After the Baton Rouge National tournament I had so many people come up to me and tell me how impressed they were with the master demonstrations. Nearly everyone said “It was amazing how he could get out there in front of all those people and just go for it. I couldn’t have done it. I would have been scared to death! I hope my kid develops that level of confidence. ” Guess what? They will. I know this because these masters were taught the exact same way I am teaching the kids in class today. That level of confidence comes from facing the real obstacles they will encounter and then overcoming them. Like anything, the more you practice the better you get at it.

Once you have overcome and defeated enough obstacles, you start seeing obstacles for what they really are, opportunities. Will it be easy to develop this skill? I think not. Without the difficulty the lesson will never be learned. Do I try to have fun in the process? Absolutely. Nothing helps overcome a serious challenge more than laughter. But I still teach from a traditional framework that is a little old school. That is why they sometimes whine about sparring, or freak out because they don’t know their form, or say how “it just isn’t fun anymore” when things get a little tough for them. Avoidance is always someone’s first reaction to difficult situations. When you hear that, it is nothing more than confidence crisis. In the back of their minds they doubt whether they can do it. How do I know that? Because we all have been there and still have those feelings today. Don’t you think these masters were nervous and scared they walked out there in front of all those people? You bet they were. But rather than give in to that type of doubt and fear, they learned to channel it and forge it into power. Something that all my students, given time, will learn. All it takes to be successful is three things. Desire to do it. A positive attitude that you will do it. And the commitment to work toward the goal and to see it through.