The elegant ladies who punch
By ALISON ROBERTS
Sacramento Bee
Lorraine Kovar and Yvonne Boyd look like elegant ladies who lunch, but on Tuesday and Thursday nights, they’re elegant ladies who punch … and block and kick and let out shouts that should make anyone think twice about messing with either of them. Edit: Attracting attention to yourself by making noise is a deterrant to attack. Except for ninjas.
They are the reigning karate grannies and training buddies at Kovars Karate Center in Carmichael, Calif. Kovar is 79 and Boyd is 70.
“We have so much fun,” Boyd says. “I think we bring a sort of wisdom to it.”
Both women were led to the padded floor by their grandchildren.
Boyd had done her time on the sidelines watching her grandson, now 13, train.
Late last year, looking for ways to keep fit, she decided to put on the gi (the karate uniform of loose pants and short robe), which Boyd and Kovar manage to make look chic. Edit: With what? Matching patches?
Kovar is no stranger to karate, either. It was her sons, Dave and Tim, who started a karate business in 1978 that has grown to an enterprise of 18 centers. Almost everyone in her family, including her husband, Len Kovar, who is 83, holds a black belt.
Lorraine Kovar had always been happy to be the supportive spectator.
“I always said someone has to be in the audience cheering, and that was me,” she says.
But Kovar’s grandson, Dan, who is 27 and co-manager of the Carmichael center, had different plans for her. After Boyd signed up, he thought she might appreciate a peer to train with.
Dan Kovar called his grandmother and asked if she was free on Tuesday or Thursday evenings. Thinking a dinner invitation was in the works, she quickly said yes.
He said, “Good, you’re going to come to karate.”
“I thought she’d last a week or two,” he says. “She’s hooked.”
“I fooled the whole family,” Lorraine Kovar says. Edit: Suckered
“It’s easier than I thought it was going to be,” she says. “I think that kind of motion and learning is good for my mind and my body; some of the moves are like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time.”
Boyd says she notices the benefits, too: “You get stronger, and I’m more aware of my posture.”
Both say karate allows them to work at their own levels and pace. They modify some of the moves as needed. During a pushup session, Boyd does hers standing, pushing herself away from a wall.
The two don’t block and strike with the same force and speed as some of their classmates, but they still give it their all and run through the series of precise moves in order. And the two can deliver a knockout “kiai!” - the shout delivered during a move to disarm an attacker and focus energy.
The two have earned gold belts, one degree above the beginner’s white belt. The night we visited, they were training for testing for orange belts. Edit: GOLD BELT?!?!!? PFC?!?
The two women, both retired teachers, also have earned friendship through training together.
“When you start punching people, you get to know them really well,” Kovar says.
Boyd and Kovar have no plans to stop now.
“Some of those whippersnappers I started with - they aren’t here anymore,” Boyd says. Edit: Because they realised what they were doing sucked and left.
According to the Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract, released in 2006, 4.8 million Americans participated in martial arts in 2003, making it the 27th most popular of the surveyed activities. (No. 1 was exercise walking). Of those practicing martial arts, 50,000 were 65 years old or older.
After the class, the two women spring with energy and smiles as they come off the mat.
“When I punch the bag, I don’t do it very hard,” says Kovar. “But there are things I can do if I were ever in a problem situation.” Edit: In theory.
“We can get grrrrr,” says Boyd, with a menacing snarl. “You know, if we need to.” Edit: What? Make whining noises?
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