Sparring with females

If it's honestly about technique that's fine. What's not okay is when I'm doing just fine but being told I need to be mollycoddled because I'm female..??

 

I watch a lot of instructors go easy on their female students, even if they say they don't (maybe they don't realize it). Shortly after I started teaching, I had one woman who trained with me who was a black belt in another style. I knocked her down accidentally with a punch to the face during free sparring. At first I felt bad, thinking it might have been too much contact for her. Not the case. So I told her I would train her the same as a guy, which is what she wanted. Control in practice should be based on experience, size, and strength, but not gender. Now my dojang is almost 50% women and I often attract women who are black belts in other styles. I know we attract so many women because we treat everyone equally.

 

Well said... Key word... equally........

 

I think you have me figured incorrectly.

I think you may need to read my posts over the few threads near this issue.

I have this article

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1074475816#post1074475816

 

I agree

Again, it is placed upon the individual

 

our dojo used to have majority girls. Now its still more guys now but still many girls partly i guess because of what you said. Sensei and students treat all equally.

 

I think this depends on how you are assessing the capacity for growth but before I explain what I mean, I agree, statistically, the average man is larger and stronger than the average woman.

There are different ways to assess the capacity for growth, such as onset-dependent, that is, growing faster than the opposite sex. In this view, females win because typically they enter puberty before males do.

Haha, sure, Boom sounds good.

I couldn't agree more. Some females at our dojo treat their sparring partners the same regardless of gender. For example, there is one young Indian female in particular with 5th kyu and it doesn't matter how large, small, strong or weak her sparring partner is, she goes at you! I don't mean she goes berzerk, rather she's not afraid to take a few harder strikes (although we try to keep it at low to semi-contact, accidents can happen). The only time I've seen her go easier on a sparring partner is if the partner has substantially less kumite experience and skill because it's senseless to give them no chance at all, she gives them some chances but keeps a challenging aspect.

Some of the other females don't like sparring with males, despite the fact the majority of the dojo is composed of male students. Even when an accident happens and stronger contact is made but they're not severely hurt, some of them get annoyed then act as though they're justified in intentionally hitting harder. Others just complain or moan and say to go easier because they're females. It's interesting to see the young Indian woman spar other women because she doesn't go easier based on gender.

Mostly fear that if a male student accidentally hits the female student, the female student will be badly hurt. Females usually do light contact and no harder in our dojo because they don't want to cause pain or damage to a sparring partner (I've asked a few of them so this). However, at our dojo, the higher ranked female students typically show less of this fear and spar the male independent of gender. A good portion of the higher ranked male students keep holding this view but to a lesser extent, that is, their kumite poses a challenge to the female student and if harder contact is made, there's a quick acknowledgement that there's no damage, however, these higher ranked male students don't use their full range of skills. In other words, the fear is there but it's more suppressed.

 

Wow, the women where I train sure don't have that problem!

 

i cant even win in a verbal sparring match with females, they're ruthless, calculating, weighing every word that comes out of a man's mouth and returning it with paradoxes that will short circuit any mans brains in 10 seconds.
just the thought of sparring with women in martial arts makes me want to curl up into a ball sucking my thumb. i don't want to die yet =P

seriously though, it'll be the same as with any other sparring partner. if they take the bout seriously i'll do the same. if they laze about it i'll do the same.

 

Thanks for the laugh

 

I hate that. When I was doing kung fu I sparred with this guy who was 6'3 and had the speed of a freaking mongoose...dude is a great fighter. I got hit in the mouth and started bleeding, wasn't seriously hurt, I just laughed, but I didn't get to spar with him again...I wonder why.

 

A lot of people don't have the same mentality though. Most women have been conditioned to react very differently to violence etc that their 'natural' reaction can be quite unexpected.

Although if it is conditioning, they can be conditioned out of it...

 

Thanks for understanding. This sijie (female fellow student who is senior to me in experience (see below)) and I are on very good terms anyway, and she is actively helping me deal with this situation. She's only a couple of years younger than I am, so she understands how I was raised. She's really cool about the whole thing and does NOT go easy on me, and encourages me not to go easy on her.

(The term sijie indicates that she is senior to me in experience, but makes no distinction in terms of rank. This particular sijie happens to be senior to me in both, and by significant amounts in both, but I wanted to be sure that those not familiar with kung-fu terminology would understand the term correctly.)

 

I suspect that you would like my sifu, then. He goes hard on the ladies because he knows that a real attacker (with malicious intent) will not go easy on them.

 

Are you saying he does not treat them the same as the guys? I think the basis for most of this discussion is based on, you push the student to that point to which they learn.... not to the point where they are simply running... a white belt is less capable than a black belt.. no matter the gender.. so work with the individual and develp their skills, dont pummel them because you can.

 

you guys would love my senseis. they get us used to being hit by having us punch and kick each other not hard but not cream puffs either.....the only gender issues were that me and my buddy Dawn said to each other that we felt slightly uncomfortable having our foot in a guy's rear end.

 

it isn't supposed to go IN...

:evil:

 

I think I will wear a sign that says, "exit only" if I ever train with some of the folks here.

On the other hand, good to see women are truly kicking butt.

 

rofl!