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Training tips and educational info in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? Mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.” Want to cultivate your rough ‘n’ tumble mettle? Complete one of our 100 Feats!
Mettle maker #465: Fending Off and Amping Up
Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, DL founder of the scouting movement
When moving through uncharted woods, people will often push brush aside with the same hand every time. This is called “fending off.” Often people use their off-hand, or non-dominant hand, perhaps in an unconscious attempt to prevent injury to the dominant hand. This causes an imbalance. Each time a person fends off with the same hand, their course changes slightly. They turn away from the push a tiny, imperceptible amount.
This is why people who are lost in the woods tend to move in circles. One way to prevent circling is to fend off with both hands.
Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting movement, was vice president of an ambidextral culture group, believed in the power of training both hands, which is why many scouting groups greet one another with a left-handed shake. Although Baden-Powell wouldn’t have had access to the science,
Boxers training in “orthodox” stance.
And science bears this out. For an overview, see the bilateral transfer research starter page at EBSCO (https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/education/bilateral-transfer).
In a nutshell, Bilateral Transfer Effect means that if you practice a task or skill with one limb, it will accelerate your ability to perform the task with the opposite limb more than training the dominant hand alone.
Any skill you want to be really good at, practice with both hands. Especially martial arts techniques. All of the classical martial arts, like TKD, Karate, and Kung Fu — stress this. Doesn’t seem to be as prevalent in Western martial arts, but there are some old-time as well as modern examples of boxers who switched stance, like Willie Pep and Marvelous Marvin Hagler — two of the best boxers ever to step into the ring.
There may also be another benefit as well: avoidance of repetitive use injuries. Doing the same thing over and over again is a major cause of injury and pain. Accumulated wear and tear is a real danger. Switching things up spreads training forces across the opposite limb, cutting repetitive use by 50% on both sides simultaneously!
May I suggest that if you don’t practice “fending off” attackers with both hands, you might be “going in circles” in your martial arts practice.
If you aren’t training in both orthodox and reverse stance, training both hands in front and rear, you’re missing an opportunity to amp up your training!
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Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 7/6/25 – Father Mitch
Readings: Isaiah 66:10-14c, Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20, Galatians 6:14-18, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 World English Bible
1 Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy‡ others, and sent them two by two ahead of him† into every city and place where he was about to come. 2 Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way. 5 Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. 8 Into whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ 10 But into whatever city you enter and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
18 He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
The Bible refers to the Seventy as “others,” that is, followers of Jesus Christ other than the Twelve. Doesn’t this mean us? Aren’t we the “others?” Isn’t Jesus is speaking directly to us, telling us that “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few” – that we need to go out into the world to spread his good news?
First Jesus tells us that we are “lambs among wolves.” We need to be wise to the crooked ways of the word without stooping to its level, not allowing ourselves to become jaded and cynical. We to be in the world, but not of the world. And we should carry no purse, wallet, or sandals. We’re leaving our baggage at home – our pet peeves, our politics, preconceived notions, preferences, and prejudices. We’ll need no wallets, because we can’t buy your way into the heart of this culture, and the Peace of Christ has no price tag. Neither do we need sandals, because we’re going to tread lightly. We’re going to go barefoot, slowly picking our steps and putting our feet down delicately. We are not going to stomp about throwing our weight around.
Jesus says we should eat and drink what they give us. There is no better way to get to know a family than to eat in their home. We are going to be accepting, open to what others say, and prepared to take in whatever is on the menu. We need to listen. Often people we evangelize say things that we find distasteful. Spitting out what they are offering and trying to force feed them our ideas is not the way to go. Take it all in, absorb. Trust there will be a time for us to serve them nourishing food we have prepared.
And we will be worthy of our wages. Employers are happy to pay hard-working, productive workers. Those we evangelize should be thrilled to feed us because we are of great service. Hopping from house to house is a bad idea. We must sit still and engage – listening, assisting, and participating, making deep connections rather than shallow ones.
We are to demonstrate our value by healing the sick and casting out demons. We begin to heal others by offering a supporting arm to those who are hurt and stumbling, and a shoulder for their tears, a sympathetic ear and a comforting voice. We offer the Peace of Christ – the hope which heals fear and the forgiveness which heals guilt. When they harbor demons – illogical thoughts, misconceptions, disordered behaviors, and so on – we cast them out by showing them how Jesus Christ transforms souls.
And whether they are accepting or not, Jesus says our response is the same: “The Kingdom of God is at hand” – that is to say, “the Kingdom of God has come near to you.” We proclaim that the Kingdom of God is always at hand. Jesus is right here, right now, waiting patiently for us all to take his hand.
And finally, we are told not to be puffed up with our deeds. Rather, we should keep our eyes on heaven. We should rejoice with the heavenly hosts because of the good things that have come to pass by virtue of his power which we have allowed to shine through us. We should cast our eyes upward and be in awe of God’s love for all his children.
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‡ Some sources read “seventy-two”
† 10:1 literally, “before his face”