Just got back from randori with the Budolin brothers, who are visiting from Estonia for a week. They’re a marvelous two man team. Alexsi is about my size – except in the “won a bronze medal in the Sydney Olympics,” sort of shape. He’s the talker, and he’s also the coach of the Estonian national Judo team. His brother, Dimitri is the bigger, quiet one. My first thought on seeing him was “great, they brought a tank.” After working with him, I’ve modified my opinion: They brought a fast tank.
Sunday was the seminar, where we spent four hours learning material from them and another hour of randori. Today was a smaller group (only my club) and all randori. The nice part about randori is that you’re not actually competing – you’re training. People work techniques and play at a vigorous but respectful pace.
We worked out for about two hours, and I wound up going a round with each of them. Working with Alexi was like being a mouse being trained by a cat in how to avoid and counter cats. I may be in good shape – but that’s something else again. Working with Dimitri – well – fortunately for me he has great control. I have no idea how someone that big can also be faster than me.
I dig judo. It’s a small and close knit world community – such that I actually get to play current, active olympic medalists. What did you do today?
