All I know is that I know nothing... or do I?

Sometimes I come out of my classes thinking that I am the Judo King. I tend to talk like I know everything - which is a mixed blessing. I had been getting progressively better in Ne-Waza and specifically in escapes. But then my Sensei, who is twice my age and at least 15-20 lbs lighter than me, held me down for almost a minute and I couldn't get up. Granted, he has been doing this all of his life and is a Sixth Degree Black-Belt, but still, I didn't even get him to budge. (At least he had to work to hold me down, with some of my classmates, he will sometimes pose as if he is lounging while holding them down to motivate them).

There is also a green belt in my class who is really good. Part of this, I'm sure is do to his extensive experience in TKD and other arts. We were in Randori and he tried using one of my favorite counters, Tani Otoshi, but he couldn't quite land it. He asked me to allow him to practice it on me, and he had the gist of it, but it wasn't quite working. So I decided to demonstrate it to him. Boom - he came down with an ippon-worthy slap.

I guess that being a brown belt means knowing enough to be competitive, but nowhere near enough to be considered an expert.

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The Road to Nidan

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