When I started in the martial arts, over six years ago now, I did it to have fun with my (then) four year-old son. I’ve always been an athletic person, but the martial arts was not something I ever really considered doing. Growing up in a traditional Asian-American household, it was uncommon for girls to do kung fu. I had dabbled in kickboxing in my twenties, but that was more for stress relief than anything else.
What I never expected was for the art to “speak” to me the way it did, to connect with me.
To this day it is very hard to explain to people who have never practiced the art why I love it so much. It speaks to my soul. It empowers me. Karate is more than people think. There is the martial aspect of it, for certain. We learn to hit and punch things, to defend ourselves. But there is also a great beauty in the movement and the development of knowledge around how the body works. The discipline of the training, the traditions around the art, the values it instills in us. As a woman, practicing the art is different than for most men. Many men look for the fight and the flashiness, the point of comparing who’s the better martial artist. Women look at how to defend ourselves. We learn to appreciate and leverage the finer points of the art since we can’t overpower the vast majority of men. We learn to utilize grace and balance along with strength to our advantage.
It is always a thrill for me to have women and girls in class. Many of my female students come from dance and gymnastics backgrounds and are able to leverage strength and flexibility. My younger female students will often come in because they are a bit more “tomboy” than expected or their parents want to make sure they have confidence to protect themselves. A lot of moms will venture in with their kids and decide to try it out when they see a female Sensei on the floor. How awesome is that!
Almost seven years later, my journey in the art has led me to teaching and running a studio. If you watch my business partner (who is male and 17 years younger than me) and me, you get the best of both worlds! I’m never going to do a jump spinning kick over your head like he can, but I’m a display of how grace and power can combine to be effective. Much like yin needs yang, we balance male and female, younger and “more experienced,” single and married, into a great environment for learning and sharing the joy of the art. My goal is to see more women embrace training in the martial arts, to balance the toughness with the joy in the beauty and strength of the art.
ANITA RONZONE is a karate instructor six days a week, a working professional five days a week, and a 24/7 wife, mother, and small business owner who believes that having goals which motivate you to pursue your passions — and never giving up — is how you live life to its absolute fullest... more »
I can’t agree with you more! I have been training for almost 4 years and will be testing this summer for my black belt! My daughters started just a couple of months after me and are testing Saturday for their brown belt!
I started because I wanted to do this all my life – just loved the beauty of it! They started because they saw how excited I was to get my orange belt and wanted to feel that joy and excitement for themselves! The strength of body and mind are priceless! I highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested, regardless of current physical state (although some conditions may require drs ok). In other words, you don’t have to be totally flexible or be able to do jump spin kicks before starting! Just start. Take the baby steps! Or should I say – baby kicks?!!! Great article! Thanks for sharing it! -kg
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I’m right there with you ladies! I started 2 years ago after my twin boys had been in it for a session. They have since moved on to other activities (their long, growing legs don’t lend themselves naturally to the shotokan style
but I can’t imagine NOT continuing. I will be testing for my low purple belt this spring and have competed in the Chicago area tournaments. That’s stressful but since everyone around me is over 35, there’s a nice camaraderie. There are women of all shapes and sizes, everyone doing their best and encouraging each other. Karate has inspired me to cross train more often, yet when friends ask me how I stay in shape I give karate the credit. I work with Girls on the Run and as a social worker, lead a therapy group for teen girls and I’ve shared some of the Athleta stories with them to remind them that there’s so many things they can do that don’t require them to compete against peers. It’s about your OWN journey and seeking ways to challenge YOURSELF. Thanks so much for your story, Anita!
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Kerry, way to rock your training! I love hearing stories of our women and girls in the arts. We set the standard for young ladies to realize that they can do it too. I’ve trained the smallest 7 year old girls to the most amazing 68 year old grandmas. Everyone can try it regardless of your physcial state. At 40, I’m working towards my 3rd degree in kempo and I hang in there with the 20 year old men just fine!. Sara, great post because yes! The camarderie and support you get from others is more than I expected. Being inspired by your kids (which is what I did) to inspiring your kids and others is what sharing the art is about. Having ladies like you representing in the martial arts is absolutely fantastic. Continue the journey! Yours in the arts – ACR
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Awesome, I’m so glad martial arts is being blogged about
Hee~ There’s a lot of power but the mental focus is amazing too.
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It’s been years since I took my first martial arts class. I’m looking forward to your posts about it!
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Very interesting that various students come from gymnastics and dancing backgrounds. Cool.
I only took tai chi (and you know probably that there are different forms of tai chi). Haven’t gotten into martial arts.
By the way, it is refreshing to see a non-white female athlete featured on Athleta’s blog. Hope that look hard at their changing markets/demograhics.
From a long-time Canadian cyclist.
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I wanted to thank Jean so much for her post! Tai Chi is a wonderful place to start as it too is a fighting based art form. And I very much appreciate your comment on having more non-white female athletes featured!
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