Nine year old Jackson has only been doing judo for a few weeks and already has a decent seoinage. He always has fun in class, works hard and listens well. He also makes adjustments – if I make suggestions to improve his judo, he can usually incorporate those changes pretty quickly in randori (randori is equivalent to sparring, rolling, or going live).
As you can see, he’s also very aggressive, reaching out to grab my sleeve every time and immediately going for his favorite seoinage throw.
Aggression is very important in the beginning stages of judo randori. By aggression I don’t mean that one should be rough or rude with your training partners. I mean just what Jackson is displaying here: constant attempts to throw without worrying about whether or not you will be countered. This is the best way to learn quickly, by constantly trying techniques and attacks during randori, throwing a lot, and getting thrown a lot. If your primary concern is not being thrown, your progress will be very slow.
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