A picture out of focus isn’t good for anything. It shows no detail, just a blur. It can be anything or nothing at all. It has no memory, no moment, no purpose.

The same can be said when trying to play a match without any focus. It totally ruins your game, doesn’t it? Indeed. It’s the worst!

I’m the Champion of Focus, and my element is LIGHT. You know, the stuff you see with your eyes. Then again, light is invisible. So how can you see it? You can see the source of light, and you can see the surfaces it bounces off, but you can’t see the light itself. Strange, isn’t it? But don’t worry. Nobody has figured this out anyway.

So I have a secret, and I’m going to let you in on that secret. Ready? Good. It’s called attention. Oh yeah. Science has shown that light behaves differently if we’re paying attention or not. Nobody understands why. But that’s another story. Attention is important. Very. Because without it, there’s just a blur. And people can go through their whole lives in just a blur. It’s not something you do if you strive for excellence. But you have to stop before you can see. You have to pause in the middle of activity, to stop time in a way, first.

Attention brings the picture into focus, and an image in focus has more information. Having the right information helps you make the right decisions. Maybe you’re on the pitch, with clear focus and you anticipate the opponent’s movement. That’s information you can use to your advantage.

I’m closely related to my two neighbouring champions, Champion of Harmony and Champion of Intuition. There isn’t a clear-cut line where one ends and the other begins, and we bounce back between us. That’s why practicing focus requires many attributes from all of us: harmony, intuition, meditation, mindfulness, visualisation and observation. Practice all these things to improve your focus.

There’s just one thing. Once you get very, very good at this, you start seeing things other people can’t see. Then you’re on your own. You’ve been warned.

Drawing my card is a reminder to pay attention and gather information, to watch and learn. To understand and make use of it. You see?