Episode 159
Beyond the Belt: The Meaning of Community in Martial Arts
The current episode of the ATA Nation podcast features an engaging and insightful interview with Karin Av, a distinguished athlete hailing from Goodyear, Arizona. As a third-degree black belt training at Kick University, Karin shares her experiences and emotions as she transitions from the 15-17 age division to the adult category. This episode delves into the emotional complexities of leaving a familiar competitive landscape, where deep bonds with fellow competitors have been cultivated over the years. Karin reflects on the significance of these relationships, emphasizing that the essence of being an athlete transcends mere competition; it involves forging meaningful connections that endure beyond the dojo and into life’s pivotal moments, such as her recent graduation ceremony attended by her martial arts family.
The discussion further explores Karin's aspirations within martial arts, highlighting her achievements and future goals. With a wealth of experience, including multiple world titles in extreme and traditional weapons, she articulates her ambition to continue excelling in competition while also aspiring to become a level three or four instructor. This dual focus on personal achievement and community contribution underscores the episode's core message: that martial arts is not solely about accolades, but about nurturing the next generation and sharing one's passion with others. The conversation leaves listeners with a profound understanding of the athlete's journey, marked by resilience and camaraderie, as Karin prepares to embark on new challenges at Arizona State University.
Listeners are invited to reflect on their own martial arts journeys through Karin's narrative, which evokes a sense of community and shared purpose within the ATA family. The podcast adeptly captures the spirit of dedication and the importance of support systems in achieving both personal and collective success, reminding us that every belt earned is a testament to the relationships built along the way. As we anticipate the upcoming world championships, this episode serves as both an inspiration and a call to action for athletes at all levels to embrace the bonds that make our martial arts community vibrant and enduring.
Takeaways:
- This episode of the ATA Nation podcast features an athlete from Arizona who has achieved remarkable success.
- Karin Av, a third degree black belt, reflects on her emotional transition to a new competition division.
- The discussion emphasizes the importance of creating meaningful bonds beyond competition in martial arts.
- Listeners are encouraged to support junior brand ambassadors who are highlighting outstanding athletes of the week.
- The podcast highlights the significance of music selection in dynamic martial arts performances.
- Karin aims to pursue her ambition of becoming a martial arts instructor while attending college.
Transcript
This week's athlete of the week comes right from Arizona.
Speaker A:Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.
Speaker A:Welcome back.
Speaker A:This is episode 159 of the Ata Nation podcast.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Senior master Zach Hayden, and it is a pleasure to be back with you again.
Speaker A:Again.
Speaker A:I don't know if you guys know this, but we usually don't have shows in June and July.
Speaker A:We're off.
Speaker A:But we're.
Speaker A:We're here because these junior brand ambassadors have done such an amazing job of highlighting athletes of the week.
Speaker A:This is such a cool thing that the brand ambassadors are doing.
Speaker A:And I think pretty soon, I think at World Championship we're going to get to hear who is some of our new brand ambassadors.
Speaker A:Pretty exciting stuff coming.
Speaker A:Don't miss world championships.
Speaker A:Anyways, so junior brand ambassadors have been picking these awesome athletes of the week, and though we don't necessarily have time sometimes this summer for our full shows with lots of extra content and things, we do want to continue to bring these awesome athletes week to you.
Speaker A:So let's get to it.
Speaker A:ATA Nation, we are super excited to have another awesome athlete of the week with us.
Speaker A:Ma', am, can you introduce yourself for us?
Speaker B:My name is Corinne Ave, and I'm a third degree black belt from Goodyear, Arizona, and I train at Kick University.
Speaker A:Kick University.
Speaker A:Now, okay, I didn't ask you this before we got on the call, but do you do team Sync?
Speaker B:I don't do team sync, but you might be thinking of these two girls named Abrianna Lopez and Jacqueline Dagala Zamora, a part of our annihilating Kick unit, which is our team Sync, our traditional team sync.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I was just talking to Master Turner the other day about extreme and the team sync coming to regions and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:So I knew there was a group from Kick University.
Speaker A:So anyways, let's go back to you.
Speaker A:This season has ended.
Speaker A:We're almost at world championships.
Speaker A:And how did this season go for you?
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:It was an emotional season for me because it is actually my last season in the 15, 17 ring.
Speaker B:I'll still be a third degree, but I'll be moving up with the adults.
Speaker B:So it was definitely an emotional time for me because I've been in the little kids ring basically for like all this time and now I'm finally moving up.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, and that, that 15 to 17 ring, because it's three age groups you're in there longer, the second, third degrees, you guys like get some real good bonds in there.
Speaker A:I mean, there's a lot of people in there that you know and compete with for a long time.
Speaker A:So I'm sure that that is emotional.
Speaker A:How in your competition do you have an event that is your, like, this is my go to event.
Speaker B:I'd say that'd be either like traditional weapons or creative weapons.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What's your weapon of choice?
Speaker B:So I actually do two different weapons.
Speaker B:For traditional, I do BO staff and I've just been doing that for a long time.
Speaker B:So I just.
Speaker B:It's kind of like muscle memory.
Speaker B:I love doing it.
Speaker B:And then for creative weapons, I do nunch.
Speaker A:Okay, very cool.
Speaker A:Are you.
Speaker A:You said creative weapons, so you're not throwing up and stuff.
Speaker A:Do you do extreme weapons as well?
Speaker B:I do do extreme weapons as well.
Speaker B:I also use nunchucks.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker A:So you're a big into the double Chuck.
Speaker A:You're throwing them, spinning them, doing all that kind of cool stuff.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now I was, I was just asking Master Turner the other day, Senior Master Turner, about, you know, creating your extreme and creative.
Speaker A:Do you have a song that you do to your creative and ext.
Speaker A:That really pumps you up?
Speaker A:How did you pick your music?
Speaker B:For me, it's just something that I like resonate with.
Speaker B:I'm actually like a huge fan of like the K pop genre and I think I like resonate that well.
Speaker B:So it's something that you just connect with.
Speaker B:So I do use like that like very like poppy goat, like almost happy song for my like extreme weapons.
Speaker B:But for creative weapons, I actually use a different song, which is a more intense song.
Speaker B:So honestly, I feel like it just depends on the.
Speaker B:The person.
Speaker B:Do you want to go for an intense look or do you want to go for something fast and exciting and.
Speaker A:When you did yours?
Speaker A:Because I'm just curious as people do their extreme and creatives a little bit differently.
Speaker A:Did you pick your music after you made your form and then just adjusted to it?
Speaker A:Did you pick music first and be like, hey, I'm going to build out of this.
Speaker A:How did you process yours?
Speaker B:I. I created the form first and then I like you kind of just like look at the form and see like, oh, like, what is the vibe here?
Speaker B:And so I did pick after and I've actually had the same form for creative weapons for a while and I haven't changed it in even the song.
Speaker B:I haven't changed it for a while.
Speaker B:So if you pick the right song, it goes a long while.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, for sure.
Speaker A:Then that's nice that you get to stick with it.
Speaker A:Did you.
Speaker A:Are you got some Goals for the end of the season.
Speaker A:I know we just had district, but World champs.
Speaker A:You doing any tock ideas for the new Super 20?
Speaker A:Now that you're going to be in a new division, what kind of goals do you have?
Speaker B:I do want to win a couple more world titles this year.
Speaker B:I did qualify for TOC and I actually qualified for an event that I barely do, which was combat weapons.
Speaker B:So that was, that was fun when I found that out.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker B: For new season for: Speaker B:I'm actually quite a short person and so I've been getting more into sparring recently.
Speaker B:And so if I can at least qualify for TOC next year or just do well enough for to be able to get into districts, that'd be really cool.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Well, I love that.
Speaker A:That's a great, you know, going outside of your comfort zone a little bit, doing something that's a little bit different.
Speaker A:I forgot to ask you earlier, what, what got you into martial arts?
Speaker B:I actually did soccer before it when I was a little younger and then I had a career ending injury of hurting my hand and so my mom's like, you still need to do something.
Speaker B:And my mom signed me taekwondo when I was six and I've been doing it for 11 years now.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:Well, wait a second, I'm a little confused.
Speaker A:You had a career ending soccer injury.
Speaker A:That was your hand.
Speaker A:Don't you not use your hands in soccer?
Speaker B:I know I was a defender.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:It was a little league, so it wasn't a career ending.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I just didn't want to do it anymore.
Speaker A:But you were like, I got hurt.
Speaker A:I don't want to do this anymore.
Speaker A:Yeah, so let's do a sport where we kick and punch each other instead.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was confusing, but I just ran with it and I'm still running with it.
Speaker B:So obviously it seems to be going.
Speaker A:It seems to be going pretty well.
Speaker A:You've got some, you said you got some world titles already.
Speaker A:What world titles?
Speaker B: You have: Speaker B:And then 20, the weird season.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B: And then: Speaker B:I won created weapons.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Well, that's, that's pretty awesome.
Speaker A:So if you're looking at maybe not competition goals, but just martial arts goals, as you look forward to your martial arts career, you're getting ready to go into that 18 to 29.
Speaker A:Do you have any mid longer term goals for just martial arts in general, I do.
Speaker B:I recently tested for my level one collar because I joined the legacy program a little late.
Speaker B:I do want to be a level three instructor one day or level four.
Speaker B:It's been kind of a goal for mine to be a school owner.
Speaker B:I am going to college soon, and it's not like my main focus, what I'm majoring in, but I always kind of want it to have as like a backup plan or just to do something on the side because I really enjoy, like, helping teach and teaching at the school.
Speaker B:So owning a Taekwondo school one day or maybe just being an instructor at Taekwondo school, definitely be one of my bigger goals now that I'm entering that.
Speaker B:That stage of my Taekwondo career now.
Speaker A:Yes, ma'.
Speaker A:Am.
Speaker A:Oh, I love that.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:And there's lots of.
Speaker A:Lots of options as you go forward.
Speaker A:You know, owning a school, working for somebody, having a club, there's just lots of options.
Speaker A:And we love to see people continuing their passion and sharing that passion with others.
Speaker A:Fantastic.
Speaker A:So what's it mean to you to be an athlete, a champion?
Speaker A:That goes beyond the belt?
Speaker B:For me, I think it's creating bonds that are meaningful and that last.
Speaker B:And as I said, I'm going to college, so obviously I just graduated, so I'm going to take an example that happened so recently.
Speaker B:I had graduated, and I invited a lot of the families from Cook University that I'm close with, and I didn't think too much of it when I invited them to my graduation ceremony, because my graduation ceremony was, like, far from the school, so I didn't think anyone was really going to come.
Speaker B:And then comes to the day of the ceremony, every single family I had invited came to my graduation ceremony to watch me.
Speaker B:And that wouldn't have happened if I didn't create a bond with them, something that's more deeper than just instructor to student.
Speaker B:So that's what I think beyond the belt means to me.
Speaker B:And I think it goes beyond than just instructor and student.
Speaker B:Could also instructor, instructor and competitor to competitor.
Speaker B:And it's really just up to you to want to delve, dive deeper into those bonds.
Speaker B:So, yeah, beyond the belt to me means creating bonds and friendships with people that last longer, that last and are meaningful with each other.
Speaker A:Oh, that's so cool.
Speaker A:I love that example of those guys coming and checking out your graduation.
Speaker A:That is.
Speaker A:That's, you know, the ATA family.
Speaker A:That's what that.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:That's what we do.
Speaker A:Where are you going?
Speaker A:Off to college?
Speaker B:I'm staying in State, so I'm going to Arizona State University.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:So are you going to still be able to train somewhat regularly?
Speaker A:Are you close?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Arizona is where everything is there.
Speaker B:I'll still be able to train.
Speaker B:It definitely is a distance.
Speaker B:It's about an hour, like, from Kiku to the campus that I'm going to.
Speaker A:And you got to focus on, you know, grades and making sure you stay up to things, so.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Fantastic.
Speaker A:I'm sure you will be in World championship.
Speaker A:You'll be at World championships just now.
Speaker A:What kind of your backyard?
Speaker A:How long does it take to get to the convention center there?
Speaker B:Like around 20 to 30 minutes.
Speaker B:It's quite close.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's rough.
Speaker A:Oh, man, what a drive.
Speaker A:Well, we will see you down there in Phoenix in just like a week or so.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for your time and being an inspiration to other athletes out there in ATA Nation.
Speaker A:We really appreciate it.
Speaker B:All right, thank you, sir.
Speaker A:Thanks for another great interview from our awesome ATA Nation podcast.
Speaker A:Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.
