a question for woman martial artist

raulf7 · Post by **raulf7** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 7:15 am

I believe in equality woman train for similar reasons we do.

If she into training treat her the same. To do less assumes she is less than a man.

When I was a 1st Kyu way back when. We had a 3rd Dan by the name of Helen Wong and she was brilliant.

A great Karate-Ka and I think it would have been an insult to treat her less than a martial arts equal. If you did I am sure Helen would let you know about it

Cecil · Post by **Cecil** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 10:06 pm

"I found that my male sparring partners would not acknowledge
what they could not feel. "

I've seen this with both genders, but I'd say it's typically more
male than female. I think it may have to do with an ego problem
in the training area.

"It is all non verbal. I am telling you this because so you can
see where I came from--and than I am hoping to pick up from yall
--and so far I am learning stuff--how the enviroment may be
different in other schools and how yall communitcate in that
envirorment. "

I think some sadists may try to take advantage of the fact that
things are non-verbal in order to get in some cheap shots.
If it gets to be too much, I say either don't work out with that
person, or leave that group.

What are you all's take on blood? Do you believe in stopping when
blood is drawn? I know I do! Reason why I ask is because
someone got mad at me because I stopped when I drew blood hitting
him. My guess is that he wanted to bust my lip completely open
instead of nicking it on the side. Had I known that I had even a
scrape on me, I know I would have stopped. He felt insulted a bit
that I let his bleeding head make me bow out. Sure, it was
"just a scrape", but I know I didn't care. It was sparring, not
a Fight Club.

Some people think that sparring is fighting, that fighting instead
of sparring is what will make you a better fighter. The only thing
that really made me a better fighter was just training. Trying
new things, working on weaknesses, etc. I don't believe in going
hard all the time.

uechiwoman · Post by **uechiwoman** » Thu Feb 28, 2002 9:49 pm

I do believe in stopping if someone is bleeding during sparring. If a quick bandaid can cover a scrapped area then I usually continue. If a busted lip or other cut continues to bleed than sparring is over for the day.

During my school's sparring class we often have a number of pairs sparring at once and then we switch partners. It is often at this time that I might find blood on my gi or my partners gi and the question goes out, "OK, who's bleeding?" Often the person has no idea.

Most of the time we spar with only mouthpieces, cups (if necessary), and the white cotton very lightly padded gloves with the fingers free. Because of this there are the occassional scrapes and scratchs from fingernails and toenails no matter how closely they are groomed. I make an effort not to practice punching directly at the mouth since I am sure I do not want my fist cut on the tooth of some random attacker in DC or anywhere else for that matter.

tunetigress · Post by **tunetigress** » Thu Feb 28, 2002 10:23 pm

Turbotort, it is sure nice to have a partner to listen to you and help you set out your training goals, whether you are male or famale. Then they can encourage you along the way. How nice for you to have a girlfriend who is interested in Martial Arts!Most of the guys on my team have girlfriends who sit demurely on the sidelines, like little plastic duckies in a row, and decline to become involved. Turbo, you are a lucky man! Ask her how you can help her to develop her skill, then truly listen to her needs. Then just have fun working out and learning together! There's no life like it for a family too. A great scene for bringing up kids! ( hint hint) LOL Respectfully, _(_)_ Tune

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beckyhaworth · Post by **beckyhaworth** » Mon Mar 04, 2002 3:05 pm

turbotort2000:

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you...been really busy here in AZ.

Moving to beckyhaworth, my biggest question was it like to be married to a guy just starting martial arts? Why was is he could not learn from you and is that experience similar to other men you have trained with?
I follow you on the opened minded theory, and can tell you that people who do what their instructor says with out figuring out eventually figuring out why are working way to hard for whatever results they want.

It was really different with my ex-husband "trying out" Martial arts...(he didn't stick with it)....he said that he felt that he didn't want to take anything away from my training. Which I never quite understood, but that is what he said.

I have found that most men don't take instruction from a female very well until they really open their eyes and see that we are good at what we do. I know alot of that is a pride issue, but hopefully it will get better over the years.

Anyway....once men have been in Martial ARts for a couple of weeks, some take months, they realize that the women can and do teach them just as much as any other instructor out there. And that we, as females, can offer a different approach to techniques and ideas that they never would have thought about....not all men are 6' 4" and 250 lbs....

Becky

turbotort2000 · Post by **turbotort2000** » Tue Mar 05, 2002 4:04 am

Hey Beckyhaworth that reminds me of a story. One time I was in a class at my old tkd/aikido school. I was in the corner with three other guys struggling through a shoulder throw which is not an aikido technique and brand new to me. About 10 minutes into the drill my buddy who was chinese and had studied martial arts for about 15 years walks in. He studied White Eyebrow while living in central america and had very little exposure to woman martial artists. Marti the aikido instructor was a woman. He comes and and talks to my friend Roger and I and is all excited about training with someone with experience. His first question is who is your instuctor so we introduce him to Dan the tae kwon do instructor and point to Marti who is across the room teaching something else. My chinese friend says where is your instructor--over there Roger and I both say pointing to Marti. Where? he says, over there pointing again. There is nobody over there he says looking at the new guy with the woman in the corner. We say again over there the red headed woman in the corner. That is our aikido instructor Marti. Our friend looks at us preplexed and says, "But she is a woman." Marti was really cool about the whole thing cause he said it right in front of her. Your post reminded me of that beckyhaworth. Got any situations or stories like that?