Good Morning

I wanted to share some of my thoughts on competitive breaking or the lessons that all breakers should know or take the time to learn. These lessons come from personal experience, learning indirectly by watching other breakers, and some is just common sense.

1. You will win some and you will lose some. It happens to all of us. There is nothing you can do but be a good winner and a even better non winner.

2. Sometimes the material you are striking breaks and other times it does not. There is many factors that come into play with this. It’s all part of the game.

3. Never allow anger to get the better of you. If something does not go your way, it does not give you the right to take it out on others or the nearest object closest to you.

4. When competitive breaking you are there to try to win but also you are there to put on a show. People may not remember how much you broke at any given time but they will remember the performance you gave and how you acted.

5. Remember to maintain your focus as best you can. There is many distractions and things going on around you. You need to be able to tune all this out in order to do your best.

6. From day to day, competition to competition you will change your performance. Sometimes you are on the ball and nothing can stop you and other times you just can’t seem to do anything. We all go through this. Just cherish the moments you have and move on.

7. Build yourself up because you are good and are willing to work hard. Never use others to build your name up. Saying you beat so and so does not help your reputation. It actually shows that you value them more than yourself.

8. Rather than trying to beat individual competitors you should be concerned with outdoing your last performance and breaking your stacks. Ultiamtely breaking is a competition with ones’ self not against others.

9. Make sure you are enjoying yourself. If its’ not enjoyable then why are you doing it?

10. Do not compare your journey to that of another. We all have different journeys as we are all unique. One person’s journey is not necessarily more important or valuable compared to someone else’s.

11. It takes time to build up your conditioning for breaking. Rushing will only result in more injuries that may not have occurred if the proper time was taken.

12. When breaking using human holders one should avoid striking their holders if all possible. There is not art in smashing a stack of boards and recklessly hurt your holders at the same time. Got to have that self control.

13. Be courtesies to all those that volunteer to help you. No need for yelling and anger. The people that help the breakers help because they want to see the person do good. They should be treated with respect.

14. Breaking competition is one of the few sports where competitors will help each other set up their material, hold for the, clean up, and etc,. We all want the best person to win because they are the best and not for other stupid reasons.

15. Never dwell on a bad day. It will past and you will have more good days.

16. Make sure you fully understand the rules. If you don’t, ask someone who knows them well so they can help you.

17. Compete by the rules. Whatever the rules say that is what you go by. Never try to bend them so you can help an unfair advantage. The rules are in place so everyone has the same playing field in which to compete.

18. Use the proper material. Whatever the material you are breaking, make sure it is what you say it is. Sometimes breaking gets a bad name because some competitors doctor their material. When this happens it makes us all look bad.

19. Compete with integrity. You are not just representing yourself but also all breakers, the organizations and associations in which you are competing in, your schools, your instructors, your styles, and so forth.

20. Focus on being a good person and develop your skills to the best of your abilities and everything will take care of itself.

Master Jonathan Field

Cobourg Tae Kwon Do