Quote:

Quote:

I'm trying to tie all of these things in with coaching and I'm having trouble seeing how this fits:

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."



Well, it's pretty plain to me...it's what Bruce Lee refered to in Enter The Dragon: 'The Art Of Fighting Without Fighting'

In layman's terms, a few carefully executed mindfucks can have your opponent beaten in their own mind before battle even commences.

I don't know what sport you coach, but one of the most famous examples in English football is Sir Alex Ferguson, coach of Manchester United. His team were 12 points behind league leaders Newcastle United (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a defeat), and he just made a few carefully chosen comments in an interview and Newcastle's manager Kevin Keegan lost the plot completely.

See for yourself, it's the stuff of legend in England. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzDakZzA2UQ

End result, Newcastle crumbled, Manchester United closed the gap and won the league title. As much as I hate to admit it, Ferguson is a black belt master at playing mind games with referees, opposing managers and players. As such, Manchester United didn't beat Newcastle, Newcastle beat Newcastle, and hence superiority was achieved and the enemy's resistance was broken not through head-to-head confrontation, but through words.



Exactly Dan, Sun Tzu is referring to breaking your opponent without having to use any sort of violent force. That can maen several things... in a one on one confrontation, it can mean either breaking your opponent mentally and sapping him of his will to fight, or it can refer to leading your opponent to defeat himself with his own actions.

In Warfare it can be seen as destroying your foes morale, crippling them economically so they cannot afford to fight, or instigating dissent in their ranks and or subjects. Sheer intimidation also works as a factor.
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