Women taking their place in kickboxing ring
Kelly Mills, Special to The Chronicle
In stories about muay Thai - Thai kickboxing - people often mention that in Thailand, women were considered bad luck in the ring and were banned from many venues.
At the Best of the Bay kickboxing event Aug. 16 in San Francisco, there were three women in the ring for one bout, and no one batted an eye. One of the women was the "ring girl," scantily dressed and wearing heels, who walked along the ropes with a sign signaling the round number. The two other women were fighters, dressed in traditional satin muay Thai shorts, tank tops and boxing gloves. As the bell went off, the ring girl teetered off the canvas, and the two fighters emerged from their corners, trading ferocious punches and kicks. The crowd cheered as one fighter landed a hard right cross, while the other threw a whiplike kick aimed at her rival's head. When the bell rang again, the two women returned to opposite sides of the ring, sweaty and slightly bloodied, awaiting coaching from their corners, as the ring girl picked up her sign.
If the ring girl is a small reminder that, superstitions aside, kickboxing has long been dominated by male fighters and male audiences, then the appearance of female fighters is evidence that times are changing. It is becoming more common for women to compete in major fight events in front of mostly appreciative crowds.
A look around the auditorium at the San Francisco event revealed many women in attendance, too. Next to the ring sat a young woman with long dark hair, watching each fight intently. Halfway through the event she was introduced to the crowd as Jenna Castillo, one of the headliners in a forthcoming World Combat Sports Challenge event, an all-female fight card. The name of the competition? Female Fury.
While all-female fight events are still relatively rare, there's no doubt the sport - and many other full-contact combat sports - are increasingly popular with women. Today many gyms offer boxing and kickboxing workouts that vary in their parroting of techniques used in the ring, from aerobics-style kickboxing where punches and legs are thrown at the air, to practicing hitting and kicks on heavy bags and pads, to full-contact sparring. Some women may be drawn to the sport to get fit and lose weight, as an hour of kickboxing can burn 800 to 1,000 calories. Kickboxing is also more mentally challenging than slogging away on the Stairmaster. Plus, it can be used in self-defense, and increases physical confidence.
The growth of boxing and kickboxing for women has caught the attention of the fitness industry. While boxing gyms of the past were often dimly lit, focused on competitive fighters, and predominantly male, today's boxing gyms resemble any other gym, with bright lights, loud music and a sizable number of female members. LA Boxing, a franchise specializing in boxing and kickboxing for fitness, was listed in July 2008 as one of 25 fastest-growing fitness companies by the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, and the company reports that in 2006 and 2007 it expanded its number of locations by 80 percent.
It makes sense that a few women who try kickboxing and boxing in a class would fall in love with the sport and decide to fight at an amateur or professional level. Lately they have plenty of role models to choose from. The recent "Fight Girls" reality show followed a group of women competing in Thailand, and the release of films such as "Million Dollar Baby," and a documentary featuring Lucia Rijker, one of the most renowned female kickboxers, means more women are achieving public visibility.
Laila Ali and Gina Carano (a.k.a. "Crush") are known for their fighting as well as their regular roles on "American Gladiators." And the rise of mixed martial arts competitions, in which most fighters have trained in some form of kickboxing, has spawned a new audience - some female - for combat sports, as well as several competition leagues and a host of reality shows.
But while the public has a new appreciation for kickboxing and the athletes who compete in the sport, the notion of women punching each other still makes many uncomfortable. Muay Thai is often called the most brutal form of self-defense, in part because fighters use elbows and knees to wreak maximum damage on opponents. The idea of women emerging from a fight cut and bloody might give pause to some.
Castillo prepares to fight
Jenna Castillo knows about the social perils of being a female fighter. She discovered shotokan karate at age 7, and has competed in tournaments all over the world. But when, at age 17, she told her mom at a shotokan tournament in Barbados that she wanted to try full-contact fighting, some members of her family refused to speak to her again, because "girls don't do that."
"They disowned us," she says of herself and the single mother who raised her. However, Castillo's mother was supportive of her daughter's ambitions, and had trained as a bodybuilder when that sport was largely dominated by men. She understood firsthand the challenges of pursuing a sport just opening up to women.
The energetic fighter smiles broadly when she talks about her coaches and her training. Castillo missed her homecoming to attend a tournament when she heard Cung Le, a sanshou fighter and now one of the stars of the mixed martial arts world, would be appearing in a fight. His bout was canceled, but Castillo met Le anyway and began training with him. Her interest in fighting eclipsed her interest in studying, and she almost didn't complete high school. She credits Le with pushing her to finish school and graduate. She went on to take several titles in sanshou and kickboxing.
Now 26, Castillo is returning to the ring after a hiatus. She took a leave from competition when her mother went on a drug regimen to combat hepatitis C, and worked to support her mother. When her mother recovered, Castillo emerged newly inspired, and began training at Fairtex in San Francisco, where coaches Jongsanan Fairtex and Ganyao Fairtex helped her improve her skills. Her boxing coach, Mark Tabuso, says, "Jenna is fierce and fearless, and she takes a no-holds-barred approach to fighting. I practically have to force her to take a day off."
Castillo trains with both men and women, and while she acknowledges that stereotypical attitudes exist, she isn't fazed by the occasional reaction of a male training partner.
"I don't take it personally," she says. "If I was CEO of a company, a male manager below me might be uncomfortable working with me. These attitudes still exist in some areas." She believes the majority of guys simply accept her as a woman in the sport.
"It's funny, sometimes I train in the ring with someone, and we are going hard, and then we leave the gym and they hold the door for me and ask me if I'm OK walking to my car alone," she says with a wicked grin.
Female Fury
The World Combat Sports Challenge (World CSC) is sponsoring the Female Fury event on Saturday in Daly City as part four of a series of "striker" events in the Bay Area. In the competition, the headline fight features Castillo squaring off against Beth Cook, a 23-year-old fighter from Sitan Gym in Arizona with a record of an undefeated 10 wins - five by knockout. There will also be a number of fights featuring many of the best female fighters in the Bay Area.
"We're making history in holding the first all-female fight card in the state of California," says World CSC President Mike Espinoza. "And I believe this is going to be a steppingstone to bigger and better things, and open up opportunities for women fighters. I'm looking forward to seeing these passionate fighters get the credit they deserve."
Castillo trains year-round, but she's ramped up in her preparation for Female Fury. In addition to her kickboxing training, she does weight training and running several hours a week. Her fight strategy, she says, is to "rely on her corner" for advice mid-bout on how to best beat her opponent. As for her mental preparation for the fight, she says she can't wait.
"There's no feeling like it," she says about fighting. "When your body starts breaking down, you have to dig deep."
Female Fury: The World CSC Strikers Four event will be at 5 p.m. Saturday at Serramonte Del Rey, 699 Serramonte Blvd., Daly City.
www.worldcsc.net/home/home.php.
Kelly Mills is a personal trainer and freelance writer in Berkeley. She has her own fitness blog, FitnessFixation.com, and writes for the SFGate.com parenting blog the Poop. E-mail her at style@sfchronicle .com.
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