How do I teach shoulder rolls??

[KyungYet]

Hello, my grappling/throwing brethren =)

I am a Tang Soo Do instructor and I wanted your help... I always have the worst time teaching forward and backward shoulder rolls to my students! It seems like some of them just automatically "get it" and the others spend the entire time rolling sideways or doing somersaults and nothing I do seems to help them at all. I tell them stuff like "throw your right arm in between your legs towards your left ankle" and for the real befuddled ones "tilt your ear against your shoulder, lay your neck on the ground, and push off over your shoulder." I dunno, it's my fault for being a stand-up fighter... I can DO shoulder rolls but I guess I don't have a brilliant way to clarify them for others.

Do you? Surely you must. Please help me out - I'm going to try teaching them again this Wednesday!!

Thanks in advance for saving my butt,

KY =)

[Nidan Melbourne]

Forward rolls - get them to crouch down, and if they want to roll over their right shoulder tell them to tilt their head to their left shoulder. So they can go over their shoulder. And similar going backwards.

Unless someone more experienced can tell me otherwise

[Lupin1]

If they're smaller kids, my Judo instructors would just have them do rolls from kneeling and then grab their belt with one hand and their sleeve up by the shoulder with the other hand and as they roll, guide them where they need to be (which usually involved picking them up by their belt and shoulder and tipping them over.

Since I'm a little big to do that with (though I have been picked up by the belt once or twice), a hint that was helpful for me, rather than focusing on the placement of the upper body (after you get safe positioning of the head and hands, of course), is to concentrate on the feet. Start with live toes so you can push off nice and strong and then picture trying to kick the wall directly in front of you as you roll. This gets your legs going straight over your head rather than off to the side.

Finally, stress the courage thing. Shoulder rolls are all or nothing-- you have to be committed to do them right. If you don't go for it 100%, you end up going sideways. They're actually a great way to test yourself and build confidence. Do you have what it takes to commit 100% to throwing yourself head over heels?

[Harkon72]

My forward rolls tend to follow the pattern of putting my tricep to the floor with my head tucked in then having a contact between my lead shoulder and a line from there to the opposite hip. In my brief Ju Jitsu spell I was taught to raise up and face the way I had come, as if to be ready to counter an attack from the direction from which the roll was executed. I believe they do the opposite in Judo, they carry on in the same direction and do not turn and face. I suppose this is because the roll in Ju Jitsu has a direct self defense application.

[tallgeese]

Good ideas presented so far. For me, in teaching rolls I start on the knees and work with the forward roll for a time. I actually have fresh new people put their arm that they are going to roll over between their legs. I then have them put that ear to the mag. Then I have them place that shoulder on the floor.

I explain that they should feel the mat run from that shoulder to the opposite hip. Then I have them push themselves over. It' will get botched a bit for a time, but the slower pace and step by step seems to build pretty quickly to a fluid motion.

[bushido_man96]

My forward rolls tend to follow the pattern of putting my tricep to the floor with my head tucked in then having a contact between my lead shoulder and a line from there to the opposite hip. In my brief Ju Jitsu spell I was taught to raise up and face the way I had come, as if to be ready to counter an attack from the direction from which the roll was executed. I believe they do the opposite in Judo, they carry on in the same direction and do not turn and face. I suppose this is because the roll in Ju Jitsu has a direct self defense application.

This is along the lines I was thinking, but I don't think I could say it this well.

Start out low to the ground, start from a squat position, and then work up to doing it from kneeling, then from standing. It takes time, but it will come.

I think some instructors will have students wrap themselves around a ball of some kind, like maybe one of those bigger balance balls, and pratice that way a little, but I've never done it that way.

[KyungYet]

Thank you so much for your help, everyone! I will try out your tricks, they'll definitely be a help. Much appreciated! =) I'll let you know how it goes...

[bushido_man96]

I have a book called Aikido Exercises for Teaching and Training, by C.M. Shifflett. It has some good ideas on learning to roll, and Aikidokas are some of the best at it.

It might be worth a look for you.