Previously
IN November 2025, ‘Kick, Punch, Repeat’ argued that gaming was not escapism but a quiet teacher. Some readers nodded. Others scrolled on.
Then life delivered the last word.
Now
My 21-year-old son – Mohammed Adam Rauf, my Tekken rival, the one who humbles me in UFC 5 (Ultimate Fighting Champion) every weekend – was just selected for a prestigious boxing training camp. Hundreds applied.
Eight made it.
I view these individuals as Sarawak’s elite practitioners; a specialised force honing the true spirit of combat sports.
I cannot name the programme yet.
But I can name the truth: He did not get there despite gaming.
He got there because of it.
Not Playing a Game
Years ago, when he was still a kid with a controller, he said something I have never forgotten.
He’s not playing a game.
He’s simulating a real fight.
“I’m training Ayah… I’m not yet the age to get this body.
“But when I get my body to meet the specs” –then he showed me the body mass physics the game had mapped out – “I’m gonna join UFC when I grade. But I need boxing first.”
That was years ago.
He was not playing.
He was training in a different language.
Lao Tse wrote, “The soft overcomes the hard.”
A simulated punch still teaches real timing.
The virtual is not the enemy of the real. It is rehearsal space.
Memory Is Basic. This Is Through Combos.
He explains how Tekken taught his son discipline, timing, and pattern recognition beyond gaming.
Combos became muscle memory, and match rhythm trained instinct.
His son learned to read attacks like a fighter, anticipating angles and movement.
Years later, this translated into boxing success, where gaming patterns and gym training merged.
The story highlights how repetition builds patience (sabr), shaping instinct, focus, and real-world fighting ability through consistent practice and experience.
The Avatar Is a Mirror
Stoics carried memento mori; gamers carry avatars—reminders that identity is defined by choices, not the body.
In Tekken, decisions are made under pressure with limited tools, and the avatar reveals how you behave when cornered or losing.
UFC rankings reinforce this logic: progression requires winning, and winning requires learning.
Every loss becomes feedback – about mistakes, emotion, and timing – while every win demands reflection on whether improvement truly occurred.
Like Stoicism, the lesson is control what you can: effort, response, discipline.
The avatar becomes a training ground for accountability, repetition, and selfmastery under pressure in every round.
Gaming as Discipline
Schools have football, chess, debate.
Why not a gaming discipline?
Not esports club as Friday fun.
A serious curriculum:
• Replay review (film study) • Losing without blaming the controller
• Managing tilt (rage) as a performance variable
• Rank as a lagging indicator of skill
My son destroys me in UFC.
Through him I learned: you need a certain rank just to enter certain leagues.
That is a white belt earning stripes.
Lao Tse wrote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.
A thousand virtual rounds begin with one loss you actually watch back.
Five Lessons
A fighting game is a koan with a health bar.
Every match asks: Can you stay clear when it hurts?*
The Single Thread
There is a beautiful Arabic concept: Tawakkul.
It is rooted in the Prophetic wisdom: ‘Tie your camel, then put your trust in Allah The Almighty.
It teaches that you must do the work – the drilling, the studying, the grueling repetition – and only then release your attachment to the outcome.
This is the shared soul of high-level gaming, elite boxing, and purposeful living. You cannot will yourself into a higher rank.
You cannot force a selection panel.
You can only:
• Show up for every match
• Review your losses without ego
• Drill the same punish until it is reflex
• Then step into the ring – or the ranked queue – and let go
That is tawakkul.
That is the thread from Tekken to that training camp.
My son did not pray for victory.
He practised.
Then he trusted the process.
The selection was never in his hands.
Only the preparation was.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: Tie your camel and then put your trust in Allah.
The gamer ties the camel by labbing the combo.
The boxer ties the camel by showing up to the gym. Then both release the outcome.
For the Fathers
To every parent worried about a son’s screen time: what looks like wasting time may be curiosity in disguise.
Replacing it with lectures rarely builds discipline – it often builds emptiness.
A boy is not a machine; he learns through interest, repetition, and connection.
My son loved UFC more than Tekken, so I learned it from him. He beat me. I kept asking questions.
I still lose sometimes, and that matters.
If there is distance, step into his world.
Sit with him, play, and let him teach you the mechanics he understands.
That shared space builds respect, patience (sabr), and trust (tawakkul) through presence, not control.
Closing
My son is one of eight among hundreds.
When he steps into that camp, he carries something the other seven might not have: Ten thousand virtual rounds of learning how to lose, get up, adapt, and try one more move.
Not despite the controller. Through it.
He was never playing a game. He was simulating a real fight. And now the simulation meets the ring.
That is *sabr*.
That is *tawakkul*.
That is the soft overcoming the hard.
That is digital zen.
PS: ‘Kick, Punch, Repeat’ was published in November 2025.
This is its living sequel.
My son’s selection happened after November. Same spirit.
New round.
And if you are a father with a gamer kid? Go get a PS.
Lose with dignity.
Let him teach you.
That is the real discipline, forged through a 2-player mode.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
