I need some advice....

[BruceSteveRoy]

i think if you make her do a MA she doesnt want to do it will turn her away from all MA and make her eventually resent you. i think your best bet is to use this style as a stepping stone to something more useful. shes a little girl so she probably likes this bc it looks like dancing. but at least its dancing with some concept of MA. if you look at it in the long term its better for you to let her and then try to redirect her into a more useful MA later on. your wife is happy and thinks you are understanding, your kid wont hate MA just bc her dad made her do them, and eventually if you can get her to switch to Kungfu or karate you get what you want too.
i would not push her towards judo though. its a fun sport but on a more superficial notev you start a little girl off on that by the time she is in high school she will have shoulders like a linebacker. just a thought.

[neilhytholt]

If I could make a suggestion, though, from one (formerly) married guy to a married guy.

You can't really push your kids or your wife to do stuff. They're not really into that.

What worked to get my kids into martial arts was I got movies to show them about martial arts. And what really broke the camel's back, so to speak, was a Disney movie called 'Wendy Wu'.

One that worked well for Shaolin Kung Fu was Shaolin Ulysses, which is this movie about a bunch of monks that come from China to the U.S. One of the girls on the show Julie Zhang, is just so excited about being a wushu star that really got my daughter into thinking she wanted to be a martial arts action star.

Then, Wendy Wu got her interested in animal style martial arts, which is what I happened to take as a teen. So I started teaching her, and she's really into that now.

(My son, unfortunately, is too young to effectively control himself, so he's off training at the moment. It's either that or ADD drugs).

[PlumDragon]

Let her go to the Capoiera school.

Would you be putting up the same sort of fight if she was trying to choose between ice skating and roller blading? Even if she goes to a martial arts school where the goal is totally removed from self defense (like the plethora of tai chi school that teach for health with no martial intent), isnt the end goal that she is learning more about how her body works and having a good time doing it?

Everyone wants their kids to be able to handle themselves in a bad situation, physically or emotionally, etc but you cant make her become proficient at something if she hates it or feels resentful because you made her do one thing when she justly wants to do something else.

The last thing Id like to say, which I find myself saying alot these days...Its all about OBJECTIVE. CMA, JMA, FMA, MMA, whatever...It makes little different what style one studies. The ONLY important factor is how one trains, the drills/applications/exercises that are performed to meet those objectives. Depending on the focus, this Caopiera school could create crap fighters or it could create world-class fighters, and the same goes for any other style one studies. It all depends on their goals and how they go about meeting those goals. Its how you train, not what you train...

So...hoping this doesnt come across abrasively: As long as your daughter/wife/sister/mother/dog/friend/etc is doing things to grow in life, stop tryign to control what they do and let them make decisions for themselves (within reason of course for young children).

[BigPandaBear]

Hey, thanks for the advice everyone. I guess I have been a bit selfish, and I'm going to let her practice what she wants. I know all too well what can happen if a parent pushes a kid to do what they don't want to do.

I think part of the reason I was so intent on her learning Judo/Bjj was because I had friend who was raped by her boyfriend, and her pain really stuck with me. When I had a baby girl, I was determined that she wasn't going to become a victim.

She saw me practicing my Shotokan forms, and I showed her some Judo techniques, and she seemed really interested in what I was doing. I just feel a little "rejected" I guess.

Anyways, to some specific posters;

Neilhythot- Trust me my friend, the 2 women of my life run the show. I learned that a long time ago.

Sevenstar- its this place here;

http://www.tabcatcolumbus.org/faq.html

Heard anything positive or negative about these guys?

[PlumDragon]

BigPanda:
Read over that website a bit. They have some very specific and culturally important training philosophies that you should take a look at if you havent already:

http://www.tabcatcolumbus.org/faq-phil.html

Of important note, and I thin this sums it up prefectly in the FAQ:

"T.A.B.C.A.T. classes are participatory only. We believe you can only understand capoeira angola by performing it yourself. It is also a question of respect for our traditions and protecting capoeira angola from being misrepresented..."

Its a wise decision to let her try it out, and maybe you should try it with her--you might both gain a profound understanding of the art and bond as a result.

If thats not enough, classes there are VERY inexpensive, and after perusing the website, it looks like an amazing opportunity, both for martial as well as cultural reasons. Take the leap in and you might be very happy you decided to invovle yourself with such a neat hobby and group of people...

[SevenStar]

She saw me practicing my Shotokan forms, and I showed her some Judo techniques, and she seemed really interested in what I was doing. I just feel a little "rejected" I guess.

yeah, that can happen. I was teaching mine muay thai, then one day he was at our school and saw the capoeiristas training. He instantly took to it. He still trains muay thai, and wants to train judo when he gets older - but his main focus right now is capoeira. He wanted me to take it with him though, so I started, and I think it's great.

[SevenStar]

that site is informational. Also, they are an angola school - they don't do the flashy stuff you see in demos, that is mainly regional. regional is fast paced and likes to mix it up. angola is more closely aligned to the original capoeira of bahia. Definitely check it out.

[ChinoXL]

capoeira + tkd = kicking nuts off and she can flip away
not only that she's 10 so you don't want her to be grouping with little boys at sucha young age; obviousily you know that judo is very effective however considering the fact that she's a girl = very different from boy.. i suggest a girl learn tkd and u teach her kung-fu aggression (kick in nuts) and mix it with capoeira so she can dance AND break balls ouch..

[Fu-Pow]

but flowery forms and qi blasts can?

That's right...because everything...even capoeira is better than kung fu

[SevenStar]

That's right...because everything...even capoeira is better than kung fu

my sentiments exactly.

[SevenStar]

On an honest note, they train harder than pretty much anyone else I've seen. Training wise, I put them with sport fighters.

[BigPandaBear]

that site is informational. Also, they are an angola school - they don't do the flashy stuff you see in demos, that is mainly regional. regional is fast paced and likes to mix it up. angola is more closely aligned to the original capoeira of bahia. Definitely check it out.

Okay, so since Angola is less flashy, does this mean that she's isn't going to be seeing all that acrobatic stuff she saw in those vids?

[BigPandaBear]

BigPanda:
Read over that website a bit. They have some very specific and culturally important training philosophies that you should take a look at if you havent already:

http://www.tabcatcolumbus.org/faq-phil.html

Of important note, and I thin this sums it up prefectly in the FAQ:

"T.A.B.C.A.T. classes are participatory only. We believe you can only understand capoeira angola by performing it yourself. It is also a question of respect for our traditions and protecting capoeira angola from being misrepresented..."

Its a wise decision to let her try it out, and maybe you should try it with her--you might both gain a profound understanding of the art and bond as a result.

If thats not enough, classes there are VERY inexpensive, and after perusing the website, it looks like an amazing opportunity, both for martial as well as cultural reasons. Take the leap in and you might be very happy you decided to invovle yourself with such a neat hobby and group of people...

Hmm, I don't know about that. All that loony aerial stuff doesn't sit right with me.

I'm a pretty open-minded person though, so who knows. I'm still a pretty young guy, so maybe I can look as cool as some of those headspinners do.

I do like that its non-Asian and has a Christian foundation, also the founders/masters of the art look like her (she's biracial), so it gives her something to identify with. Also it is rather cheap and on a college campus. That's always a plus in my book.

[Fu-Pow]

my sentiments exactly.

That was my point.

[SevenStar]

Okay, so since Angola is less flashy, does this mean that she's isn't going to be seeing all that acrobatic stuff she saw in those vids?

no, not as much of it. From what I've seen of angola (one of our bjj purple belts is brazilian and trained angola in rio de janeiro) it's all low to the ground - not really flashy at all.