“I fear not the man
who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one
kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee
It is no secret that I am a Bruce Lee fan. Perhaps fan isn’t the appropriate word. Disciple?
Anyway…
What is he trying to tell us? To me, it is perfectly clear. The man who practices 10,000 different kicks
only one time each would, theoretically, have a wide range of knowledge about
kicking. However, his execution of each
kick would be terrible. His technique
would, more than likely, be incorrect and ineffective in a real life
scenario. Translation: He gets his butt
whooped.
Now, someone who has practiced one kick 10,000 times would
almost certainly have a mastery of that one kick. He would execute it correctly and
appropriately. He would know all the
ways to deliver it in a real life scenario and I would imagine would have a
much better success rate than the 10,000 different kick fool. Translation: Maybe doesn’t get his butt
whooped. Instead whoops opponents butt.
But what is Bruce really trying to get at with this
statement? The operative word here is
“practice”. Let me put it in simpler
terms so some of you millennials understand it (and some D3 and D4 guys… you
know who you are). Two guys practice
free throws. One of them practices his
shot 10 times and then goes home. The
other guy stays there and practices his shot 1,000 times. Who do you think will have the better free
throw the next day?
Again, not to harp on this topic but if you want to be good
at paintball, here’s a newsflash… you have to practice. You have to commit to a regimen that is
either equal to or greater than your potential opponents. You have to do it better and smarter. Ask yourself, how much do you want to
win? If it is a driving goal of yours to
be successful at something whether it is as a paintball team or as a
professional nose picker, get your butt out on the field and get at it. (Keep the nose picking to yourself)
Don’t just run points.
That isn’t practicing… it is but it is practicing how not to get
better. That is the 10,000 different
kicks guy. I am not saying you shouldn’t
run points. What I am saying is you
should do MORE than run points and scrimmage.
You should constantly strive to stay sharp in the fundamentals: snap
shooting, laning, run and gunning. No
one likes to run drills but those who do them are always a step ahead of the
competition. You should practice
situational drills. You should practice
communication drills. You should do
muscle memory drills. You should
practice, practice, practice.
I will make this one short because I have to get back on FB
as I have seen there are many sheep who are in need of saving from their
political ignorance and lack of logical, rational and critical thinking (I
blame the new math… driving kids straight to the streets). I will leave you with another quote from
Bruce. I want you to apply it to your
practice schedule. He said, “If you
always put a limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will
spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only
plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
Boo-yaa…
Be water my friends,
Michael Bianca
Prime Paintball
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