Thursday, October 1, 2009

Girls can box

Wed 30/9/09. INTi Dojo

I, the new girl who signed up for Aikido  last week joined the SySSDA class. She is about 165 cm tall with a fair complexion and wears her hair shot. About 55 kg she is of regular built in relation to her weight but certainly looks heavier than J1 and J2 the two senior girls in the club. 

For a long time all the girls who have ever join the club for Aikido and SySSDA training were rather girlish, soft and weak due to their Asian culture, upbringing and famine nature and I thought this one was no exception. I soon found out that sometimes you can't judge a book by its cover.

I was quite amazed by her strength and precision when I asked her to deliver a punch to my body in the strike receiving exercise. Although not hurting I could feel the intent, concentration and power of her punch that even exceeded some of the striking ability of the guys.

Normally the typically beginner would try to hold back his strike for fear of injuring his partner or the teacher, This applies to both the guys and the girls and I would have to remind them over and over again to hit harder to no avail. However when I asked her to strike with realistic force this girl literally took my word to heart. Without hesitation and forethought, not even a flinch, she spontaneously fired one power shot after another at my body repeatedly. Wow! I was impressed. It has been a long time since I received power shots from the students. Always inevitably I sense the intent of the students momentarily holding back the strike during impact with its target due to fear of hurting their partners.

"Have you practiced any martial art before you joined the Aikido club?" I asked  rather amused after the strike receiving drill had ended. "Yes. I practiced taekwondo until I attained yellow belt rank." she answered with a nod. "Not bad, even for a yellow belt in TKD." I thought to myself.

"Hey guys. All of you should train with this lady!", turning around to face the rest of the class I proclaimed with a knowing mile in my face.