Defence against sweeps

I the tourney i participated in i fought some one that did Judo. He was very good at sweeping me and unbalancing. Although, when i kept changing stances and sides it was harder for him to unbalance me. Regardless, he beat me. I asked my teacher what could I have dont better to counter his sweeps. He says I should pratice the Heian katas. I reply which ones and he says all of them. Do yall know what key things I should be looking for. All i got is wieght shifting ,but I know there is more than that. My teacher wants me to show him what I have come up with.

Well I can't offer you a karate style approach but I can offer you my view, simply get out of the way of the sweeps, or counter whatever throw they're doing with your own throw.

When a judoka sweeps you they are putting themselves off balance in a certain direction, push them in that direction (or pull), in addition to preventing them from correcting their balance (get your own legs in the way of theirs) and they will fall over.

Jumping over and inside of sweeps is another thing I do sometimes but I'm not sure if that's allowed in tournaments, it's against judo rules at least in my club.

Keeping your weight VERY low will prevent most judoka from being able to throw you using normal throws. Most every judoka has a very good hip and shoulder throw at their arsenal but they rely on your centre of gravity being high enough to finish the throw. In the case of sweeps you need to have poor balance to the side and rear in most cases. Lower your centre of gravity and counter with your own attack once they are comitted.

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Keeping your weight VERY low will prevent most judoka from being able to throw you using normal throws. Most every judoka has a very good hip and shoulder throw at their arsenal but they rely on your centre of gravity being high enough to finish the throw. In the case of sweeps you need to have poor balance to the side and rear in most cases. Lower your centre of gravity and counter with your own attack once they are comitted

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Leg sweep can also be done on the knees. When you keep your gravity low, you inevitably have to bend your legs, thus giving your knees vantage point for a sweep done at the knee. I am not saying it is a stupid idea to keep your centre of gravity low, but just to point out that knee can also be a target of the same technique... something to watch out for.