My two daughters and I currently train in Tang Soo Do style taekwondo. We will be moving soon and I'm beginning the research on new schools. My youngest (7yo) adores sparring. She takes delight in being able to run and kick and yell. She's fiercely competitive, loves to win against boys, and is always the first one to volunteer in a sparring bout. There's a ITF affiliated school in our new city that I'm looking at for her (and probably me too). My eldest daughter is more tricky. She's nearly 13 (going on 20... sigh). She HATES sparring. Loathes it. Only ever trained in it because it was a required portion of her junior black belt test. She also hates grappling/rolling (our school cross trains in other arts so she had been exposed to limited amounts of BJJ, Aikido, and FMA). Her favorite parts of training are the forms, especially the ones that involve intricate movements or weapons (the bo staff is her favorite). Her main motivation in getting her black belt was that she could then help as an assistant instructor in the 'Little Dragon' program at our school. She loves teaching younger kids the basics, and she's good at it (plus the little ones adore her). I think that as we move, it would be an ideal opportunity for her to try a new art, but I'm not sure which would be best suited to her personality. As a parent, I really want her to have some kind of physical activity that she loves (even though she'd much rather sit and read a book than raise a sweat). Plus I understand that having non-family mentors during those formative teen years is so important. Advice?
Simulated fighting being the whole POINT of martial arts, perhaps the older daughter doesn't have to do martial arts anymore? Perhaps she'd enjoy dancing more (on account of the choreography -- "forms")?
Nah not necessarily. Loads of martial arts crap for fighting but people do them for other reasons. @OP I'd recommend extreme martial arts or XMA as they're called. It's just forms taken to the extreme that require lots of gymnastic type movements but also involves weapons. Or she could take up something like Aikido, which again has almost no real contact but has lots of flashy moves that involves weapons as well as a large empty hand portion.
Have you tried asking her? You'd be better off seeing what's in your new area and if any of that actually interests her.
Given your description of your daughter, I would suggest looking for Japanese koryu in your new city. They can sometimes be hard to find, so ask lots of questions. The Japanese koryu (classical arts established prior to the wearing of swords being outlawed in Japan in 1876) always involve weapons, and the main teaching element is through forms. Although paired forms are predominant, very few of them contain any actual sparring. They are also quite cerebral with rich histories and many layers that only get revealed after training long enough to recognize them. A good place to learn about the Japanese koryu is Martial Arts of Japan: Koryu.com Just something else to think about.
That or maybe see if there is a MA-school that has specialized courses for shows? A teacher I know used to do show-classes with young teens; it was pretty much very artistic martial movements, that were more for looking cool than anything else. But having seen one or two videos of the kids, I'd say they must have liked none the less, because otherwise they wouldn't have been that good nor would he have wasted his time. Also: I am not in Kung Fu at all. I know they name, saw some videos and such, but never did it. But at least here, lots of schools seem to have a big focus on forms and artistic movements as well; maybe that could be an alternative as well? (Before someone gets me wrong: Yes, we also seem to have CMA where actually fighting is involved ) Oh, yeah, and that of course. I even prefer it when the parents of the little ones ask them, if they really want to try out our club; with a 13 year old that is definitely another thing to consider
If your daughter loves forms then she might like soutern chinese arts. It is the love of the forms that I practice and teach the arts that I do. the forms have a different emphasis from the xtream forms stuff described above. it is much more about good mechanics, staying in balance, and moving the body in a way that conects ever part to every other part, more mind and motion, than acrobatics. the mechanics are directly related to fighting but it is not necessary to fight to learn the forms. As I teach HUNG GAR Kuen that is the one I would recommend. However there are many beautiful forms in other arts. Plum blossom boxing, flower boxing, dragon boxing, monkey boxing, white crane, all have beautiful forms. I would stear away from win chung however - it is an excellently effective art but, boy are the forms dull. Southern Chinese arts also have more weapons than you can shake a boe stick at.
Another +1 to XMA. See if there are any WuShu schools around also which fits into that mold, gymnastic extravagant forms with little or no sparring.
