The hand balance game teaches judoka how they can benefit from an opponent's action or reaction in a competitive situation.

It develops balance, decision making and reaction speed. Both judoka adopt a natural posture with their feet shoulder width apart, back straight, and head up. It's important to stay loose through the hips, knees and ankles.

Facing each other at a comfortable distance both raise their arms until their hands are likely touching but not gripping. The game can now begin.

To score a point you must break your opponent's balance, causing them to take a step in any direction. The overall aim is to maintain your own strong and stable position.

Initially, short, sharp impacts can achieve this pushing your partner backwards to disrupt their balance. However, anticipating and evading their attempts to influence your stance can prove just as effective in causing them to lose balance. In full flow a competitive game looks like this.

Each time a point is scored both players reset their stance and start again. Ultimately, to be successful, players must employ a range of tactics, both attacking, push and defending evade in order to win each point.

Throughout this game it is beneficial to remain as relaxed as possible keeping arms, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles loose will allow for faster reactions and better absorption of your opponent's momentum.

Kanamaru will now show the development from this game into judo practice. In this first example, Uki initiates with a push. As in the game, Kanamaru evades the impact meaning Uki continues their trajectory forwards, falling off balance.

Now gripped up enabling pressure to be applied onto Uki, Kanamaru reacts to the push, releasing the pressure to allow Uki forward. Combining this reaction with hiki-dashi movement, it creates the perfect position to throw.

There's the reaction and the hiki-dashi, and to finish a throw.

Here, Kanamaru demonstrates supplying and releasing pressure through his wrists and also the hiki-dashi movement. From a higher angle, we can see the lapel hand as Kanamaru uses a fishing like motion on the lapel to create kuzushi. At a more competitive pace we can see the speed of reaction needed. You must add to the force produced by Uki pushing and not stop their momentum.

Switching 180 degrees, from this angle, we can see how Kanamaru simultaneously uses his sleeve hand turning it inward throughout the drawing motion as if to look at a watch.

In addition to creating kuzushi, this also creates the space for him to turn into his throw. There's the pressure, and the turn.

The same principle of action reaction applies in this second example. In this instance, we see Uki initiate by pulling his hands backwards. Kanamaru reacts as fast as possible to not only follow Uki's movement, but to overtake it, further adding to their backward momentum.

Once in a grip situation, we see how Kanamaru then overtakes the backward motion. In Judo terms, this is like Uki moving backwards either in an attempt to initiate their own forward throw or to simply retreat when put under pressure.

Whichever, Kanamaru feels this movement, follows the momentum and whilst overtaking it launches an ouchi-gari attack.

From a higher angle, notice how when Kanamaru feels his partner pull his initial reaction is to release the tension through his grips, which allows the energy to continue flowing backwards. He accelerates to catch up with Uki and makes contact driving through him and reapplying downward pressure to finish the throw.

This final example shows how the principles of the hand balance game have wider applications. The examples previously shown both deal in linear movement.

But Judo, of course, is by no means a linear sport. Due to its multi-directional, and frenetic nature, Judoka should be encouraged to take the principles learned from this game and apply them in any situation.

Throwing in all directions players can use their opponent's reactions to their advantage.