Women's Class
(XPosted to Girl-Fighters)
I had eleven women show up tonight!!! ELEVEN!!!
it wasn't the 13 that had signed up but still, i'm impressed! it is officially the largest class that I've ever taught on my own.
They were all very enthusiastic about it and very good to work with. they were a bit chattier than guys are but they all listened to me better than most men do on their first night.
I really like the format of starting a group all together. we will be closing registration after next week so everyone can be at the same level for a while before opening enrollment up again.
I also asked them for some feed back since it is the first time that we have had an all women's class at the dojo. They all said they were really excited about it and are very comfortable with it being just women. the one woman, a cop, holds a blackbelt from the local McDojo that she got years ago and hasn't been back there. she kind of realized what an 18 month blackbelt was worth and quit there. she has come to our classes on and off in the past but with her erratic work schedule, she gave it up before. she gave me some really good feedback tonight and told me that an all women's class for beginners is what the community needs. (as they move up in rank, they will be expected to participate more and more in the mixed classes)
speaking of the mixed classes, I have two women that already said that they are considering coming to the thursday night class with the men. i will believe that when i see it but here's hoping.
now to the downside....
my mother did come. she was a little more mouthy than i would have liked her to be and she got bopped upside the head a few times to remind her that inside the dojo, she's not my mom, she's my student.
which also led in to a group discussion with the entire class of leaving the ouside world at the door of the dojo. (ie, taking off your street clothes/shoes and putting on your uniform, bowing at the entrance, etc) they all really seemed to latch onto the idea when i explained that out there, some of them would be in power positions over others (we have two cops in the class, various superiors/subordinates from work places, etc) but in the dojo, all the students are equals right now.
I had eleven women show up tonight!!! ELEVEN!!!
it wasn't the 13 that had signed up but still, i'm impressed! it is officially the largest class that I've ever taught on my own.
They were all very enthusiastic about it and very good to work with. they were a bit chattier than guys are but they all listened to me better than most men do on their first night.
I really like the format of starting a group all together. we will be closing registration after next week so everyone can be at the same level for a while before opening enrollment up again.
I also asked them for some feed back since it is the first time that we have had an all women's class at the dojo. They all said they were really excited about it and are very comfortable with it being just women. the one woman, a cop, holds a blackbelt from the local McDojo that she got years ago and hasn't been back there. she kind of realized what an 18 month blackbelt was worth and quit there. she has come to our classes on and off in the past but with her erratic work schedule, she gave it up before. she gave me some really good feedback tonight and told me that an all women's class for beginners is what the community needs. (as they move up in rank, they will be expected to participate more and more in the mixed classes)
speaking of the mixed classes, I have two women that already said that they are considering coming to the thursday night class with the men. i will believe that when i see it but here's hoping.
now to the downside....
my mother did come. she was a little more mouthy than i would have liked her to be and she got bopped upside the head a few times to remind her that inside the dojo, she's not my mom, she's my student.
which also led in to a group discussion with the entire class of leaving the ouside world at the door of the dojo. (ie, taking off your street clothes/shoes and putting on your uniform, bowing at the entrance, etc) they all really seemed to latch onto the idea when i explained that out there, some of them would be in power positions over others (we have two cops in the class, various superiors/subordinates from work places, etc) but in the dojo, all the students are equals right now.