A burning question that has occurred to me many times over the years is: Why aren’t there more women and kids in martial arts?
I was watching a special on a mass murderer who always chose women. They flashed picture after picture across the screen of women who willingly went with this man and was killed. He killed dozens of women before they could stop him. I said to my wife, after watching this, how could women just say, oh, I’ll just kick him where it hurts! After a show like this was on, all Karate Schools phone lines should be busy! We should have a long line of women waiting at the door when we open up.
Why didn’t these women kick him where it hurt?
Because he planned and overwhelmed them.
Whatever ability they had to fight back was not enough.
They waited too long to fight back.
They complied rather than fought.
Why? Maybe, because they didn’t have the methods and knowledge of what to do.
One woman escaped from this one rather large attacker. She had been jogging and he jumped out on the trail and grabbed her. The reason that she survived was because she had a kickboxing champion for a father and she new how to fight. She elbowed him and kneed him and ran. He chose not to follow her. When he was eventually caught, she identified him as here attacker. Her attacker had formerly been in jail for a brutal attack on a woman and there where professionals that said he should’ve never been left out. He started attacking and killing women shortly after he got out. He himself said that he should never get out again because he would start killing again.
You can’t always depend on the fact that someone will be there to help you. If you have the ability and knowledge of how to fight back then you are much safer.
Why aren’t there more kids in Karate? Overwhelmingly karate schools usually have more kids than adults. I would say that, the reason for this is that parents think they can handle themselves but they worry more about their kids than themselves. That’s a parental protectiveness response. It’s built in.
What about the Bully problem. My students for the most part don’t have as many problems with bullies that other kids do. I had a concerned parent asking what she could do about a bully problem with her son. She said, this kid kept picking on her son and she didn’t know what to do. Her son is great at karate and has competed, is great at sparring but he is also small for his age, hence the bullying. I said, you mean he didn’t do anything back to protect himself? She said, “Oh no he roundhouse kicked him in the head, but I just wanted to know what he should do”. I had to laugh, but said, I think he solved the problem for himself. I said, I don’t think he’s going to have a problem with that kid again. I always give kids other less violent methods to solve Bully type of situations but sometimes they need a little more than that.
With all the talk of Bully’s, Bully problems, intimidation and fighting that goes on everyday in every school in this country, why aren’t there waiting lists at every karate school? What am I missing here. The good kids don’t really want to fight. The good kids don’t want beat up either. We are always concerned about our kids but often we don’t we react after something happens. Penn dot often fixes road problems after there is an accident or enough complaints. Many of the parents that call say “kids are picking on my child, can you help them”? Why not get them into training before something happens?
I’m just saying.
Why aren’t there more women and kids in martial arts?
Written by:
Sensei Perry Culver 6th degree Shotokan Karate, 1st degree Syu Sin Do (pressure points & joint locks)
Chief Instructor of Culver Karate Club in Connellsville, PA 724-626-KICK (5425)
