Women Head Instructors

[ArmorOfGod]

Out of curiosity, how many here have been trained solely by a women or attended a school where the head instructor was a woman?

In my area, there are roughly 30 schools, but none are headed by a woman. I doubt it is much different nationwide, but who here came from a woman-led school?

AoG

 

[Flying Crane]

Yes, in my Capoeira school where I have trained for several years, the head instructor is a woman. She is a very experienced and skilled capoeirista, and a dedicated and talented teacher. It has been a good experience, and I believe her approach to the art is somewhat different than most men's, due to the fact that she is not as large and strong as most of the men in the art. I think she has to play a more crafty and smart game, and this is what she teaches.

 

[Cirdan]

Two of the three schools I have trained at have female head instructors. Very impressive women indeed. However most of the time, I guess about 70%, I have been instructed by men. There are usually more male trainers around.

 

[Carol]

The highest-ranked Kenpo instructor in my area is a lady - Ms. Doreen Cogliandro.

 

[HKphooey]

I personally have not trained with her (accept at a seminar), but Doreen Cogliandro of Revere Karate Academy (Mass.) has trained some and promoted some great black belts. She is an accomplished fighter and very well respected in the kenpo community.

 

[HKphooey]

The highest-ranked Kenpo instructor in my area is a lady - Ms. Doreen Cogliandro.

You beat me to the punch.

 

[PictonMA]

One of the principal dojo I trained in had a woman chief instructor - very impressive lady indeed and a role model to me to this day.

Two of the dojo I have trained it had women as the assistant instructor - also both very impressive.

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

I have never been fortunate enough to experience this save one brief lesson from a woman who is a school head in Delaware. Ms. Kathy Owen, SP

 

[Carol]

You beat me to the punch.

This may be the only time that I am ever faster than you sir :asian:

 

[Slippery_Pete]

I attend two schools...one during school because it is considered a PE credit...and one during the summer...same metro area and the one at college is a sister school...the head instuctor of the "main" gym is a woman that is a 5th Dan...the instuctor at my college is a man that is a 4th Dan...two totally different styles of constructing and running the class!

 

[still learning]

Hello, We have five schools on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Keauu School -head Instructor Stiles 5th degree (female), highest on the Island.

An excellant teacher/kempoist.....strong and very quick....very knowledge too...train directly under our Professor.

It doesn't matter if the person is a Male/Female...What is important is "How good of an Instructor they are".....She is "Great".

"WHO you learn from "is more important the the gender..........Aloha

 

[Brandon Fisher]

I have some friends where the school is owned and operated by a women and the senior instructors are women.

One famous female instructor Dr. Roberta Trias-Kelley, Hanshi / 9th Dan the daughter of Robert Trias.

 

[BrandiJo]

my fist instructor was female, and now my school is ran by a brother and sister pair neither is above the other
​

 

[Fluffy]

My mother is the chief instructor/owner of a school in N. Seattle.

She Kicks ***! And I'm very proud of her.

 

[tkd_jen]

I have had 2 women instructors, one is the same as Slippery Pete's, and the other was my first instructor when i was in college, I believe she is a 5th or 6th dan now. I don't know if it is coincidence that I chose these schools that happened to have women as head instructors or if it was a subconcious decision to go there because the head instructor's were women. Both provide great inspiration to me as a woman in MA in totally different ways and both are outstaning martial artists in my opinion.

 

[Shaolinwind]

Out of curiosity, how many here have been trained solely by a women or attended a school where the head instructor was a woman?

In my area, there are roughly 30 schools, but none are headed by a woman. I doubt it is much different nationwide, but who here came from a woman-led school?

AoG

Way back in my TSD days the master at my school was a woman.

 

[CuongNhuka]

There are two schools in my area (that I know of) that are lead by women. Mine has a female assisant instructor, but not head.

 

[MRE]

I attend a school run by our head instructor and his wife. Although she is not the head instructor, she leads our training in many ways. Her technique, attitude, and training methods are excellent. However, in my opinion, her greatest asset is that she and the head instructor balance each other so well. This balance is especially clear when they take she and the head instructor take turns demonstrating the same technique. Where the head instructor powers through blocks and destroys targets, she flows through defenses and disables her opponents. I don't want to say her style is soft because I would never call her soft (especially to her face). Its just that she shows us a different way to accomplish things.

Because of this, I am partial to having both mail and female instructors.

 

[Kacey]

I've never been in a class where there was a female head instructor except mine - I've been teaching TKD for 15+ years, and know very few female practitioners who reach high enough rank to teach; unlike many of the women I know, however, I have never had kids... and the ones who have have dropped out at some point in the pregnancy, and few have ever come back, even though the fathers (sometimes of the same children) have come back. This leads to very few high ranking female practitioners, and therefore very few female instructors - in fact, I only know of one female head instructor who has a child, and she was the head instructor of her school for over 10 years before the child was born, so she had plenty of help when she needed it. I do think that having children has a great deal to do with finding the time needed to commit to teaching a class or running a school, and I think it is harder for women, physically (pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, sick child, etc.) and emotionally (societal pressure, the needs of the family, etc.) than for men - although that is changing as society changes, but it still takes times for MAs to recruit more female students and have them stay long enough to become instructors, so there is a time lag there.

 

[fireman00]

the owner/ head instructor of the dojang I attend is a female, there are 4 female assistants along with 4 male assistants. When I first met her for my "interview" of her it quickly turned into her interview of me as a student... very similar to how my first instructor (a male) handled our initial encounter. She is an excellent teacher and role model.