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4 new women turned up for class last night. For the strong men this is a challenge and I always am amazed who enjoys training with as many partners as possible and who just try to stick with their small circle of clunky men.
One of my earliest encounters with technique vs. force was in my second or third year of training. There was a small Japanese (although nationality is completely irrelevant here) lady (small meaning about 140 cm and compared to my 193 cm that is very small). She trained about as long as I did. Of course she didn't use brute force on me, how could she. When we were up to speed I noticed how fast I found the floor every single time. There was a very important lesson I learned that day. I decided that I wanted to study Aikido like she did, small girl's Aikido instead of big strong guy's Aikido.
Looking back I am grateful I had so many different partners to train with in my early years. All the different partners opened my eyes to what I am searching for.
I hope enough of the women will stay to have the same impact on the clunky men I now train with.