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How do you say Nachas in Japanese?

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Nachas, is a Yiddish word which loosely translated means 'parental pride'. What relevance does this have to Judo? Well, yesterday my oldest took his first Judo lesson, and I have enough Nachas to fill a size 8 Judo Gi!

In the picture at right, my Sensei is teaching my son how to grip, as a precursor to learning O-Soto-Gari. I was such a happy dad yesterday, as he put on his gi and started to learn. While he showed moments of frustration (i.e. when he didn't get the throw concept right away, or when he lost in Sumo wrestling), there were enough bright spots - a couple of sumo wins, 'throwing' sensei, and even a 'win' in Randori (thanks to a very nice orange belt).

The highlight for me was him using Ko-Soto-Gake in Randori, even though he was only taught O-Soto, O-Goshi, and Ippon Seoinage!

Originally, I was concerned that he wouldn't enjoy it, or that he wouldn't stay focused for a two-hour class. He has attention issues (yes, all 5 year-olds, especially boys, have attention issues, but his are a bit more pronounced), and I worried that he wouldn't even make it through the first class. But my fears were quickly allayed by the smile on his face, and how he quickly made friends with the other boys and girl (just one of them) in his group.

Now my biggest fear isn't so much that he'll like it so much that he'll use it against his little brother - or worse, in school. I think I need to have the 'Judo is for the Dojo' talk with him.
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Andy said…
Great photo! I liked this so much I linked to it from my JudoNotes blog.
9/18/2007
Unknown said…
Careful how you bad mouth size eight gis there buddy! :P

Just kidding, I'm only 5.5. LOL.

Nice photo...hopefully he sticks with it.
9/18/2007
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