Do women spar with men in your dojo?

[Kajukenbopr]

Yes, we spar with women- I sparred with a black belt and she can fight as well as the guys that train with us.

[Hills]

Of course, there is no point in not doing it.

[BlackBeltAngel]

There are only two girls--me and another girl named Mack. But, yes, I spar against some boys. It's not useful to spar against one person forever. You really don't learn about how others fight as well.

[MadMatt]

The girls go hard at my dojo, you gotta keep your hands up coz their legs are like whips!

[Jay]

women always spar with men in our dojo it is more realistic men are generally stronger and heavier so it gives experience working with such an oponent should you come up against one in a real situation

[unknownstyle]

of course a woman has to know how to fight all kinds of attackers not just other woman

[Zaine]

Yeah its normal for women to spar other men in our class

[24fightingchickens]

Just wondering if it's normal for the women to spar with men, I've only been in karate for a few months, and the only other woman in the dojo is my sil. We were practicing last week and I ended up going against a male black belt and a male green belt and being injured in the process. I just wanted to know if it's an accepted thing for women to spar with men in most clubs.

It is considered SOP that women and men spar each other, since usually there are not enough women in a karate club for they and the men to avoid each other. Also, a lot of instructor's feel that the self-defense aspect requires that you be able to face a man.

However, it was never SOP in my karate club that women be injured because they sparred men. Injuries mean someone goofed somewhere, and some apologies and corrective action would be expected.

Caveat: bruises are not "injuries" in a karate club. Anything that bleeds, bones that are broken, joints that are messed up, torn muscles - those are injuries. Bruises are "badges of honor." They are inevitable and cannot be avoided.

[Zaine]

Just wondering if it's normal for the women to spar with men, I've only been in karate for a few months, and the only other woman in the dojo is my sil. We were practicing last week and I ended up going against a male black belt and a male green belt and being injured in the process. I just wanted to know if it's an accepted thing for women to spar with men in most clubs.

It is considered SOP that women and men spar each other, since usually there are not enough women in a karate club for they and the men to avoid each other. Also, a lot of instructor's feel that the self-defense aspect requires that you be able to face a man.

However, it was never SOP in my karate club that women be injured because they sparred men. Injuries mean someone goofed somewhere, and some apologies and corrective action would be expected.

Caveat: bruises are not "injuries" in a karate club. Anything that bleeds, bones that are broken, joints that are messed up, torn muscles - those are injuries. Bruises are "badges of honor." They are inevitable and cannot be avoided.

I agree, it is stupid that women dont spar men in some classes anyway, its pointless cause there are a lot of things that they can learn from sparring men

[24fightingchickens]

I agree, it is stupid that women dont spar men in some classes anyway, its pointless cause there are a lot of things that they can learn from sparring men

Caveat: While training in Japan, I observed that it was SOP that the women rarely sparred the men, and when they did, it was very typical that there were injuries. In fact, our instructors used to go to great lengths to avoid us pairing off with each other. We would, and then they would reorganize everyone so that women only trained with women. But the Japanese do not place as heavy an emphasis on the self-defense component as we do, I believe, partly because they think they live in a virtually crime-free society.