How does having a female in your gym change things?

Question

I take Wing Tsun and it's an all-male class. We are expecting a female to join next week.

How will it change things?

Answer 1

It shouldnt if you are a true martial artist you should accept anyone willing to learn martial arts for the right reasons

Answer 2

In my experience in a well run school not much will change. Perhaps the side bar conversations will be less coarse. Just treat everyone with respect and equally, follow the tenants of Wing Chun Kung Fu. Everything should be OK. You may not know this, one of the founders of the art of Wing Chun Kung Fu was a Buddhist nun. The Plum post she used to train her students remain in one of the Shoulin temples in Southern China.  

Answer 3

it makes us look like wimps

Answer 4

the master will focus on her

Answer 5

It shouldn't make much if any difference at all. Depending on the age of the guys in class and the female coming in, it could make some ultimately though not much. Some of the guys if not all of the guys (lets be honest here) will most likely check her out a bit her first few classes, then the novelty of the idea will wear off and it will be just another person that you are training with.

Wing Tsun is no candy @** style of martial art so, if she knows this then she will be focused on what she has to do and in all likely hood won't give you guys much time to just sit back and check her out.

I'll share a quick story with you. I was doing Shaolin Do and we included some basic take downs and basic ground work in our sparring at the school I was going to. We had this super cool girl training with us there. We were both brown belts and she could whip a lot of the guys in class and always told us to spar with her like she was a man. She and I were sparring one day and we got in close she was a little out of position and I decided to hip throw her. Well when I grabbed her and started to turn my hip into the throw my lower hand came off her gi came straight up and I basically cupped her breast. It was an accident and I knew it and knew she would to, but we were friends and it still instantly embarrased me that it had happened. I abandoned the throw and backed off from her and spread my hands to apologize. She took full advantage; she kicked me hard in the gut then stepped in and outside tripped me, landed in full mount and proceeded to pull 6 -10 punches off just shy of my face and jumped up off me and told me to never back down on her like that again. You know what, she was right and I didn't after that.

The best thing that you can do for yourself and for her is to not treat her like she is some delicate little flower and let her get in and show what she can do. If it turns out to be too rough for her then so be it. Give her props for being willing to give it a shot the same as you would a guy, if she turns out to be really good at it then be prepared because when a female likes martial arts and gets good at one they tend to get really good.

Be a gentleman with out treating her like she is untouchable, accept the fact that there are going to be awkward moments and deal with them when they come up. If you are too easy on her or back off at little accidental contacts, even if just out of the sense of being a gentleman I'm sure she'll let you know about it.

Answer 6

I have girls in my gym and we grapple. If you and your classmates are professionals, mature, serious about training, it shouldnt change anything what so ever.

However, there will be douche bags who for one reason or another feel it necessary to always bring her gender, or make stupid pretentious comments and use lame jokes to release their nervous tension

They usually say stuff like:

"I'd let a girl beat me up any day!"

Worst yet, some douche bags try to turn the dojo into a dating service.

Treat her like a student, and dont encourage the douche bags by laughing at their offensive jokes.

Answer 7

it wont change anything.just treat her like one of the guys. i train with a lot of females. the only time there is a problem is when one comes in but dosent want to be hit or thinks she should have specail treatment. but the other girls take care of that very soon.

Answer 8

Thinsg wont change unless you guys make a big deal out o the fact she's a women. I have seen your answers so I do not thinkthis will be a problem with you, however make sure the other guys, especially the lower ranks know she is there too train and not get hit on. Also watch out for guys with wandering hands during close contact drills. We "had" a couple of accidents over the years, but strangly after being "counciled" the gusy never did it again, of caourse they din't stay to long after that. Wonder why????

Answer 9

it doesn't unless your all perv's lol

maybe she nows that and wants to meet a guy there

you wont know until shes there.

Answer 10

Not much. Don't be surprised if she gets better than you since Wing Chun was developed by a female.

Answer 11

there are no pink and blue uniforms  

Answer 12

Sorry if this is offensive....

The men will get distracted by the women and won't foucus on there class.  

Answer 13

It shouldn't, just don't go crazy over her. Things will be the same except some jerks will make fun of other people who are worse than the girl.

Answer 14

pssh, it wont

Answer 15

The first day you might all check her out, and by the next class, you won't notice she's a female.  

Answer 16

It doesn't.

I have too much respect for the art I practice to let it affect me. When I'm on the mat, I'm there for one reason only: To practice and perfect - and so are any other students.

Answer 17

well I dont know about you guys but it would deffinatly make me want to work harder to impress her.

needless to say, your going to have plenty of guys getting alot better pretty soon.

Answer 18

It probably wont since shes tough enough to join an all male class... So your teacher will probably not go easier on her for that, but some guys in your class might just cuz shes a different gender.

Answer 19

it shouldnt, if she is good enough to be there treat her like a guy when you sparr or fight or whatever you do

Answer 20

it shouldnt change much, unless all the dudes start saying, "yo baby, let me holler... holler, holler, holler, holler, holler, holler,  holler, holler, holler..."

Answer 21

Depends if she beats you or not! haha.. QUICK TRAiN LIKE A HAMSTER!!!! you got a week to make sure she dosnt

Answer 22

It won't! Girls are just as capable in absolutely EVERYTHING, so drop your macho male pride.