Dragin states that ‘the timing for the sweep is of utmost importance, it must come right at the last second.

Uke is almost up in the air before the contact is made.

Dragin wants the under-side of his foot to connect with Uke’s leg.

In order to do this, he needs to make sure that he opens his hip and bends the knee slightly – this gives a curve to the leg, resulting in the foot turning up.

Dragins aim is to roughly make contact around Uke’s ankle.

However this isn’t crucial. Dragin says he isn’t concerned if it’s the base of his foot or his leg that connects.

For Dragin the important thing is that the leg is open. So he can drive through, sweeping Uke up into the air, no matter what makes contact.

This principle is the same whether making contact with one, or both of Uke’s legs. He just needs to make contact.

Dragin drives all the way through, until Uke’s legs come together taking them into the air.

If he misses the first leg with the foot, Dragin keeps driving until the base of his foot comes around the back of Uke, making contact with the far leg.

Dragin keeps his legs curved throughout, sweeping Uke into the air.

To finish, Dragin just guides his opponent down to the mat with his arms, making sure to stay on his feet, and not fall over.

When all the stages come together, it looks like this.

There’s the sleeve bunch, arm pull across the body, and chest contact.

Next comes the 2 step, lapel break and lapel shake.

Then it’s the step to the right, arm push and lapel lift, followed by the leg contact, drive through and control down

A brilliant example of how you can execute a De Ashi Barai from an extreme right vs right scenario.

See it in competition next.