I need some advices because I'm too short and light... :(

[DWx]

It's not the end of the world being smaller. My good friend and training partner is 5'0" whereas I'm 5'10" and she doesn't make it eady when we spar. You just need to learn what you've got! You might not be able to floor the 6 foot 300 lbs guy but you don't have to go down without a fight either.

Getting fitter, faster, stronger will only help. If you're serious about your training, maybe look into some extra training time outside of the dojo. Better strikes and better movement will help make those 6' guys take notice.

If anything though, learning to move and be faster than the bigger guys is what you need. As a bigger girl, when I fight in open weight matches, I struggle the most with the lighter faster people as they strike then dance around me before I can even hit them back!

[Gabrielle]

thank you so much guys !

You are all very nice and kind and you have given me some usefull advices! Very useful!

(I'm not American or English, I came from France and france forum about karate are a little bit disappointing..so sorry for my rude english.. )

So I have to work on feet speed, angles and explosivness, and I have to be able to hit in the right points! xD

The next week I will start to work on my agility, I attend karate school three times a week on monday, wednsday and friday, in the other days I think that I could do a custom training for my esigences.

ps

The video about ten years old boy is awesome!

You have supported and boosted me!

[Dobbersky]

Excellent responses so far its hard to add any more

Question, who is the founder of Shotokan, and how "tall" was he compared to others?

Size has nothing to do with it, with your style sparring can't be more equal as it's more about speed and agility. Imagine Kyokushin rules sparring with the same ratio, then you should be concerned.

[Harkon72]

I'm 5'10", my wife is 5'2"; when I spar with her, she can close the gap pretty quickly and once inside my reach she is smaller and her center of gravity is lower so usually she has me right where she wants me!

[bushido_man96]

Look at using angles to attack. Counters on kicks and strikes, along with footwork, can help you get inside and attack. Once you are inside, you've got to stay there and work them over. Make them run for cover. Those are the things I would focus on. Doing some agility work aside from class training, along with explosive work, will help.

[AdamKralic]

A general defensive tip that will help you keep them off you if you are pressed too hard:

Fade sidekicks and later on when proficient with the use of fade sidekicks...fade angle sidekicks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWbd7v4XhJ8

My son does the drill shown in that video 2 or 3x a week. We end every home practice with that drill. It doesn't help with the "fade" portion of a fade sidekick...but it is FANTASTIC if you find yourself needing more speed in getting a sidekick up to stop a opponent's blitz.

Trust me...if an opponent leaps at you with any kind of punch blitz...and you connect solidly with your heel to their stomach...you not only get the points...you've got their attention. They will think twice before trying that again.

[AdamKralic]

I want to type so much...but it's not possible to learn too much too quickly. You have a great thread here with lots of great advice. There is MUCH that can be done...if I was you...I'd come back to this thread over n over n over again.

You are a green belt...it is just the beginning of your knowledge. You will improve. Just always know....always...there is much that can be done.

[pdbnb]

Hi karatekas!

I'm new and I'm a girl of 17 years old, I'm green belt in shotokan style...

I'm short, my height is 5,25 feet (1.60 meters) and all my karate mates are at least 1.80 meters..at least, they are all males and they are all Black belts .. :'(

Now for my height no one fights against me in a serious way, they often kid me because I'm little and sick ( even if I'm sick I'have enough muscoles eh!)

With this behaviour I don't learn nothing, when I was yellow belt I used to accept this because I was really a newbie, but Now I want to learn how to do a good kumite...

So I want to begin a special training to improve my agility, and my explosive power, and anyone could suggest me the best techinque to defeat a boy who is the double of you?

Maybe some grip o it's only a mental problem?

I need a customized training

PS my weight is 47 kg = 103,62 Ibs

Just tell them to quit it, and explain what you've explained to us: that you want a real, challenging kumite. Most of them probably mean well and are bound to stop, because they want you to improve too.

[JusticeZero]

"Boys, if you want to protect me, you should push me harder in kumite, because you aren't always with me."

I'm glad we can help, you're welcome to post here any time!

And your English is better and less "rude" than a lot of Americans and Australians and people from the UK that we have talked to.

So I have to work on feet speed, angles and explosivness, and I have to be able to hit in the right points! xD

The exercise I use, because it's normal for my art, is this: Put a folding chair in a room. Imagine the chair is your enemy, so you have to keep facing and looking at it, and always keep a defense up at it. Now, use the movements in your form to move around the chair in combat range as fast as you can without losing good form or leaving openings. Go back and forth randomly, circle around, and in and out, but don't use the same series of movements twice as you do it.

Next, make a circle of chairs spaced widely apart, move around them, and switch to the next chair. You cannot avoid having your back to a chair next to you for a moment, but don't leave your back showing to either of the chairs next to you. They are both a threat.

When you have developed that, when you are doing kumite you want to try to learn how to make your opponents run into the wall or obstacles a lot.

These help develop the ability to decide to move around the floor and have it just happen, so that you can control the space. For self defense, this means that an attacker is trying to attack you, when suddenly you step out the door that they thought they were blocking and leave. You can train this by yourself outside of class.

Also, do not trust in hitting the groin. For many guys it does not do anything at all until after it is too late for you.

[brickshooter]

Hi karatekas!

I'm new and I'm a girl of 17 years old, I'm green belt in shotokan style...

I'm short, my height is 5,25 feet (1.60 meters) and all my karate mates are at least 1.80 meters..at least, they are all males and they are all Black belts .. :'(

Now for my height no one fights against me in a serious way, they often kid me because I'm little and sick ( even if I'm sick I'have enough muscoles eh!)

With this behaviour I don't learn nothing, when I was yellow belt I used to accept this because I was really a newbie, but Now I want to learn how to do a good kumite...

So I want to begin a special training to improve my agility, and my explosive power, and anyone could suggest me the best techinque to defeat a boy who is the double of you?

Maybe some grip o it's only a mental problem?

I need a customized training

PS my weight is 47 kg = 103,62 Ibs

You probably need to cheat a little on your weight transfer everytime you execute a technique. Here's what you do, every time you attack you take a baby step into your target whether its a punch or a kick. What this does is it increases your hitting weight. Stand still and front kick = 100lb kick. Step and kick = 150lb kick.

Ask you instructor about bicycle inner tube training.