From: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: the_dojang-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #222 Reply-To: the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: The_Dojang-Digest Tues, 27 April 1999 Vol 06 : Num 222 In this issue: the_dojang: bummer the_dojang: Korean sake the_dojang: Re: men to women ratios? the_dojang: Women MA's and weapons the_dojang: American/Korean National Anthems the_dojang: Re: Jamaica's female poll the_dojang: Re: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #221 the_dojang: Re: The Midnight Ninja the_dojang: Re: Class ratios the_dojang: Travel answers and the fun stuff the_dojang: Re: short classes the_dojang: Re: class length the_dojang: . ......................................................................... The_Dojang, serving the Internet since June 1994. ~800 members strong! Copyright 1994-99: Ray Terry, California Taekwondo, Martial Arts Resource Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe the_dojang-digest" (no quotes) in the body of an e-mail (top line, left justified) addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To send e-mail to this list use the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com See the Korean Martial Arts (KMA) FAQ and online search the last two years worth of digest issues at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Pil Seung! Ray Terry, PO Box 110841, Campbell, CA 95011 KMA@MartialArtsResource.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 16:17:57 -0700 (PDT) Subject: the_dojang: bummer Just back from the X-Ray dept. My shoulder has been bothering me for a couple years. Finally had -the- test for a rotator cuff tear. Yep, it is torn. The dye leaked out... Had my left rotator cuff repaired a few years back. Not much fun, so I'm not looking forward to that same procedure on the right shoulder. Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: Bernard Eddey Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 08:21:15 +0800 Subject: the_dojang: Korean sake The closest thing to sake in Korea is known as 'sojhu'. Like sake it is made from rice but has about 30% higher alchohol content. Goes down really well with kimchi and bulgolgi! Bernard Eddey 1st Dan TKD Shanghai ------------------------------ From: Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 20:21:41 EDT Subject: the_dojang: Re: men to women ratios? The question was asked: << If you're in a mixed class what is the class ratio male to female, >> I've been the only female in most of our classes, and am the only female that has achieved black belt in about 5 years. That kind of ratio does color one's perceptions, I think. I've had to be a little tougher, and "suck it up" more, since I didn't want to seem 'wussy' in front of the guys. I kinda feel like I am representing all women sometimes. That is NOT a criticism of my school or my instructors. I tend to work my joint locks a little harder, since I am used to working on 6' 200# males (I am not quite 5'4") and women who have worked with me (on occasion) have complained. On the other hand, I've not gotten as much grappling/sparring experience, partly because (I think) the guys aren't sure what to do with me. Half the time they're too hard (ouch) and half the time they're too light (bear down on it, guys!). Does that answer your question? Lorelei Kuk Sool Student ------------------------------ From: "Jamaica Power" Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 18:15:34 PDT Subject: the_dojang: Women MA's and weapons Dawne: Okay, here we go. Are you keeping tract? Wouldn't hurt to have some ex post facto data lying around for if/when you come up with a hypothesis to test. Me: Excellent idea. Hold that thought! Thanks. Me: Do you train with weapons? Dawne: nope. like which ones? Me: I was trying to get a handle on how many women train with any type of weapons in comparison to men. This would include but not be limited to the following: Nun-Chucks, Guns, Japanese Bo, Knives, Swords (either traditional or fencing), Fan's and anything else you consider a weapon in the traditional or non-traditional sense of the word. As always, thanks Dawne. jamaica_hotmail.com _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ From: "Jamaica Power" Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 18:24:23 PDT Subject: the_dojang: American/Korean National Anthems Thanks for the Info Rick and Chuck on the Korean National Anthem. Seriously, don't you think this would be a great test question at either colored belt or black belt level? Do you know the American National Anthem (Star Spangled Banner) or Korean? Or even the first verse. Wonder how many kids or adults could do it? I think for those schools that require a paper for dan testing it would make a great subject. You could write a comparison about the two anthems, where they came from, their meaning and what it stands for today, especially in the martial arts. Actually I'm doing that for myself right now just for my own benefit. (Smile) If you have a great voice you could even sing them at your test. People would love it. If not, well maybe best left for the privacy of your own shower...!!! jamaica@hotmail.com _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ From: Judy Barnett Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 21:26:44 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: Re: Jamaica's female poll > From: > Date: Sun, 25 Apr 1999 12:34:38 EDT > Subject: the_dojang: Re: Jamaica's female poll > > Do you feel your training is really preparing you for an unexpected > assault or confrontation that might occur outside the dojang. > YES YES YES > > Have your awareness capabilities increased? > yes > Do you think you have within you the ability to attack back (if the > situation deemed necessary) by your assailant? > Yes, have had to use it once. > > Would you be able to physically assault them if it was you or them, ie > grabbing out the eyes, ears, and other sensitive areas to render harm. > Yes . > > Have you been taught alternate ways of escape? > Yes, we practice lots of different escapes from as many differentscenarios > as we can You never know who (size,sex) is going to attack you or with what. > Have you been taught safety on the internet? > yes > > Would you be able to attack your opponent if they were another woman, > teenager (female or male). > oh yeah!! > > In today's society I still see the majority of women putting themselves at > great risk to help another woman, woman with a child or teenager even though > it could be a setup to greater problems. > I would tend to help a woman with or without child, but being aware of my > surroundings and the situation hopefully would give me time to react if it was a bad > deal. > More thoughts on your training or past experiences? > > How do you feel when you spar or throw a large male martial artist? Are you > confident or deep down inside does it make you feel very uncomfortable? > spar- I still have trouble with certain targets (groin) as my upbringing > was that girls just don't hit boys there, but.... that to shall pass. I find it > easier to become aggressive with a male partner as they tend to hit harder than my > female counterparts. > > Do you train with weapons? > yep, will take my 1st dan test in kobudo in June - we train with bo, bokken, > jo, sai, and nunchuku for 1st dan. > > Do you feel your instructors address your situations as a female. > Absolutely! I am priviledged to have both male and female instructors. > makes it great!!!!!! Interesting poll - will enjoy the results. Judy B. American NamSeoKwan TKD > ------------------------------ From: Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 21:32:55 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: Re: The_Dojang-Digest V6 #221 Me: >Do you feel your instructors address your situations as a female. Personally for some reason this question rubs me the wrong way, and I'm not quite sure why. Jamaica: I'd be interested to in why it rubs you the wrong way. Perhaps if I expand a bit on my thinking. From the women martial artists I talk to they seem to be split into two groups. Those that feel we are all equal and are students and those women that feel that women have special concerns that need to be addressed both mentally and physically, ie why I posted awhile back on male/female instructors. Hope this helps clarify where I was coming from. If not, let me know. Well, yeah. I guess I'm in that first group. No everyone is not equal, but there are tons of variables besides gender. I was raised very much with the idea that women are equal to men, I could be whatever I wanted to be, etc. Part of this is being born in 1966 and being raised by a single mom who did a fine job living her life and raising me. But the older we get the more we realize there are jus things that it does make a difference. Still, I don't think this is one of those things. I feel that we all are individuals and have to train as such. I train with people of all ages, both sexes, different backgrounds, and sometimes disabilties. I think that my instructors teach us all in a way that helps us to be the best we can be. What we don't do, and I'm glad we don't, is emphasize things in class like "women are probably going to get attacked by large men in parking lots". Not that there shouldn't be awareness of this, but I would not be comfortable with having that as a standard part of our instruction as I think it would take away from the main agenda - for everyone in there to learn taekwondo the best they can. I agree we should all (regardless of gender or age or wahtever) be cautious with strangers. Believe me if I were not I might not be here to tell about it. But sometimes I think that for *some people* sensible caution gives way to living in fear and paranoia. And many of the people I have come in contact with who are big on "women's self-defense" are seeming to be heading that direction. You asked in response to another post, about ratio of men/women in class. Ours is probably overall 60% men/40% women but I may not know the whole group. This is typical in the classes I attend. Often we have a higher percentage of women on Saturday morning but if I were to cite a gender difference we are more dedicated :) Our school offers children and adult only classes and also mixed classes. Also rank separated classes and classes for everyone. The classes for everyone fit my schedule better, usually either all adult/all ranks or anyone rank/age. I think it would be counterproductive to only train with people of our same sex/rank/size all the time, though for some things it can be good. Looking forward to more of this discussion. I have really enjoyed the responses you have gotten to this one so far. Sandy tokay@netwurx.net ------------------------------ From: Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 23:04:17 EDT Subject: the_dojang: Re: The Midnight Ninja << We used to do sleepovers in the school but stopped because of liability issues. When we did them, we always had a rousing workout, dodgeball, 4-square, a good m.a. movie and tons of pizza. The Midnight Ninja would sometimes pay a visit after everyone had sacked out. >> I just gotta know WHAT the Midnight Ninja does. Pranks, the tickles? WHAT? Dawne - who hates not knowing something that interests her ------------------------------ From: "Darlene" Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 23:02:23 -0700 Subject: the_dojang: Re: Class ratios Why women & ratio in the dojang: I believe that more women are becoming involved in martial arts for a variety of reasons. They want to become fit and aerobics bores them (and me). They have heard from other women who have gained strength, confidence and skills through martial arts. I think also that TKD offers a style of martial arts that isn't all machismo; it includes values, attitudes and courtesies that apply more to life in general than just fighting skills. Our dojang tends to attract women in pairs. Two women will come in as exercise buddies, and often one drops before they reach green belt. My TKD buddy just recently dropped for a while (she's at 3rd kup), mostly due to an injury, but also because she's starting a new academic degree program that conflicts with class night. We have two women black belts, one 1st dan, one second dan who travel a lot, so they're not always there. We have an 18-year old newly-second dan, three young 1st dan black belts, and an older 1st dan black belt, all men. In the kup group, we have almost a 50-50 mix of men and women, depending on the day. Some days it's mostly women, and some days it's mostly men. We only have two students in our class under 12, and that's because they're high-rankers. We have four or five students who are teenagers, and five or six who are adults. I very much appreciate having men and teenagers in the class to spar with, because many of the adult women, especially the newbies, are WIMPS. The teens are just *wild*.... We have two separate children's classes for beginning-intermediate belts under age 12. Out community has a lot going on for a small town. Since our classes only meet two nights a week, our attendance is often sporadic. We can have as many as 20 one night to only six another night. I'm one of the best attendees, and I still have to be gone occasionally for my daughters' 4-H meetings or for school-related meetings and events. I'm interested in hearing more about ratios in different dojangs. I would like to know: What do other (especially smaller) dojangs do about attendance variations? Darlene 2nd kup Port Hadlock, WA ------------------------------ From: "Kim Jones" Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 23:08:23 PDT Subject: the_dojang: Travel answers and the fun stuff From: "Jamaica Power" Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 10:30:02 PDT Subject: the_dojang: Travel Questions-Kim question: Do people experience different reactions when an airplane lands on the ground? Any explanations? Kim Jones +++++++++++++++++++++++ Hi Kim, no explanations but shared experiences for sure. There was a time when I really travelled a lot. And in this one month I logged the plane takeoffs and landings I did. There were 32 of them and I swear each landing and takeoff was different. Most of this was due to really bad connections, etc. Lots of pitstops. It was shortly after that month of travel that I stopped travelling like that. It took it's toll on me. It would depend if I was on a puddle jumper or large aircraft and whether it was prop or not. It would depend on the city (hi altitude) or swampland, within the US or international. Heat was a big factor. How long I had to sit in the plane before taking off again. How long I had to wander the airport, how much sleep I had. Allergies... And if I was experiencing an allergy of sorts and had to sit in the back of the plane, the noise and smells really did me in. Dehydration which was accelerated by drinking coffee or liquor on the plane. Nausea on one international flight. So sick they let me sit in the plane during a customs check when everyone else had to get off. For each take off and landing I had a different set of symptoms. Some of them quite severe. *snip* We used to do sleepovers in the school but stopped because of liability issues. When we did them, we always had a rousing workout, dodgeball, 4-square, a good m.a. movie and tons of pizza. The Midnight Ninja would sometimes pay a visit after everyone had sacked out. ********** Jamaica-- Thanks for sharing. I haven't travelled a lot via airplanes despite the fact I'm a military brat, but that experience was just plain horrible. Maybe it was because they didn't gauge the temperature correctly and being thrust back into a relatively heavily polluted atmosphere. REally did a number on me for about the first 24 hours back in country and lingered some. Just for clarification, it only happened at O'Hare Int'l and Kimpo on the Korean Air plane. Anonymous poster-- While I was back at Fort Benning, (actually, shortly after I got there) the instructor took some classmates who helped cover the cost of renting the big lodge down at the fishing spot. It was a weekend sort of thing, with the little ones tagging along as the instructor took them hiking and the rest of us older (but not yet legal) kiddies playing basketball and training w/out interruption. Lots of food to go around, but no TVs. Rather, we had the stereo (and tried putting the forms to music--which didn't quite work out) and a variety of music. Before the little ones fell off, we big mischevious kids went out and played the part of the haunted cabin... they believed in the "ghosts," for the most part. That was the only time something like that happened while I was there. Just curious, what sort of liability issues were there? Kim Jones "All warfare is based on deception." --Sun Tzu, "The Art of War" _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ From: Stan Lim Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 23:36:39 -0700 Subject: the_dojang: Re: short classes John Brett Erwin responsed: >I just don't get this. As an instructor, I have *NO* problem wearing >adults down after only a few minutes. :) As a student, I have *NO* problem getting worn down after only a few minutes of non-stop hard kicking and punchine. But some days, we do forms. Or one-step sparring. Or weapons. On those days, I might not soak my dobok. > There is a breif >warm-up to the class, but we expect the students to show up early and >warm-up on their own off to the side as the previous class is finishing. >Then, after they line-up, we can get after it! We are encouraged to arrive early to do our own warm-ups as well, but sometimes (more often lately as we have had more students recently) the dojang is already pretty packed with students from the current class, so early arrivers don't have much space to warm up (Yeah, good problem. The instructor announced today that we're very likely moving next door to a bigger building. Yippee!) Also, many of the adults in Silicon Valley work late, and making it to a 7:30 om class can be tough. So, at the start of class, there will always be some people who are all stretched out, and some who have not. I concur that as students, it is our responsibility to give 100% effort, and that includes making sure we are physically ready and capable to keep up with the rest of the class. We do our best, but sometimes, we still complain like kids, especially on the days when the instructor tells the class to do splits as the first "warm-up" exercise. :-) Stan Lim slim@employees.org ------------------------------ From: Ray Wagner Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 08:31:00 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: Re: class length Brett Erwin wrote: > I understand that a 45 minute class can be quickly wasted IF the student > isn't actively involved the entire time. If, for example, the instructor > decides he wants to watch the forms of each belt color - but does so only > one at a time - DO SOMETHING WITH THE REST OF THE CLASS!!! My last instructor had a gem he called the "constant motion drill" for situations like that. He'd take the group doing forms to one end of the floor and at the other end we would set up 3 Wavemaster bags. He'd call out a technique to do on the bag like "any roundhouse kick" and we'd kick the bag. Then he'd call out an exercise to go with it like "10 pushups". This means that you kick the bag then drop back and do 10 pushups and by the time you got back in line it was time to kick again. Every time he'd change forms groups he'd change the technique and the exercise. It could get VERY exhausting. Ray (the wannabe) ------------------------------ From: Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 08:04:51 -0700 (PDT) Subject: the_dojang: . ------------------------------ End of The_Dojang-Digest V6 #222 ******************************** Support the USTU by joining today! US Taekwondo Union, 1 Olympic Plaza, Ste 405, Colorado Spgs, CO 80909 719-578-4632 FAX 719-578-4642 ustutkd1@aol.com http://www.ustu.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this digest, the_dojang-digest, send the command: unsubscribe the_dojang-digest -or- unsubscribe the_dojang-digest your.old@address in the BODY of email (top line, left justified) addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com, in pub/the_dojang/digests. All digest files have the suffix '.txt' Copyright 1994-99: Ray Terry, Martial Arts Resource, California Taekwondo Standard disclaimers apply.