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Thread: Female Students...

  1. #31
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    Maureen

    In answer to your question what can women bring to the dojo there are a number of answers.

    The first thing that springs to my mind is other women, it's my experience that Dojo with a number of women students especially of high rank find it easier to recruit and retain new female students.

    Again without wanting to generalise it is a fact that women are GENERALLY smaller and less reliant on physical strength than men, in the art of Jujitsu that I teach I often use the women in my class as examples. Not because there technique is necessarily better than a big guys but because it's more obvious that it is technique not power which is working.

    The next thing generally I find that women bring to the dojo is a little bit of civilisation, when men gather in male only groups there is a tendency towards macho / testosterone driven behaviour which a more even balance of gender tends to alleviate. Also generally I find women are more keen to share experience in their training and less inclined to treat it at as a competition.

    However on the downside particularly as I teach in a University club where most of the students are in the 18 - 24 age range I have to be wary of the way boys tend to show off in the presence of women. (I believe someone once said, Men go to war when women are watching)

    Finally for me, they bring an added inspiration, my first jujitsu instructor was a Woman and was one of the scariest people I've ever met (on the mat). At the time I was quite a small guy and I've never been much of a fan of fighting(I've developed a bit too much Hara since then) and seeing this lady not only have the skill but also the attitude that she expressed on the mat was a real inspiration.

    That's it for the positive things. For the purpose of balance I feel it's important to be aware of some of the negative sides. Again please excuse these are by necessity generalisations.

    Some women who join martial arts not only want to be treated differently to the guys they expect it and this causes tension (they don't usually stay).

    I have had and am aware of other instructors who have had problems with female students who seem more keen on being 'friends' with the instructor than with training.
    (I'm sure this is also a problem for female instructors with male students also)

    However as I tried to say in an earlier post I find that seperating students into Men and Women is only as usefull a way of describing them as saying Big or Small, committed or less so or any other number of ways of describing the tide of humanity that washes through the doors of any dojo.


  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkF View Post
    I know of a judoka in New Jersey who is nearly seven feet tall, weighs well over 700lbs. and, well, I think we can see where this is going. What do you do? The only advantage I can see which will work in a self-defense mode, is that I can run faster than him, but what about randori?
    In a self defence mode against a trained martial artist of that bulk, I would *highly* recommend the 'two .38 caliber slugs in the pelvis' technique, repeated as necessary until the bastard goes down. Just be sure to keep the weapon trained on him until he's fully unconscious, then call the police. Carefully.

    On the mat, however, my experience has been that the biggest guys are *generally* pretty gentle about mopping the floor with me - when I've broken anything it's been with opponents about my size.
    Carl Hamlin
    -----------------------------------------
    'The etiquette that underlies all martial arts is based on the assumption that the person with whom you are dealing is standing before you wearing three feet of razor sharp steel.' - George Ledyard

  3. #33
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    I hope you realize you have been resurrecting years-dead threads here.
    Neil Gendzwill
    Saskatoon Kendo Club

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by gendzwil View Post
    I hope you realize you have been resurrecting years-dead threads here.
    Yep - the topics are still valid.
    Carl Hamlin
    -----------------------------------------
    'The etiquette that underlies all martial arts is based on the assumption that the person with whom you are dealing is standing before you wearing three feet of razor sharp steel.' - George Ledyard

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by ssanutokh View Post
    Yep - the topics are still valid.
    Hi Carl, just to let you know, "thread necromancy" is considered undesirable on most on-line forums, and you'll generally know which forums don't like it when a forum veteran chimes in, as has happened here.

    Yes, the topics are usually still valid, but most of the participants are long gone and the conversation has lost its impetus. Might I suggest you begin a new topic, and reference the old thread in your post?
    Beth's Buki
    Walk softly and carry a big stick.

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by BJohnson View Post
    Hi Carl, just to let you know, "thread necromancy" is considered undesirable on most on-line forums, and you'll generally know which forums don't like it when a forum veteran chimes in, as has happened here.

    Yes, the topics are usually still valid, but most of the participants are long gone and the conversation has lost its impetus. Might I suggest you begin a new topic, and reference the old thread in your post?
    Ah. I misunderstood. Thank you for clarifying.
    Carl Hamlin
    -----------------------------------------
    'The etiquette that underlies all martial arts is based on the assumption that the person with whom you are dealing is standing before you wearing three feet of razor sharp steel.' - George Ledyard

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