Page 110 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

Now, think of me, Josh, competing agai nst a less refined martial artist. Le t’s
say I am in the process of instigating a thr ow that involves six techni cal steps .

My opponent will experience an indeci pher able flur ry of action, whi le for me
the six external steps of the throw are just the out er rim of a huge network of
chunks. Our realities are very different. I am “seeing” much more tha n he is
seeing.

Consider one of my favorite judo techni ques , a variation of a sacrifi e thr ow
—or sutemi-waza. I am facing my opponent. My left han d ho lds hi s right wrist
or sleeve and my right hand holds hi s collar. The techni que inv olves the
following steps: 1) I gently push forward with my right han d on hi s che st,

causing a reactive push back. Following the momentum of his pus h, 2) I
simultaneously pull his right arm forward and across hi s bo dy, slip my left foot
in front of his right foot, pull down with my right han d on hi s lape l, and sit
back while spinning a bit to my left. 3) His right foot is bl ocked so he ha s to

fall forward, which actually feels okay to him because he will appa rent ly land
on top of me. As he starts to fall forward, however, my right foot slips be tween
his legs. 4) As he falls on top of me, I pul l hi s right arm in toward me and ki ck
up against his left inner thigh with my right foot, flippi ng him over. 5) I roll,

following his fall, and end up on top of him. 6) In the transition at the end of
this technique, I take his head in what is kno wn as a scarf ho ld, and trap hi s
right arm in a submission lock.
The first time someone has this rather count erint ui tive thr ow do ne to the m,

it will all be a blur—one fast vertigi no us exper ience of bei ng fl ppe d ont o the
floor and landed on. I speak from exper ience. I fi st saw the thr ow whe n my
close friend Ahmed sprung it on me in training a few years ago. Ahm ed is a
six-foot-two, 200-pound powerhous e who se martial instinct s emerge from a

very different place than mine. He is a near Olympi c-caliber spr int er, a
professional dancer and musician, and a lifetime martial artist, whi ch inv olves
an undefeated Muay Thai full-cont act ki ckbo xing record (15–0) and
tremendous Jeet Kun Do and karate training. I was pretty skilled in Tai Chi

Chuan (had recently won bronze in the World Cham pi ons hi ps ), had some judo
experience, and at this time, Ahmed and I were both a little over a year int o
our study of the grappling art Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with the mind- bl owing
martial artist and teacher John Machad o. Because of our different backgr ounds ,

training with Ahmed often led to creative erupt ions . When such kno wledge
gaps exist, much of the battle involves sur viving the unex pect ed and br ingi ng