promoted to yellow belt

Sensei Pat (and dojo image king)

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Chip, Tim and I had the Adult Judo Class to ourselves tonight, so we spent the entire class taking turns doing fit-ins and throws.

Sensei Leigh took a quick break from the kids class and got in a few throws on each of us (Osoto-Garuma, Hane-Goshi and a sweet Seionage variation).

I am always pleasantly worn-out after a workout like tonights.

Thanks Judoka!

A few photos from the 2010 Wildcat Shia

Here’s a link to Sensei Leigh’s post with the list of winners.

The image king left a camera battery at home in the charger… Hence the minimalist galery If anyone has any images they’d like added to the gallery just get them to me and I’ll make sure they get posted!

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Pat (as dojo image king)

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Amber’s jujistu yellow belt test was Thursday the 15th of April.  Great job!

Congratualations Amber on receiving your jujitsu yellow belt from Sensei Leigh. Nice job this evening. Here are a few highlights from the test.

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Pat (as dojo image king)

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Congratulations to Matt Lawton, who was promoted to Judo yellow belt last Friday.  It was probably the most grueling yellow belt test, judo or jujitsu, that I’ve seen! (Thank you Sensei Leigh!)

Matt demonstrated a tremendous capacity to thrive when pushed to his physical and mental limits. Matt illustrated the Jigoro Kano maxim “When you fall down 7 times, get up 8 times.”*

It may seem like its been a slow slog to get to this point. Seen  from my vantage,  his grit and tenacity have served him well, and he is building a solid foundation for the long journey towards martial arts mastery.

It’s been my pleasure to work with him and watch his steady improvement over the past few months.

Thanks Matt!

Sensei Pat

* I still have a hard time with this one. Maybe one of these days I’ll understand. Until then, I’ll continue to use my over-simplified… “Keep getting up”