Winning Matters

The martial arts have a two-fold agenda: To prepare you to participate in tournaments (or sports), and to prepare you to participate in real life scenarios. This split focus might be the prime element that distinguishes the martial artist from other sports participants who are preparing to run a marathon, go to the Olympics, or win a hockey match but are not concerned with issues of life and death. So to those who say that winning and losing don’t matter, that your only competitor is yourself, and that you should strive to be the best that you can be, I say, Baloney! In struggles of life and death, winning matters. Winning is good for the spirit even in martial arts simulations not involving life and death. In competition, too, winning matters. A central theme of martial arts training is resolve, the spirit to win, which must shine not only in the real battle, competition, belt promotion, demonstration, or teaching endeavor, but in all the training that prepares you for this test. The techniques you learn are your backbone, your foundation for building greater skills. Your effectiveness is measured through a combination of theoretical knowledge of technique and ability to use these techniques. Formidable Fighter: The Complete Series, a compilation of all 14 books in this series, is available in both electronic and print format.