Hi-ya!

So the boys started taking Judo last night. And yes I now know that in Judo there's is no yelling of Hi-ya! I am no martial arts expert. That is for sure! But I did learn that much.

The boys watched Karate Kid awhile ago and have been begging to take karate ever since. Do you know how hard it is to find a karate class that is just once a week for 6-8 weeks AND doesn't break the bank?!?!?! Kind of hard let me tell you. Most martial arts places want a 2-3 times a week commitment. Which if this is the boys passion then fine, but who knows if it is! They have never tried it before! I just wanted some class to give them a little taste of some form of martial arts. And luckily I found one at the local community center! WOOT!!! And what is better they have several different kinds of martial arts available. Super excited. The boys have already planned their next class after this one.

Tonight the boys started out with learning about respect and bowing both when they get on and off of the mat. Oh and to clarify who is who- Alex is in blue, Josh is in neon green and Zach is in gray.

Then they started stretching...
It's funny to watch kids stretch. They take it very seriously and do it wrong most of the time. They did some push ups. Ten to be exact and the instructor would count in Japanese while doing them...

Look at the little boy by Zach. Just laying there. Who could blame him? That is exactly what I would have wanted to do!! I HATE push ups!! I know they are great for you but I HATE push ups!! Anyway that kid cracked me up all night. He definitely had a mind of his own!

The next thing they learned was how to fall.

To me it looked like a fancy somersault where you keep your head up and slap the mat. Again I am no martial arts expert. The Sensei (is that what they call the instructor in Judo) went into GREAT detail with everything they did. He would go on and on and on about things going off on tangents. Matt said it is necessary because when they take their test they need to know the whys too. I was in information overload. The instructor was very thorough!

After somersaulting...I mean learning how to fall, they went into their first move. Something about sweeping their leg behind their opponent and making him/her fall backwards. The boys loved that!

A boy named Edward (who cracked me up the whole time- he was NOT amused and looked completely bored the whole class) got to show the boys how to do it. So he got to knock them all down. You would think that would make him smile. Nope he was all ho hum about it. Like he does this all the time.
And then the table turned and the boys got to knock Edward down...
My boys were all smiles. Edward was still not amused. They did this for just over an hour and loved every minute of it!! They can't wait to do it again. They are counting the days until next Tuesday!! And I am so glad that we found this class because the boys are already asking to do other things too. They love Judo but seem to want to do it all!

FYI The Judo instructor is called a Kyoshi. Matt googled it for me. :)