JudoMom, are you around? (Or anyone else who is familiar with Judo)

[NanceXToo]

My 10 y/o daughter started Youth Judo today at the Y. Since it was her first class and she was the only new student, someone took her aside (a young woman with a brown belt) to work on falls and rolls on the mats while the other kids had their regular class with the sensei.

 

From what I saw (not knowing much about Judo or any other martial art myself!) it looked like she was doing just fine. (I watched part of the class and went out into the Y gym to walk on the treadmill for part of the class, so I didn't see it all).

 

At the end, I asked how she did for her first class, and they said fine, that she's not afraid to hit the mat, that she did well with everything, and that she just has to work more on her side falls.

 

As we were driving home, my daughter said that the side falls hurt. I said what/where did it hurt and she said "the whole side that I was falling on, and my head."

 

I asked if she told the instructor that, and she said yes. I asked what the instructor said, and she said "She said I have to keep practicing."

 

She did say the instructor told her that she WAS doing them right, so it didn't seem to be a matter of falling incorrectly.

 

My question is, is this normal? She basically worked on this for the whole hour of the class. Is it pretty common that it might hurt a bit in the beginning while she practices and gets used to doing it...?

 

TIA!

[Hannah C.]

I did judo from age 11 to age 14, on and off. I remember falls hurting when I first started them -- you're still falling after all. I especially remember my arm hurting from slapping the mat like you're supposed to. My hips would also hurt. I think that's normal. I'd be a bit more concerned about her *head* hurting - if she's falling right, her head should not be touching the mat. I remember my *neck* hurting pretty badly though, from the strain of keeping my chin tucked.

 

From what I remember, it'll go away or become less as she keeps practicing. Falling for an hour would make anyone sore, I think!

[NanceXToo]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Hannah!

[NanceXToo]

Today my daughter is really complaining about her neck hurting her. She just came over all teary saying her neck hurts and she doesn't want to go back to Judo now.

 

I just gave her a couple of kid's tylenol tablets and told her to take it easy today, I hope nothing really got injured or anything :(

[Ray]

Judo is excellent, but coaching quality is not guaranteed with a belt color. Here is a link http://judoinfo.com/ukemi.htm

[Moniksca]

My son started judo this year and from what I see if they're falling properly they should be holding up their heads as they do it so it doesn't hit the mat. My friend who has a brown belt and now helps teach the class ds attends says that when she started (just got brown belt at the age of 40) every muscle ached because she wasn't used to using those muscles. Her neck and side muscles were strained but says it gets better with practice.

Whenever ds had issues with moves in the class we worked on them at home on the bed.