28/07/2026
Everyone has a training partner they quietly avoid.
You know the one. When the coach says find a partner, your eyes skip straight past them. Maybe they catch you every time, maybe they are a weight above you and relentless, maybe they just have your number. So you pair up with someone safer.
We all do it, and it is worth being honest about why. Most of the time it is not about safety. It is about not wanting to lose the round.
Here is what a tap actually is. It is information. It shows you exactly where the hole in your game is, for free, in a place where nothing is on the line. The person who taps you just handed you your next thing to work on.
Rounds against people better than you teach you to survive, and they tell you the truth about your game that a comfortable round never will. Rounds against newer people teach you control and precision, and give them the same start someone once gave you. Pick only the rounds you can win and you get almost nothing from either.
To be clear, this is not about the partner who is genuinely reckless, or double your size and clumsy, or a round you are sitting out with an injury. Picking your rounds for those reasons is just sensible. This is about the ones you dodge because a small part of you might lose.
Next session, go find that round. It is the one with the most to teach you.