Page 5 - Beyond Basics_Neat

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How do you get inside a fighter's mind? How can you tell what his
thought process is? Veteran fighters can read their opponents
like a well read book, can predict strategies, tactics and response
patterns. Back to the first question - how does a fighter process
what he or she does? On top of that, how can a fighter transmit
how they think to another so that they can duplicate and apply it
for themselves?
I've known Mike Shintaku since our first meeting in 1969. He and
I matched up for third place in the lightweight Brown Belt division
at the Seattle Open Karate Championships. He returned to the
Pacific Northwest in 1976 and we made fast friends. We have
competed against each other many times and every match I had

You will be amazed at his attention to detail
and depth with which he lays out this topic.

with him was a chess match. We never "fought" per se. We never
battled. We played chess, a karate player's form of it. We may
have been boring to watch but internally they were some of the
best matches I ever had. When we weren't competing, he and I
have exchanged personal concepts, theories, tactics and
strategies. We had no secrets from each other.