Three mantras for training and life:
1. "Get in the game" - Don't be a spectator for your matches or just passively enter into them. Be aggressive and try to control the rhythm, movement, and pacing of the match. Don't just be a "participant" - Be IN COMMAND.
2. "Keep moving" - Don't always maintain the same sparring stance and hand positions. Change the position of your body and hands, and stay fluid. By remaining still, your opponent can read your openings easier. You become predictable and give an aura of less confidence because of your rigidity. KEEP MOVING.
3. "Play your own game" - Don't care what your opponent is going to do or how skilled they are. Go with your own game plan and force them respond to it. Sparring (life) at its core is about willpower. If you cede your willpower to your opponent, you've already lost. EXERT YOUR WILL onto them - even when counterattacking!
Also, remember that no matter how good you are, sometimes you'll win and sometimes you won't. Losing teaches you more than winning. What matters most is how well you live up to your potential, not what the end "result" is.
How many of us have seen the movies in which the expert martial artist is completely passive? You know the type... silent, still, doesn't move around much, and then when the opponent moves, the silent master just inexplicably wins? The ideal of the 'silent samurai' has done a lot to martial arts culture, to the point where some people look down on those who follow the mantras written here. An active approach (1) is seen as restless and unenlightened by some spectators and beginners, and movement and shifting up your tactics and stances (2) can be viewed by those same people as uncertainty or some kind of immature excess of energy.
ReplyDeleteAs attractive as the 'still, silent master' ideal can be, though, anyone who trains against real resistance (usually by competition, but there are other ways) will quickly learn that tips 1 and 2, while not being the usual 'enlightened master' movie fare, are essential for any standard practitioner. It may be that when one reaches total martial arts enlightenment, one might not need the advantages conferred by 1 and 2 here, but unless you're Bodhidharma (and I assume that Bodhidharma is not reading this blog), you /do/ need those things if you want to be effective.