On September 17th, I competed in a karate tournament. In the sparring portion of the competition there was only one other girl in my division. The judges half payed attention to us while watching the men's sparring. They then proceeded to give both my opponent and me first place trophies even though she won the match. This is not a real win. I would've been perfectly happy with a second place trophy because at least I could've said I earned it.
The first place trophy should not be treated as a participation medal. In no other division did they award two first place trophies. The judges gave me a first place trophy seemingly because there were no other sixteen-year-old girls.
Apparently, according to the judges, because I am a women I therefore need another women to spar against. I'm considered "not strong enough to handle sparing a man.” This is proven to be untrue in nearly every dojo across America where girls and boys are sparring as equals everyday. This is why I consider myself a good fighter who spars black belts- even boys-during her own practice and does well.
In the kata portion, men and women were judged as equals and in the same ring by the same judges. The other people I was competing against were all instructors from the dojo's which was fine because I was judged based on skill, not by gender. Even though I didn’t place in kata, I still felt better about not placing than about an unearned win.
To solve my issue of having no one to spar against they could have a.) asked me if I wanted to go with the boys and then if I said "No" turn to option b.) found a girl for me to spar against and judge me like a true participate and give me the trophy I earn.
Perhaps the reason for separating girls and boys in competition is the fear of smaller or shorter competitors going up against larger and taller ones. To solve this, participants could be sorted based on height and/or weight. Considering parents place their children into martial arts so that they can learn how to defend themselves against people that may be bigger than them, this may be counterintuitive.
As my mother said to my grandmother about putting my older sister in karate, “I can put her in dance, so she’ll know what to do at the prom, or I can put her in karate so she’ll know what to do after the prom.” However, this system of sorting kids by size might be a better one to encourage more girls to participate in martial arts as long as they are viewed as equals within their skill level. So would putting some girls on the trophies.
