The dojo kids

[jaymac]

My suggestion is just keep doing what you are doing. You instructor is watching I assure you. He/she will approach you on his/her own time when they would like you to take a more definitive teaching position within the school. No matter what, you are a role model to others (even older students) in your school, and I bet you are a role model outside of the dojo too.

[Samuel]

Kieran-Lilith, I know just How you feel, Im an Ex-Army cadet and I got the attention of alot of the younger people even if I didnt hold any rank.

One of the nicest feelings in the world I must admit, You really feel like someone when your helping out the kids and giving them some directions.

Keep it up! Im sure you'd make a great instructor they would have the respect of many a student. You aim for the BB and you teach all those come want to learn.

[KarateK]

I prefer to teach the kids in our dojo. It can be extremely hard work but extremely rewarding. A lot of children prefer being taught by a woman (must be the maternal instinct LOL). I think if they respect you but arent afraid of you then they can learn a lot from you.

Even as I sit on the side lines at the moment they still come to me to ask me if this technique is right etc.

All I would say is be careful you dont go too far into the "friends" zone. Of course stay friendly and open but sometimes, with kids especially, if they become too jokey with you you can lose a certain level of authority that you need when teaching. Just my thoughts

[jnpnshr411]

when I started teaching the kids class after assisting for a while, i had the same feeling. They are always saying Jonathan this and that. Since my school is sort of a neihborhood thing, everytime I leave my house there is always one or two kids that chase me down if they see me. As much as I enjoy the attention, teaching kids is stressful sometimes, specially on those days they are excited and just want to play and run around.

In my school there is usually few girls. Except for one orange belt who works so hard, harder than anyone else I have the privelege to teach. She is very serious, so obviously she does everything wonderfully (boys don't want to spar her-afraid). Now that the number of girls has increased all the younger girls look up to her. Everytime we line up and they see her there you can see them staring and trying to stand straight how she is and sitting up how she is etc.

KarateK, you are absolutely right. Don't fall into the "friend" zone.

[cathal]

I honestly haven't noticed any major difference in boys / girls or men vs. women in MA training. I am part of a small dojo, about 25...and over half are female. Only one kid and that is a young boy.

[Rateh]

Our dojo has maybe half female. The head instructor says they make better students because they dont try and rely on strength. I'm not saying they do or dont, just thats his opinion on it.

Im actually surprised to hear how few females there are in many of you guys's dojos. Is ours unusual? I always assumed that most dojos were about half and half nowadays.

[Medici]

I wish more (hot) girls would come in where I do BJJ....

But seriously, martial arts is fighting, and fighting is mostly a guy thing. What can one do?

Notice also that the more hardcore... the more REAL a martial art becomes, the less girls still that are involved.

[Kieran-Lilith]

I'm just a weird girl, what can I say? In our dojo, it's never been half and half, from what I've seen, and I've been there two years, almost. As it is, I'm the only teenage girl, we have a few adult women, and there's usually around 3-7 younger girls. Most of our women are in the aikido class our sensei offers. I'm just counting the karate classes because that's what I do...though I kinda do aikido, I'm not to great at it. I rely on strength and power too much. Rateh, your teacher hasn't met many girls like me, has he? I'm one of the few girls (it seems) that has always had natural strength and a more boyish frame, thus, I rely upon strength. In my old McDojo it worked just fine....ah well. True martial arts is worth learning to be gentle.

Oh, and I agree with KarateK, too. I'm trying to keep out of that "friend" zone. Before and after class I might kid with the kiddies...during class I have to remember to be mostly serious. My biggest fear with them is that they might fear me because of my rank, age, and height. One of the other students in the dojo got the kids to fear him (on purpose or accident I don't know, but I don't think he likes it) and the little ones have told me that they're afraid of him. I was actually afraid of him, too, but I know him better now. Anyways, though, I don't want them to fear me being within a ten foot radius of them.

[KarateK]

Oooo people agreeing with me! Theres a first!!

[aefibird]

One of my greatest hopes is that myself and a few other girls will get black belts in our style. I have yet to meet a single female black belt in our style, and I actually don't know if there are any female BBs.

KL, I'm sure that you will make a wonderful blackbelt! Good luck with it - and good on ya for inspiring other girls to want to train/continue to train in martial arts. You sound like you will make an excellent MA instructor; you should be proud of yourself and your abilities to help those kids.