In his national bestseller, American Shaolin, Mathew Polly chronicles his experiences as an American living and training at the Shaolin Temple in China. He spent two years studying the ancient art of Shaolin Kung Fu. In one memorable passage he describes a challenge match against a coach from a rival martial arts school. He (Polly) fakes a low kick and connects with a devastating high kick. He comments on the rationale behind this move, "Coach Cheng had taught us to work on the high and low planes, because it is mentally difficult to process attacks at different heights: fake high, attack low; fake low, attack high."
One application (there are many) is passing. There is an often used coaching cue: Fake a pass to make a pass. A logical extension is, Fake high, pass low. Fake low, pass high. Although it seems simplistic, it works. Defenders have trouble recovering from a pass fake at one level followed immediately by a pass executed in a different level. Work one side of the defender's body so that he doesn't have time to recover.
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