The Zidane Mystery:  What Set Him Off?

You’ve got to be kidding, right?

Picture this, it’s the world cup final. You’re at the last bit of the game it’s either you or them.  You have spent your entire life getting to just this one place.  The sacrifices you have made would make a great movie. 

You have no friends, you are not married, and the only things you do are live and breath Soccer.  It’s all you know and your dream is at hand.  You don’t have a second chance this is it. 

Think about it, insane pressure, insane expectations, and the pressure of having millions watching you.  It’s a wonder more of this kind of thing doesn’t happen.

What’s this have to do with martial arts?  It comes down to emotional control and discipline.  I have been criticized for having such stringent entrance requirements for my martial arts schools.  Well Mr. Zidane just did a headbut to the chest. 

What if he snapped and kneed him in the groin, followed by an upper cut and finished with a strike to the throat all in less than the time it takes to breathe out?

I am in no way giving him a pass on this.  No matter how good the headbut was.  He was wrong and should pay the consequences.  And I don’t care what they were saying to him.  After all it’s their job to try to throw his mental game off.  And it worked!

Back in the days of the Shao-lin priests you had to be proficient at meditation as well as the physical aspects of your art.  Isn’t it obvious why meditation and spirituality was such a big part of the art?  After all if you had a person that was capable of taking your life wouldn’t you want him to be a spiritual person or a person that had control of his emotions?  I would.

Stress affects all of us some worse than others.  This was a stressful time for both teams but you didn’t see other team members headbut people.  How would you act under such pressure?  Hopefully much better.