So I am teaching kids class last night and I get this opportunity to drop some knowledge on one of our little warriors in training. I am running the kids through sparring and Andrew gets called in to go with Mike. Mike is all fired up while Andrew is barely awake. Andrew walks out and gets blasted in the leg then punched 2 o r 3 times pretty hard. Mike is good to go but Andrew is looking at Mike like “Why did you do that?”
I called a halt to training. Andrew needs to get his head in the game and the rest need to learn something.
I asked Andrew if Mike was supposed to hit him? It’s sparring, so we all know the answer – Of course! Now I addressed an issue we all fall into and not just in sparring. Are we waiting for our opponent to stop or are we doing what we can to defend and counter. If we are waiting for the stop we are letting our opponent have control of the situation and us. If we work on defending and countering we are staying proactive and maintaining some semblance of control.
This situation plays out in training and how we deal with it there dictates many times how we deal with things off the mat as well. Are you going to give control to the forces around you or are you going to keep control and live your life the way you want to?
I would rather fail off my own effort then succeed due to someone else’s mercy.
Brian Wright
Head Trainer, Real Elite