Direction-Change Combinations Playbook

Mat Manual companion guide to "Backwards First: O-Uchi Gari Into Tai Otoshi." Print it. The article explains why the plant-and-push that stops o-uchi gari (major inner reap) loads tai otoshi (body drop), and the one timing rule the chain obeys: the drop is thrown at the push, never after it. This book builds that direction change from the trigger outward: an honest backward drive, a felt and named push, a low placed leg, and a drop taken whole, plus the retreat, step-out, and circle-out answers that offer no chain at all.

Name: ______________________________ Dojo: ______________________________ Grade: ______________ Start date: ______________ Lead side (circle): Left / Right Current week (Part 11): ______________

How this book is used: work the parts in order in the first cycle. The cards build on each other, the reaction cards assume the mechanics cards are passed, and the free-practice formats in Part 13 assume every reaction card has been passed singly. Bring the book to the mat, fill the logs in pencil during the session rather than from memory afterward, and let the pass standards, not the calendar, decide when you move on. In a second cycle you may enter at the part your review in Part 27 names, but the safety block and the read check are re-run at the start of every cycle without exception.

BEFORE ANYTHING: PARTNER SAFETY AND AGREEMENTS ☐ Ukemi (breakfalling) is checked before any throw progression in this book, for both partners, at the landings the chain actually produces. A pair that has not passed the check trains the cards at entry speed only, with no completed throws. This gate is pass/fail and is never waived for seniority. ☐ All throwing runs at agreed speed and agreed intensity, stated out loud before each drill. Either partner can lower the speed or stop the drill with one word, and the drill obeys instantly. ☐ Stop on any pain, dizziness, or loss of control, from either partner, with no argument and no finishing the set first. Log what happened in the session log. ☐ No technique in this book is finished by force against a partner who is defending correctly at drill speed. A rep that needs force to land is a failed rep, and it is logged as one. ☐ Tai otoshi landings are checked for the receiving partner before any card is run with completed throws: uke (the person receiving the technique) clears tori's (the person executing the technique) extended leg and lands beyond it, never on it. A pair that has not passed the check drills entries and drops to a crash mat or stops at placement. ☐ The tai otoshi leg in this book is placed low, across the front of the shin and ankle. It is never placed at knee height, and it is never swung into the leg. A placed barrier is trained; a kicked leg is an injury and a failed rep. ☐ O-uchi gari drives a partner backwards across the mat. The driving partner watches the mat edge and the surrounding pairs, and every drive card has a stated stop line. Driving a partner off the training area or into another pair is a failed rep however good the reap felt. ☐ Push drills in this book use agreed force, stated before the set. A partner who pushes harder than agreed ends the set, and the set is re-agreed or replaced. The push is a trigger to be read, not a contest to be won.

Part 1: The Chain at a Glance

One chain, two directions, one trigger. If a rep does not show the drive, the push, and the drop taken at the push, it was two throws sharing a mat.

Chain law: no push in the hands, no drop. The trigger is felt, not scheduled. A tai otoshi thrown because the drill reached its second technique is a forced rep and is logged as one.