I remember when Street Fighter 2 came out for the Super Nintendo. It was an incredible console adaptation of the classic arcade game. I remember walking from Bakersfield High School to Regency Game Center to play arcade games until Judo practice. I spent hours playing SF2 so when it came out for the Super Nes I was blown away.

The most memorable moment in my years of playing came when I beat my brother for the first time in my life. It was a warm Bakersfield afternoon. The trees were slightly swaying back and forth in the quiet breeze. The day was coming to a close and so was my patience.

I was playing the character Blanka and my brother was Guile. I used to think Guile had an unfair advantage in the game because of his style. I used to complain that they showed favoritism by making him stronger than the Red Haired Capoiera fighter. My complaints however never got me anywhere.

My heart was racing due to the frustrating excitement of losing to my brother ten times in a row. On top of that he suffered from a chronic case of older brother syndrome! He would rub in it my face with every finishing blow. This only added to the frustration because there wasn’t anything I could do about it. What was I going to do? Pick a fight with someone bigger, older and better than me at Judo?

Anyway the odds were against me but I pressed on! And sure enough the unbelievable happened. I beat him!

Have you ever seen a UFC fighter celebrate after an impressive K.O.?

I did that times ten!

My frustrated brother was naturally eager to avenge his loss. But I never let him. Till this day I have never given him the satisfaction nor have I welcomed the stress that came with playing him. Yes, I just said video games are stressful!

You are probably asking yourself what the heck does this have to do with Martial Arts. Well here it is:

I ducked him because of the stress of losing to him. In the trivial world of video games it doesn’t matter so much. But in important aspects of life it does.

I have seen Blue Belts duck White Belts, Purple Belts duck Blue, Brown Belts duck Purple. And even worse, Black Belts duck each other. The stresses of losing, what people will say and an instructor looking on is no reason to duck anyone.

As a matter of fact, it is the very reason for training with everyone!

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