It was my last lesson of the week and our cover teacher had just told us to pack our bags. As I stood up, in my peripheral vision, I saw another one of my teachers standing outside the door, looking straight at me. “Peculiar,” I thought to myself. “I don’t think I did anything wrong?” I zipped up my bag and turned around to face the door, keeping an eye out for my teacher in case he was still looking at me. However, this time I was unable to discern him from the crowd of my classmates exiting the classroom. Flinging my backpack onto my shoulders I united with the swarm of students and attempted to exit the room.

“Vedant”
A voice spoke out amongst the flood of conversations. I turned around to see the same teacher, just outside the door, awaiting me. At first, I was confused why he wanted to talk to me and was intrigued to see what his following words were going to be. “Yes, Sir?” I vocalised, as I approached where he was standing.
“This is your fault…” he said to me, pointing to a specific point above his right eyebrow. My glasses were fogged with water vapour as a result of wearing my mask, and so was unable to interpret what he was pointing at. I took them off and took a closer look. What I witnessed was shocking.

An extensive, bright red bruise was lined across his forehead; frankly, it looked quite painful. But how was this my fault? A smile struck across his face when he noticed how perplexed I was.
“Last evening, after reading your book, my wife and I were trying out some of your self-defence techniques and I was left with this,” he explained, once again making a reference to the conspicuous mark. We both laughed about it for a short time before he continued, “Fear not, the next time she nearly hit me I was prepared and managed to block her arm in time.” Soon after, I bid my farewell and began to walk to my locker.

As I walked, I thought more about what my teacher had just told me and realised that intertwined in the story was hidden an important lesson. If my teacher had not continued practising, he would not have been able to defend himself the second time he was nearly hit. In fact, if he did not practice at all with his wife, either of them may have encountered a situation in real life where they would have been unprepared and the outcome could have been far worse. It really is true that practice makes perfect. Even if you learn a technique from my book or website, it doesn’t mean that you will be able to apply it in real life when under pressure.

It is absolutely crucial that you practice each move with a partner and fine-tune your reflexes.