Do women spar with men in your dojo?

[garyznra251]

once, some time ago whilst still training as a kickboxer i had a female sparing partner, slightly shorter and lighter than myself, prob 140lbs while i was about 150lbs at the time.

training with her was amazing because whilst she was smaller, quicker and lighter she was also a very strong puncher and relied on good technique over size. Thats the most important thing i think women can get out of training with men, that their will always be someone bigger, stronger than yourself, so you have to have other options. My sparing partner relied on movement to make me look rather foolish on a number of occasions.

The most important thing i learned was that a quick punch with good technique from a stable base will pretty much drop anyone, and is very likely to hit. A strong hard punch if it hits is going to do damage, but its making it hit thats hard. I learned the importance of technique and moevement when she broke my nose (evil girl) with a jab which looked like it couldn't hurt a fly. flew straight in, make a little impact and there went my nose.

Maybe its better not to think of sparing in terms of gender, i never did after some of the shots i recieved sparing with women! If your a woman ask yourself would a big 200lbs woman be any differednt to a man? probably not. Then it breaks down to fight tactics as opposed to gender tactics. You wouldn't trade punches with a huge woman, why try with a man etc.

women definately should spar with men, after all most violent crime is commited by men! All that is required is that the men and the women respect the level of contact their partner expects. women as sparing oponents are not to be treated diferently to men, simply as fighters assessed on their own merits.

gary

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