Teaching Women

A place to share ideas, concerns, questions, and thoughts about women and the martial arts.

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Dennis Smith
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Post by Dennis Smith »

I'm new to the forum and was interested in the title of this group. I am a staff instructor at a Kung Fu School in Vermont and have responsibilities for one of the Beginner classes. I have had women students in my classes, some of which have not continued, others who have moved on the the Intermediate classes and continue to train at the school. I would be interested in a woman's perspective of how they felt when they began training. What were the pitfalls, obstacles and trials they felt they encountered and how these may or may not have differed from those of males students.

I would like to be a better teacher to all my students.

Dennis
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RA Miller
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Post by RA Miller »

http://www.peak.org/~grainne/Ironrose/lizard.html

Duchess Elena said it very well.

Rory
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Mary S
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Post by Mary S »

Rory....AWESOME article!!! Thanks. Positive reinforcement from instructors AND fellow students can really help to clear those hurdles.
student
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Post by student »

Dennis:

I suspect you might also find some useful information for your topic the archive of this Forum. although I can't guarantee it.

student
Dennis Smith
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Post by Dennis Smith »

Thank you for the article. I've downloaded it and will read it more carefully. I'll also check the archives.

Thank you all for your responses.

Dennis
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Jackie Olsen
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Post by Jackie Olsen »

Hi Dennis,

One thing that was really hard for me is that when I started karate (13 years ago), there were no women BBs in my class to emulate. All the BBs were guys. Talk about intimidation of the sheer macho-ness at the time! Women do move differently and have a different body structures. As I progressed through the ranks, teaching others was part of my training. By the time I reached BB, we had other women in class (and now there are 3 women who are BBs and 2 green belts out of a class of 15).

Other factors include the dreaded "fear of sparring" and "hitting the wall." As the Duchess said, "I can be hit in fun." That's a hard one for anyone to learn. It has helped that the guys I've routinely trained with have been extremely supportive, challenging and excellent ukes.

I remember once as a green belt, I had a particularly intense class which revolved around sparring. The energy, the hitting of the bags, were all too intense. At the end of the bow-out, I sat on the floor with tears streaming down my face. Instead of ridiculing me, the guys gathered around me, and said "Aw, Jackie's hit the wall." They proceeded to share their frustrations and feelings in training. Sure broke the illusions I had about guys not feeling anything during training.

Good luck ... hope this helps you.

Jackie
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Van Canna
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Post by Van Canna »

Rory,
Really great, insightful, article. Thanks for flagging it to us!

------------------
Van Canna
Allen M.

Teaching Women

Post by Allen M. »

Jackie, you were fortunate and lucky to have teammates like that.

Van, I found the website's contents interesting reading. I was going to respond to it, but hope the women will write their opinions about it.
dmsdc
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Post by dmsdc »

I find the remarks to be very on-target.

It is a bit hard to have them put in such cut-and-dry language but in the end I think that's the best way.

It took about a year and a half for me to not get skaken to the point of tears after hard bag work and heavy sparring. It took about 3 years for me to quiet the "Don't Hit" voice in the back of my own head. Andlast year I started to be able to hit a dojomate without pulling the punch if they missed the block. This means I might cause them (gasp) PAIN.

I am not a woman that most would describe as the earth-mother, nurturing type. I'm seen as a pretty rough&tumble go-getter and I have still had to train a long time to get through these pre-fab socialized barriers.

I printed out the article and I'm going to hand it to several women in my dojo.

I had discussed these issues with some male dojomates in the past and their general answer was "Don't worry, just hit us, it'll be OK." However, I was totally unable to internalize that.

It's comforting to know that I'm not alone in my struggle.

Dana
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RA Miller
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Post by RA Miller »

To all, but especially Dana-

Toby Beck (known in the SCA as the Duchess Elena) is in a really unique position for this kind of research. She was an army medic in Somalia and had the distinction of suddenly being the highest ranking survivor on a patrol- so she knows the cocktail.

Aiding with autopsies, she became curious about gender differences, and found some that were very relevant to fighting.

And her martial art is SCA heavy combat, where they put on full armor and go at it full contact with full weight (albeit rattan) weapons.

My wife said "If you're going to have women students, you have to read this." and shoved a copy of "The Armored Rose" into my hands.

Far more detailed than the article, with more about physical differences and training tips. The Duchess is very straightforward, very "cut and dried". As a bull headed male it was just what I needed.



------------------
The Dream is damned,
And Dreamer too,
If Dreaming's all
That Dreamers do.
-Rory
beckyhaworth
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Post by beckyhaworth »

Dennis,

All women are different...when I started in Martial Arts, there were no women BB's in my school, there still isn't, except me.

Alot of women need different ways of approaching what you are teaching. They started class for a reason. Talk to them and find out what they are wanting. If you require sparring and they are very afraid of it, then give them more time and ease them into it slowly.

I have found that teenage girls tend to respond better to another female instructor even though I am harder on them then I am on the boys. I always explain why and they appreciate that.

I guess the main thing to do is talk to your females in class one on one and find out what they are thinking and what their needs are.

Becky
Dennis Smith
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Post by Dennis Smith »

Thanks Becky and everyone who's responded. I think it's very important to talk to students joining class to determine what they expect or hope to accomplish taking a martial art. I feel, as an instructor, it helps me to know what people are expecting in order to teach to their needs or expectation. Of course, there are some needs and expectations which are unreasonable and can't be met.

Dennis
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