Martial Musings with Grant Buchanan of Mile High Karate and Youngforest Tai Chi

One of the reasons so many are glued to sports is because it's becoming one of the few areas in society were excellence is encouraged and rewarded.

We love seeing a competitor rise above the others to become great. We want to know who the tournament champion is, who was awarded the highest honour, how did they get there, who was their mentor, master coach.

Do we still strive for excellence everywhere in society? Is that what we reinforce to our children?

Last year, I listened to a well-meaning sports coach talk to the kids about the coming season; 'I want everyone to stay focused on having fun, that's what were here for. I don't care if you lose every game, we're here to have fun”.

I don't think the coach realised the bright lights in those eager young eyes went a little dim. 'I don't want to see crying either if you fail, drop the ball, muck it up – I still want you coming off the field with a smile on your face for competing”.

What! Let's back the truck up! How about getting angry at loosing, channelling that anger into working and practising harder than the other guy. I've even seen All Blacks cry in defeat and I knew that passion would lead to future victory.

Crying – surely we want our kids upset at a loss? That coach and his team ended up winning two out of 16 games and no one really had any fun. They lived up to the expectation at the outset.

We can't confuse our kids with telling them to go out and have fun. Fun in their mind is PlayStation, TV, going out for ice cream. We must teach them what fun is. Fun is practising what you love, fun is doing the practise and playing the game with a good attitude. Fun is realising you made a mistake and learning from it. Fun is the sheer joy of excellence, to do something really well is to enjoy it. One of the greatest things we teach at Mile High Karate is what fun really is. Come and have some fun with us.