Page 188 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

In round two I felt unstoppable. I di dn’t care abo ut the refs or the score. I
kept winning one point after the next after the next and I heard Dan and my

teammates chanting Tiger, Buma Ye, Tiger, Buma Ye. I was in his head and kept
on coming. My father said this was hi s favorite match, that it was a be aut iful ,
emotional experience to watch. To me it felt techni cal: I won it bef ore steppi ng
in the ring. Afterward my team mobbed me and Max lifted me int o the air.

The stadium was silent but for the voice of my po p and the guy s around me. I
was World Champion.
Now let’s see if I could do it twice.

MOVING STEP FINALS

Buffalo entered the ring screaming, wild, fi ts pumpi ng the air. I ha d felt hi s
mortality in Fixed, which was good, but the Moving Step woul d be hi s lega cy.

He’d trained his whole life to be World Cham pi on. I had no solut ions to hi s
game, only ideas. He was surely the gr eater athl ete. But maybe I was the be tter
thinker. The bell rang and he went right on the attack, pum meling in for the

underhooks. For a few seconds I fought for the inside position but he felt too
powerful and I decided to give it to him—no reason to meet him head- on. His
left arm pummeled deep under my right armpi t and wrapped up my sho ul de r.
My right foot was forward and my right arm locked down on his left uppe r
arm. He had better leverage for edgi ng me out and for certain thr ows, but I

had some excellent weapons as well. When the timing felt right I cranke d to
the left. We went down hard toget her. I ins tigat ed the thr ow, but my left
elbow touched just before he crashed do wn. His po int , 1–0. My shi rt was

ripped up; I didn’t mind the cave man feeling, but the offi als made me
change it.
I’d lost the first point but felt potential. Play resum ed, we conne cted, I
disconnected, then came straight in on him and tried to jump around and take
his back but he was too quick and wrapped me up. We separated, I da nc ed

around him, tried to enter fast and spi n hi m but no thi ng ther e. We felt each
other out. Then he cranked hard, I went with it, spun with the force and stayed
on my feet, but when I landed he was on me, pus hi ng hard. I rooted it out , but

he kept on coming, relentless, and he edged me out of the ring. I’m do wn 2–0.
About a minute to go in round one. I tried a coupl e of thi ngs but coul dn’t fi
a hole. He was confident, too strong; I needed to us e that strengt h, the re was