Spillover: I am a big believer in the notion of spillover, where changes in one area can create changes others. One of the biggest problems beginning students face is learning to overcome the natural instinct to wrestle mostly with their arms and shoulders and learn to wrestle predominantly with their legs and hips. One of the very best means of doing this is to strongly emphasize the use of sankaku (triangle) in their daily training. Learning sankaku requires them to use their legs with dexterity and precision. The attributes required for success with sankaku cross over into so many other skills in the sport that soon I notice increased use, effectiveness and confidence in the students with regards their leg work in the sport. As such I constantly work sankaku skills into their training at every opportunity, knowing that it will create growth in areas they had not associated with it. All my top students excel in sankaku – interestingly, our leg and back attacks have been so successful that few have seen how much we emphasize it, but that is bound to change in the future. Here, fifteen year old kohai (junior/apprentice) standout nicky ryan shows off his very impressive sankaku skills, a move that he strongly emphasizes and favors.
