Post by fleur on May 30, 2011 3:12:06 GMT
For Steve
Women in Karate
A friend of mine recently said "please write what it is like to train in karate from a women's perspective". Hmmm... I thought, 'how do I do that?' I just train like anyone else. Does it make a difference whether your a man or woman? I'm not sure, I don't know what it is like to train as a man in karate, so how do I compare?? Maybe he doesn't want me to compare, maybe he just wants to know what it's like as a women in a heavily influenced male domain. Probably that's it, so lets think about that for a minute.....
Firstly not all clubs are heavily male dominated, but many are. The first club I belonged to had a huge female presence so I never felt like the underdog and always had plenty of female company to team up with which provided a fairly even playing ground. However I left that club and pursued a more challenging karate path which lead me to a club that was about 80% male. In fact when I began there was only one other female adult, now there are four of us.
In this respect it is a bit more challenging as most of the time I am now partnered with a male. And let's face it, men are strong! Especially men that train hard. It does make me appreciate my frailties as the fairer sex, because no matter how hard you train, a female will never achieve the muscular strength of a man, we are just made different (fact). Now I know, I can hear you all out there going "Ah, but if you get your technique right, it's not all about strength." And to a certain degree that can be true, but not always. The trouble is - how many years does it take till you get your technique right? Quite a few I would say, there is no quick fix in karate. In the mean time you have to deal with large, strong men. It is a challenge and anyone that denies that I think is fooling themselves. I've only been training for three and half years and I still wouldn't stand a shit show against my very strong, but untrained husband. He keeps it really real for me. When I try to block him, it nearly breaks my arm. When a strike connects, my nervous system wants to shut down and being a girlie, girl - yes, I want to cry. He keeps reality right there on the edge for me.
This is where I want to talk about tournament fighting. Many karateka love tournament - men and women, hell I did it for two years and had a blast, it was fun, but it's not real. It leads to a false confidence which I am now aware of. I'm at a stage in my training that I have come to acknowledge that I know very little and that there is a massive amount of training that needs to be done before I would truly have any confidence in my ability.
When it comes to training in the dojo with the guys, I have to say, they rock! They are extremely respectful and train with me as an equal. I do however appreciate that they don't hit me as hard as they hit the other guys and while you might think this is a bit naff, the truth is, I couldn't take the hits that some of these guys put out, I'm just not made the same as a bloke, so I'm kinda pleased about that. Some hit harder than others, some I have to actually say "you can hit me harder if you like". Sometimes I live to regret that. I can see it's hard on the guys too, they never quite know how far to push it with the girls, but between us we usually find a workable median.
But with all this talk about hitting, lets not forget that karate (even tho it might seem so to a novice or on looker) is not all about punching and kicking. And as my journey progresses I realise there are other aspects to the karate path that will take a life time, if not more, to uncover. The meditative repetition of kata, the fine tuning and skill development required on technique. The peaceful mindset bought on by rigorous training, the exploration of history, lineage, myth and tale. With all these external forces hard at work many forget the aspect of inner strength development. Some people are great in certain area's of their karate, but lacking in others. As women often we must gain our strength from these other areas that many fail to journey upon. I believe you can become a great karateka above and beyond just the fighting aspect of your karate.
Women in Karate
A friend of mine recently said "please write what it is like to train in karate from a women's perspective". Hmmm... I thought, 'how do I do that?' I just train like anyone else. Does it make a difference whether your a man or woman? I'm not sure, I don't know what it is like to train as a man in karate, so how do I compare?? Maybe he doesn't want me to compare, maybe he just wants to know what it's like as a women in a heavily influenced male domain. Probably that's it, so lets think about that for a minute.....
Firstly not all clubs are heavily male dominated, but many are. The first club I belonged to had a huge female presence so I never felt like the underdog and always had plenty of female company to team up with which provided a fairly even playing ground. However I left that club and pursued a more challenging karate path which lead me to a club that was about 80% male. In fact when I began there was only one other female adult, now there are four of us.
In this respect it is a bit more challenging as most of the time I am now partnered with a male. And let's face it, men are strong! Especially men that train hard. It does make me appreciate my frailties as the fairer sex, because no matter how hard you train, a female will never achieve the muscular strength of a man, we are just made different (fact). Now I know, I can hear you all out there going "Ah, but if you get your technique right, it's not all about strength." And to a certain degree that can be true, but not always. The trouble is - how many years does it take till you get your technique right? Quite a few I would say, there is no quick fix in karate. In the mean time you have to deal with large, strong men. It is a challenge and anyone that denies that I think is fooling themselves. I've only been training for three and half years and I still wouldn't stand a shit show against my very strong, but untrained husband. He keeps it really real for me. When I try to block him, it nearly breaks my arm. When a strike connects, my nervous system wants to shut down and being a girlie, girl - yes, I want to cry. He keeps reality right there on the edge for me.
This is where I want to talk about tournament fighting. Many karateka love tournament - men and women, hell I did it for two years and had a blast, it was fun, but it's not real. It leads to a false confidence which I am now aware of. I'm at a stage in my training that I have come to acknowledge that I know very little and that there is a massive amount of training that needs to be done before I would truly have any confidence in my ability.
When it comes to training in the dojo with the guys, I have to say, they rock! They are extremely respectful and train with me as an equal. I do however appreciate that they don't hit me as hard as they hit the other guys and while you might think this is a bit naff, the truth is, I couldn't take the hits that some of these guys put out, I'm just not made the same as a bloke, so I'm kinda pleased about that. Some hit harder than others, some I have to actually say "you can hit me harder if you like". Sometimes I live to regret that. I can see it's hard on the guys too, they never quite know how far to push it with the girls, but between us we usually find a workable median.
But with all this talk about hitting, lets not forget that karate (even tho it might seem so to a novice or on looker) is not all about punching and kicking. And as my journey progresses I realise there are other aspects to the karate path that will take a life time, if not more, to uncover. The meditative repetition of kata, the fine tuning and skill development required on technique. The peaceful mindset bought on by rigorous training, the exploration of history, lineage, myth and tale. With all these external forces hard at work many forget the aspect of inner strength development. Some people are great in certain area's of their karate, but lacking in others. As women often we must gain our strength from these other areas that many fail to journey upon. I believe you can become a great karateka above and beyond just the fighting aspect of your karate.