Thread: Equitable?
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Old 03-30-2005, 10:26 PM   #339
Don_Modesto
Dojo: Messores Sensei (Largo, Fl.)
Location: Florida
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 1,267
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Re: Equitable?

Quote:
Ron Tisdale wrote:
Agreed...but let's be clear about something. We are talking about Aikido, demonstrations, and teaching. Since Aikido generally (there are exceptions) doesn't have formal competition, we don't have to worry about the whole weight class thingy here. So in demonstrations and teaching, can equally well trained males and females perform on equal footing? I would have to say yes, they can. It doesn't mean that the women have to defeat the men in a fist fight...it means that their movement under the same amount of stress seen in demos and teaching has to embody the same principles of aikido. It means that they have to be able to communicate to and inculcate in their students those same principles at the same level.

I know great male teachers I go to who would not last very long in a fist fight anymore...but I don't stop going to them for demos and teaching just because in competition, younger, stronger men statistically win against older, weaker men.

Ron
Worth repeating.

Very nice post, Ron. You've spoken for me better than I have for myself on this topic in the past.

Don J. Modesto
St. Petersburg, Florida
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