Page 97 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

CHAPTER 12

USING ADVERSITY

Super-Heavyweight Finals, Wong Fei Hung All Kung Fu Championships September 2 001

A 230-pound giant glowered and raised his wrist to mine. His heavy sweating face

smelled of rage. This guy was an accomplished fighter with a mean streak and lots of
friends at the tournament. He wanted to tear me apart. The referee stood frozen, poised to
set us loose for round two. I took a deep breath, exhaled, and felt the blood pumping
through my body, t he ground soft beneath my feet.

In seven weeks I would defend my title as Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands
Middleweight U.S. Champion, and at 170 pounds I had entered the super heavyweight
division of a regional tournament for the extra training. Maybe it was bad timing for
an experiment, but I was curious to see how I could do against men much bigger and

stronger than myself.
In the first round I had neutralized the big man’s strength, used it against him. Now
I had him mad, aggressive, and off balance. The ref gave the signal and my opponent
exploded into me, a brutal attack, coming fast from all angles but somehow in slow

motion when I relaxed into the moment. In Tai Chi the artist learns to turn aggression
back onto itself, but this is easier said than done when the incoming violence is honed by
decades of martial training. My shoulder slipped back when his left hand flew forward,
his fist filled the empty space, but then his right hand surged toward my stomach. I

melted away before the force connected, caught his right elbow, and followed the
momentum. Next thing I knew the guy was flying away from me, spinning twice in the
air before righting himself eight feet away. He shook his head and came back at me.
Only a minute to go and I will have won the finals. He attacked and I slipped aside,

sensed I had him off balance, but then his shoulder ripped into me and I heard a crack.
My hand felt icy hot. I knew it was broken. The pain jolted me into deeper focus. Time