Page 166 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

middle of one of his attacks and expl oded int o a huge pus h tha t sent hi m
flying. It looked like Chen was go ing out of the ring, but he lande d with hi s

toes still in, heels hovering over the line, and he di d a matrix maneuver, head
backwards nearly to the floor while he pus hed out with his waist to ke ep hi s
balance and stay in bounds. Such an athl ete! I char ged into the attack but jus t
when I arrived he was upright again an d s omehow rooted. T hi s was a war.

Playing in that ring with Chen I had the feeling that he was in my ski n,
sucking out my energy. I kept on pus hi ng him away like a bad dream. I woul d
unbalance him a little, weather his storms, but hi s condi tioni ng was amazing
and he kept coming back. With abo ut thi rty seconds to go in the round, I

started to feel drained. I have come to under stand that thi s is a bi g pa rt of
Chen’s strategy—he pressures oppo nen ts, nag s them . He is looki ng for
openings but really just goading rivals int o exhau sting them selves by pus hi ng
him away. He keeps pummeling in, getting pus hed back, and retur ni ng with

an endless persistence. I felt this hap pen ing and decided to stay in the clinc h
for a minute, let him in, see if he coul d do anythi ng. I was on the fl or be fore I
could blink.
It was a stunning throw. I was up and then I was do wn, and I di dn’t kno w

what hit me. I got up shaking my head and came back at hi m. The re wasn’t
much time left, and I was overaggr essive and got taken down aga in. The
second round was more of the same. He pr essur ed me, I staved hi m off,
searched for openings, but for the most part he felt like a martial gi ant . Abo ut

a minute into the round, he caught me fl -footed and the nex t thi ng I kne w I
was piling face first into the mats. Man was he fast! Then he just he ld me off,
protecting his lead. I went after hi m and was in the middl e of a wild attack, a
desperate attempt to come back when the bell rang and the match was over.

We hugged. He had beaten me with grace and true excellence. My ne ck and
shoulder were throbbing in pain. I was wrecked . I had one more match in the
tournament—a fight for third place, whi ch I somehow managed to win de spi te
hardly being able to move the right side of my upper bo dy. So I took br onz e in

the tournament and had two more years to stew in my jui ces unt il my ne xt
chance. T he bar had been set.
After the 2002 World Championshi ps I was a man on a mission. The time
had come to take my game to a new level. I had felt up close and pe rsona l wha t

the best in the world was all about and I knew it was withi n reach. Thi s ne xt
phase of my learning process woul d be abo ut bui ldi ng and refi ng a