Waiting

One of the best things about sharing ideas, is that people ask questions or comment, thus giving an opportunity for a reply, and the possibility of moving the conversation forward.

Today's interaction made me realize how important 'waiting' is. It seems obvious that faking and baiting only work if the other person falls for the ploy AND you wait for them to fall for it.

It does not work if you don't wait to see what effect it has had.  Don't wait, and it's the equivalent of throwing one half-assed strike, opening that line, and then striking again right into their defense.

Now that would be stupid.

But how to 'wait' without getting behind the timing? Everyone knows that waiting gives the opponent the advantage ....

Well, technically you are only waiting if you have not predicted what will happen next and thus are not ready to take advantage of what does happen. A truly successful faker and baiter actually does not care if you fall for the lie. They are obviously ready for the success of their stratagem, but they are also ready to turn the original half-assed strike into a full-assed one AND to return to a defensive line or to evade if needs be.

4 things, all from one moment in time and from one relative position.

To have all these options in the bag, you need balance, fast movement off line, defensive skills, an ability not to panic, and last but not least, the ability to wait only long enough to notice when the opponent has gone past the point of no return on their reaction ... which means you need to understand the centerline, recycle possibilities from each position, and neutral points ...

Who knew that waiting was such an active pursuit? Or indeed that there was so much to practice in it.