Do women spar with men in your dojo?

[Neddo]

No...

[aefibird]

In my dojo men regularly spar with women. It's an everyday occurance. I don't mind who my sparring partner is as long as they're willing to train hard and want to improve, as I do.

High-grade adults (with experience and good control) also partner up with children too, to allow the kids to get experience of pairing up with someone who is bigger and stronger than they are.

[karatekid1975]

First of all there is no excuse for a higher belt injuring a lower belt in class!!! It shows a total lack of control. That being said...

My school encourages male/female sparring and there is no mercy expected nor is it usually received. The key is both must be aware of the intensityand skill level of the match and adjust accordingly-especially the senior belts!!! I have fond memories of being kicked out of the ring by a male BB (Laurie remembers...I went flying through the air- Of course I only weigh 113lbs so it's not too hard for a 180 lb guy to make me fly! ) during my first grading at the new school. He didn't know me from adam...and he made no judgements about my gender or skill. I popped up and went right back at it knowing that I had found the right school.

Heidi is right (we train in the same system, different schools). But my school as a few that don't like to spar, so we go "light contact" with them (I usually match my partner's skill level. I never go over their level to purposely hurt my partner). But I know who likes to spar and who likes to go all out (I like sparring them hehehehehe). In this case, there will be no mercy Gender doesn't matter here either.

Yea, I do remember that, Heidi. This guy was twice her size and kicked her out of the ring. But sheesh! She got right back in there and kicked some butt There was no stopping her. That was a good match to watch.

Edited May 15, 2005 by karatekid1975

[Smitty]

There are only 3 women in my dojo. The Sensi's wife, another lady, and a teenager, 14 years old. There are only a few adult men in my dojo, with the rest of us being teenagers and a swarm of little kids. Regardless, the 3 of them get no special treatment; that's probably because they beat us all with little trouble.

[mary_jane]

I usually spar with women, but do spar with the younger guys on occasion!!! I'm a pretty low belt, so when I spar with the guys they tend not to throw too many punches or kicks, which makes things pretty boring!!! There is an older brown belt I spar with regularly who I always have a good time with, he's not afraid to throw a punch or kick my way.

[karatekid1975]

I forgot to mention one guy that doesn't like to hit women in my dojang. BUT we (women) don't mind being hit. It's conditioning right? Most of us want to get used to being hit and/or can take a pretty good whipping. But this one guy refuses to hit us (actually, there's two guys). I'm a "brute" for a female (as one guy put it LOL), and he knows it and he still refuses to hit me. I think that's too bad *shakes her head* This is martial arts ... no offense intended .... but get over it. If a female can give it, give it back, dude. Now if a female isn't used to being hit or a beginner, that's one thing, but if she can take it, go for it.

[CapitalKarate]

No, not unless they absolutely have to. I have two sensei's (a married couple) and if the woman needs to spar someone with more experience than what the students there have, then she will spar our sensei.

[Kieran-Lilith]

No splitting of ladies and men in our dojo. I wouldn't have it any other way, either. I'm bigger than all the other girls by a few inches, not to mention I'm just built bigger than they are. The guys are far more fun to spar. Except the other orange belt, but he doesn't like me anyway. Oh well.

[Mr. Mike]

our sparring classes are mixed. Mostly men, a few hardcore, some otherwise. The oldest female in our sparring class is 20. the rest are in school.

Now, as a 270lb guy, most of them are kind of intimidated by me...except this one exceptional brown belt by the name of Amber.

She grins, shrugs it off and gives it back. Great gal. The only place where I had reservations was in the grappling class. I had to grapple Amber and she is about 115 lbs. I was like 'uhhh....' but our instructor just said to get to it. So, I started VERY gently...big mistake...she raked my eyes and gave me one heck of an arm lock.

I think it is important to have ladies train equally with the men. Your attacker will not discriminate against you for being a small statured female. In fact, he may choose you over me. So, I say jump in and give it your all and then some.

[kenpo_fighter]

the females in our dojo spar with both each other and the men of the dojo. the highest ranked female loves to spar with me mostly cuz i'm the only one that'll let her go 100% full contact with me. i tell her i'm going 100% also, but, i'm still holding back on my full potential. when sparring with her, i try to practice counter strikes & my evasion techniques. she's as quick as a cat. she keeps me on my toes.

personally, i think women should be allowed to spar with men, as it is beneficial to their training as well as ours. when out on the street, you don't have a say in who your next adversary is going to be.