Undercover - In China - Book 7

Part 10 - Crash Rolls

Miguel reminded me about Mr Takeda judo lessons in the gym where we kicked off our shoes and socks and put on heavy cotton jackets. Most of us tied white belts around our waists but Licia wore an orange belt indicating that she was not a beginner.

Mr Takeda was a small man of Japanese descent who taught judo (the Japanese self defence art) once a month at Silverwood School but Licia was also a member of his judo club. He was wearing the same type of wrap-around jacket but his belt was black. We lined up along the edge of the mats.

 'Today,' he boomed, 'we start with gentle warm up exercise.' 

 Gentle? I conserved my energy for twenty jumps and thirty sit-ups and I was ready to collapse when Mr Takeda called for ten push-ups. Finally, the torture stopped and we all lay on the mats exhausted. Mr Takeda grinned sadistically. 

 'Small improvement. Now, line up for crash roll practice.'

Mr Takeda demonstrated. He sprinted toward a mat and launched himself into a horizontal dive. It looked like he would slide along the floor on his face but, at the last milli-second, he twisted into a sideways roll and was back on his feet in one motion. We practised this from a squatting position, placing the our right forearms on the mat palm down and then putting the palm of the left hand in line with the right hand - both hands pointing in the same direction - and rolling forward onto the back of the right shoulder and across to the left shoulder.

 'Only back of shoulders should touch floor,' Mr Takeda shouted. 'Keep chin on chest! Head and lower back must not touch mat.'

 When everyone had mastered this from a squat, we tried from a standing position and then from a running dive. 'Make sure arms are above your head. And tuck chins tightly against chests,' Mr Takeda bellowed. 'Hands must point the same way. Roll across top of shoulders from right shoulder to left. Left handed people can try other way around.'

We spent most of the lesson practising the crash rolls until even the most uncoordinated student could dive into it without serious injury. Then we tried breaking a sideways fall by hitting the floor hard with a hand and forearm. Two bruised elbows later, I concluded mass times velocity squared produced an equal reaction and timing was essential. Falling sideways required lots of practice. Crash rolls were easier.