UKEMI'S IMPORTANCE

 by Phillip Starr

In speaking with an old student, I learned that he was attending regular “meet-ups” of various martial arts practitioners who all practice together in an effort to improve their skills outside of class. This is a wonderful idea but my student made one important observation; NONE of the other participants knew how to breakfall. Only when they ventured to a local kenjutsu school (that also included traditional jujutsu in their training) was he able to practice the various forms of throwing and takedowns that he had learned from me.

I think the absence of proper ukemi (breakfalling) training in many martial arts schools is most unfortunate. I remember my early days as a young boy when I was so excited to begin learning the exotic Eastern martial at of judo. We spent the first lessons practicing various forms of breakfalls and for me at that age, it was great fun! But as I got older, I realized the importance of learning ukemi (at any age) and it had a lot more importance that just being fun...

In learning how to fall correctly, we are doing much more than we think. We're overcoming, little by little, one of the most fundamental human fears (it may, in fact, be THE most fundamental human fear); that of FALLING. From childhood, we learn to fear this thing (usually because we've taken a few nasty spills) and as we get older, the fear grows...unless we do something about it.

A good and caring instructor is necessary. I have always (and still do) teach breakfalls to new students “from the ground up.” They begin in a supine position and gradually work their way up to beginning from a sitting position (on the floor), a squat, and so on. Children generally LOVE the rolling techniques and we make a game of it. I was very fortunate in developing this skill when I was still quite young. It is useful not only for the practice of martial arts, but for daily life as well.

Ukemi is a tremendous confidence booster. When a child or an adult learns how to do them properly, they feel very much empowered! Their confidence, their belief in themselves and their ability to overcome obstacles soars! This impacts not only their martial skills, but their daily lives as well. If you've never learned proper ukemi, I implore you to do so as soon as possible. It WILL make a difference!