X-Posted to GirlFighters
i may have already squee'ed about this before here, but now that i'm not worrying about my gallbladder I can write a more detailed post.
I got the "okay" from my teachers to start an all women's karate class at our dojo. YATTA! We've generally always had mixed classes but not many women stick around very long for some reason. I'm not really sure why seeing as I'm a woman and nothing has deterred me from attending over the last 17 years.
But anyways, I'm really excited! I've taught a few women's self defense courses but those are always a short term thing and very different from how we run our traditional classes. Also, I've been teaching children (of both genders) for several years now as well as assisting in the teaching of the mixed classes. It has been highly noticeable over the years that new adult male students don't really like having me teach them and some have even challenged my teachers about my ability in the art because of my gender. It's annoying but kind of expected with the very rural mentality in the area the school is in.
My teacher is hoping that it will draw more people into our dojo as our numbers are dwindling. Also, he hopes that it will get my name out there in the community as someone known for their martial arts ability. Most of our higher ranks are known well in the area for their fighting (we've had two ranked UFC fighters so far) and I'm not one of them. I'm just not in it for competition.
I've had 4 women sign up already. It starts in the beginning of April so hopefully I will get more.
I got the "okay" from my teachers to start an all women's karate class at our dojo. YATTA! We've generally always had mixed classes but not many women stick around very long for some reason. I'm not really sure why seeing as I'm a woman and nothing has deterred me from attending over the last 17 years.
But anyways, I'm really excited! I've taught a few women's self defense courses but those are always a short term thing and very different from how we run our traditional classes. Also, I've been teaching children (of both genders) for several years now as well as assisting in the teaching of the mixed classes. It has been highly noticeable over the years that new adult male students don't really like having me teach them and some have even challenged my teachers about my ability in the art because of my gender. It's annoying but kind of expected with the very rural mentality in the area the school is in.
My teacher is hoping that it will draw more people into our dojo as our numbers are dwindling. Also, he hopes that it will get my name out there in the community as someone known for their martial arts ability. Most of our higher ranks are known well in the area for their fighting (we've had two ranked UFC fighters so far) and I'm not one of them. I'm just not in it for competition.
I've had 4 women sign up already. It starts in the beginning of April so hopefully I will get more.