Page 163 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

such competitions in Taiwan, wher e Pus h Hands is the nat iona l spo rt.
Mediocrity can be self-nurturing, and frankl y, many U.S. Push Hands pl ayers

delude themselves about their level of pr ofi ency. The top Taiwane se fi ers
train for many hours a day from childho od, cons tantly compet ing in br ut al
regional and national tournaments. For the sum mer before the bi annua l Chung
Hwa Cup, the elite schools have training camps wher e fi ers up the int ens ity

of their preparation, working six or eight ho ur s a day, combi ni ng int ens e
conditioning with technical sharpen ing. The stakes are very high for the se
competitors, and they are well-oiled machi nes when they step in the ring.
Foreigners traveling to the Chung Hwa Cup are ent ering the den of the lion.

Win in Taiwan and then we can talk ab out gr eatnes s.
The first time I traveled to Taiwan, in 2000, I was fresh off winni ng my fi st
Push Hands National Champions hi p. In more ways than one, I ha d no ide a
what I was getting myself into. I described in Building Your Trigger how I got

blindsided by the scheduling of the event. I was told my first match woul d be
early in the morning but I was faced with hours of waiting. I got increasingly
hungry and had nothing to eat. When the lunch br eak was anno unc ed at no on,
I devoured a greasy platter and was immediately called to the ring. I go t bl own

out of the water by the guy who went on to win the tour nam ent . Whi le I
certainly needed to take on the psychologi cal side of what happe ne d to ha ve
any chance to compete under these condi tions , the trut h of the matter is tha t it
was not the decisive factor. My oppo nen t was much better than me. If I ha d

been perfectly poised, h e would have beaten me. I had a lot to learn.
In the two years following my first exper ience in Taiwan, I really buc kl ed
down in my training. I’ve described much of that work in the early cha pt ers of
Part II, but there was also another compo nen t to thi s pr eparation. Chi ne se

martial arts tend to be very secretive, and Tai Chi Chuan is a pa rticul arly
enigmatic discipline. If you read the Tai Chi Classics, study the phi losophi cal
foundation, practice the moving medi tation, you will gain a sense of awarene ss,
feel supple, and possibly be able to gen erate a lot of speed and po wer. But it is

hard to translate these principles int o viable martial appl ication unt il you test
yourself out in the ring and incrementally separate the real from the mythi cal.
Unfortunately, many teachers haven’t do ne thi s them selves, and the y pr otect
their egos and their schools by claiming to have tremendo us po wer—f or

example, the ability to throw someone witho ut touch ing them —but the y
refuse to show anyone. Often, suppo sedly great martial artists will avoid