THE DANGERS OF THE UNORTHODOX

“There are some things that can beat smartness and foresight? Awkwardness and stupidity can. The best swordsman in the world doesn't need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn't do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn't prepared for him; he does the thing he ought not to do; and often it catches the expert out and ends him on the spot.”

-Mark Twain

 

I remember one of my old martial arts instructors telling me that the two most dangerous people to fight were a black belt and white belt.  My instructor explained to me that Black belts were dangerous because they knew what they were doing and that white belts were dangerous because they didn’t.  White belts would do crazy goofy crap.

 

I have found this to be very true.  When two people share a discipline and enter an engagement the two will fall into a sort of rhythm.  When a punch is thrown you expect it to be thrown correctly, it is like two dancers coming together to Tango.  There is an expectation of harmony.  Throw in a dancer who doesn’t know the dance however and what you get is a clumsy mess.  Fighting is much like this.  When a trained fighter faces an unorthodox one trained or not there is a certain mayhem that ensues.  The unorthodox approach tends to throw off even the best trained.   The enemy displaying an unorthodox approach by either design or a lack of training can have a much more detrimental effect that one would think.  I personally feel that I am a competent practitioner of my craft.  

When I spar with my 7-year-old Joaquin however I feel clumsy and he tags me frequently.  I would like to think that I am better than my little clone, so why does he tag me?  Well truth be told, he is a little ball of unpredictable energy.  He is quick and does things that he isn’t supposed to.   I have trained myself to respond to most reasonable responses to my actions but my seven-year-old doesn’t seem to respond reasonably.  He steps in when he should step out, He goes left when he should go right, it’s frustrating but it brings home the idea that we need to train for the unexpected.