Episode 167
Ep. 167 - Aiden Gomez's Martial Arts Journey & a Special Guest
The salient point of this podcast episode revolves around the engaging dialogue with our esteemed guest, Aiden Gomez, a distinguished martial artist whose impressive accolades include being a third-degree black belt and a champion across multiple domains. I am delighted to introduce my son, Hezekiah Hayden, who joins me to share his experiences in Taekwondo and his aspirations within the martial arts community. Throughout our conversation, we explore Hezekiah's journey in Taekwondo, including his achievements and the skills he is developing as a young practitioner. We delve into the significance of mentorship in martial arts, highlighting Aiden's role as an inspiration to others and the impact he has on aspiring athletes. The episode encapsulates the essence of perseverance and dedication, underscoring the life skills that martial arts cultivate in individuals of all ages.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, we engage in a delightful dialogue with Hezekiah Hayden regarding his experiences in Taekwondo classes, highlighting his accomplishments and aspirations.
- Hezekiah, at the tender age of four, is already a double green belt, showcasing his dedication to the martial art of Taekwondo.
- Aiden Gomez, our distinguished athlete of the week, possesses an impressive record as a 33 black belt and multiple-time champion in various prestigious competitions.
- During the episode, we delve into Aiden's journey in martial arts, exploring the influences that motivated him to pursue this discipline for over a decade.
- The discussion emphasizes the importance of belief as a core life skill in Taekwondo, as articulated by young Hezekiah during our interview.
- Our conversation also touches upon the camaraderie and mentorship within the martial arts community, demonstrating the positive relationships forged through shared pursuits.
Transcript
We've got an athlete of the week and a very special guest.
Speaker B:What now?
Speaker A:Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.
Speaker A:Ata Nation.
Speaker A:Welcome back to another awesome episode of the Ata Nation podcast.
Speaker A:This is episode 167, and if you're watching on YouTube, you can tell that I have a very special guest with me.
Speaker A:My son Hezekiah is joining me in the podcasting booth today, and I thought I'd give him a.
Speaker A:Do a little interview with him about his Taekwondo classes.
Speaker A:So, hey, can you tell us your name and what is.
Speaker A:What color belt are you?
Speaker B:Green.
Speaker A:Green.
Speaker A:You're a double green belt in our.
Speaker A:In our.
Speaker A:Our ATA skills class, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And what.
Speaker A:How old are you?
Speaker A:Four.
Speaker A:Four years old.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:And what's your favorite thing to do in Taekwondo class?
Speaker B:Maybe, like, do some punching.
Speaker B:Rolling.
Speaker A:Punching or rolling?
Speaker A:Yeah, that's a.
Speaker A:That's a fun one.
Speaker A:I like to do some punching and rolling.
Speaker A:What's your favorite part about being at the Taekwondo school?
Speaker A:When we go to the Taekwondo school, what do you, like, do there, boy?
Speaker A:And what do you think about Daddy being a.
Speaker A:A taekwondo instructor?
Speaker A:A taekwondo teacher.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker A:Yeah, is good.
Speaker A:Are you think you're going to teach taekwondo someday?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Let's go red, black.
Speaker B:It's black.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:After red, black, it's black belt.
Speaker A:You got to go to red, black, and then black belt.
Speaker A:Do you think you'll teach taekwondo with your sister?
Speaker A:You guys will teach together?
Speaker A:Do you think that would be fun?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Do you think we should go to our athlete of the week this time now?
Speaker A:Has.
Speaker A:Okay, Hezekiah, let's introduce our athlete of the week, ATA Nation.
Speaker A:I am super excited to have an athlete of the week with us today.
Speaker A:Can you introduce yourself, sir?
Speaker C:Hello, my name is Aiden Gomez.
Speaker C:I'm a 33 black belt, and I am a 12 time state champion, 16 district champion, three Pan Am, and one time world champion.
Speaker A:Whoa, that is quite the resume.
Speaker A:Holy moly.
Speaker A:That is awesome.
Speaker A:So you seem to like competition.
Speaker A:Is that something you enjoy?
Speaker A:Third degree black belt.
Speaker A:Where do you train?
Speaker C:Karate, Atlanta.
Speaker C:Hammer?
Speaker C:Tamir, Tequila.
Speaker C:Georgia.
Speaker A:And who's your instructor?
Speaker C:Mr. Monroe.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Well, man, you have quite the resume.
Speaker A:So we're looking at, you know, all these titles, all these things that you.
Speaker A:You've done.
Speaker A:What got you started in martial arts, Were you just like, you see a tournament somewhere and you wanted to go do it, or was there something else that got you started?
Speaker C:So I.
Speaker C:When I moved to Georgia, I wanted to do something, and this popped in my mind and we signed up and I've been doing this for 11 years.
Speaker C:Seven years by now.
Speaker A:Well, that's awesome.
Speaker A:So you, you know, you signed up.
Speaker A:It seems to have gone well for you.
Speaker A:What do you, so with all these titles, do you have like a favorite event that you like to do in tournaments?
Speaker A:What, what is your favorite thing to do?
Speaker C:XMI Films.
Speaker A:X Am I Forms.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:And we were talking beforehand.
Speaker A:You do a little work with Mr. Van Eck down there.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:So I, I, I distinctly remember, I bet Mr. Van Eck doesn't even remember this.
Speaker A:I remember being in Little Rock in the lobby of the DoubleTree, talking to Mr. Vanek about martial arts stuff and whatever when he's a man.
Speaker A:He was a teenager or something back then, but now he's like the XMA superstar.
Speaker A:He's just an awesome guy all around.
Speaker A:So, so what if I had to pick like, okay, you're not allowed to do one event at this next tournament.
Speaker A:What's the event that you would probably like drop out?
Speaker A:You'd say, okay, this is the one I won't do this time.
Speaker C:Traditional forms.
Speaker A:Traditional forms.
Speaker A:Okay, very good.
Speaker A:So you like to be a little more creative, get to do your own stuff.
Speaker C:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Do you, do you do creative weapons as well?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:So just forms.
Speaker A:Just forms.
Speaker A:So you're not a, you're an open hand guy.
Speaker A:I want to make sure you got, hey, that's smart.
Speaker A:You don't have to drop anything then.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I mean, you don't have the trouble of like, you don't just drop your hands so you're safe.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:What kind of.
Speaker A:I got a question.
Speaker A:You said you had a world title.
Speaker A:What's your world title?
Speaker C:XMA foam.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:Ah, very good.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:So, man, now we just started a new season.
Speaker A:There's a, there was a tournament down near you guys like yesterday or something.
Speaker A:Where did you guys go to that tournament?
Speaker A:No, so not the one.
Speaker A:What was that?
Speaker A:Tennessee.
Speaker A:Oh, I, yeah, it has to be.
Speaker A:I saw Master Burns Senior.
Speaker A:Master Burns was there.
Speaker A:I know he's down there.
Speaker A:Near issue, guys.
Speaker A:So, new tournament season.
Speaker A:Do you have goals for this season?
Speaker A:What you want to do competition wise this season?
Speaker C:Not really.
Speaker A:Just, yeah, you've got like all the titles.
Speaker A:You're like, hey, you don't need anything else now.
Speaker A:What about just like all around your martial arts goals?
Speaker A:You got anything that you're, I mean, you're a third degree, so you're gonna have to wait a little bit of time till you can test for fourth degree.
Speaker A:So what kind of goals?
Speaker A:What kind of things are you working.
Speaker C:On getting better at creative and XMA forms, like, flips.
Speaker A:Ooh.
Speaker C:And like, open hands and all of that, like, stuff.
Speaker A:That's super cool.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Have you.
Speaker A:I've had some friends that have gone to that.
Speaker A:The XMA Gathering down in Little Rock.
Speaker A:Have you ever been to that?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker A:So no.
Speaker A:Ever looked at it?
Speaker A:Like, I've seen some video and I'm like, they do some pretty cool stuff.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:So what third degree black belt are you working on?
Speaker A:Obviously, you got a midterm and stuff.
Speaker A:You got.
Speaker A:How old are you?
Speaker C:11.
Speaker A:11?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you got a couple of years till you get and test for fourth degree.
Speaker A:Is that in the plans?
Speaker A:Are you gonna test for fourth degree?
Speaker A:You're gonna, you know, be a world champ?
Speaker A:Go open a couple of karate land schools down there?
Speaker C:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's the plan.
Speaker A:Are you.
Speaker A:Are you in the legacy program right now?
Speaker C:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker A:Working on.
Speaker A:Do you help out in some classes?
Speaker A:What kind of things are you working on with Legacy?
Speaker C:I go every Friday to do all of those classes because Friday we have XMA class, so I help that class.
Speaker C:I help all the rest of the classes.
Speaker A:That's very cool.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Well, I love that.
Speaker A:How cool.
Speaker A:Well, I'm excited to.
Speaker A:Oh, I got a question.
Speaker A:I heard that you had a connection with another instructor that I'm pretty sure I've had on the show before, Mr. Reed, who's out in Texas now.
Speaker A:How do.
Speaker A:How do you guys got a connection?
Speaker C:He got me into competing in leadership, so.
Speaker C:Yeah, so.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So all those titles are his titles now, right?
Speaker A:He gets to claim them.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Like, no, he didn't do the work.
Speaker A:You did the work.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I'm sure he's.
Speaker A:He's very proud of you.
Speaker A:That's pretty awesome.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:It's so cool to see, you know, you're 11, you know, got all these amazing titles, you know, now working instruction kind of things as well.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:What does it mean to you to be, like, an athlete that goes beyond the.
Speaker C:I have, like, a lot of friends.
Speaker C:I've got some competition.
Speaker C:I have some in, like, South Africa, Chile, Texas, Florida, California, north and South Carolina.
Speaker C:And a lot of people, like, look up to me, like, in my karate school, and I have some friends in competitions too, who look up to me.
Speaker A:Yes, you gotta.
Speaker A:You gotta, like.
Speaker A:Then you gotta make sure that you're doing the right thing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You're showing that great attitude.
Speaker A:Which one of the.
Speaker A:If you're looking at the life skills that we talk about in Taekwondo.
Speaker A:Which one of those life skills is the one that you're like?
Speaker A:That's the one.
Speaker A:I love that one the most.
Speaker A:Do you have one that's like your.
Speaker A:Your go to one belief.
Speaker A:Belief.
Speaker A:Oh, I love that.
Speaker A:Especially with this.
Speaker A:The extreme and whatnot.
Speaker A:That belief.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:Okay, this is a tough question.
Speaker A:Maybe not tough, but maybe, like, it's a little hard to answer sometimes.
Speaker A:Which one of the life skills is the one that you like?
Speaker A:Ooh, I have to work on that one.
Speaker C:Discipline.
Speaker A:Nah, that's Me, too.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:I had a little Reese's Candy before I came, and I was like, I probably shouldn't eat this, but my discipline didn't hold out there, so.
Speaker A:I hear you there, man.
Speaker A:That's a tough one.
Speaker A:But we're always working on it, right?
Speaker A:So always getting better.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:Hey.
Speaker A:Oh, I was going to ask you.
Speaker A:You went to the Pan Am.
Speaker A:You've been to the Pan Am Championships.
Speaker A:How was.
Speaker A:How was that?
Speaker A:Travel international for a tournament.
Speaker C:Very fun.
Speaker C:I traveled with my dad and my grandpa, so we went to Chile, and we stayed there for, like, three to four days.
Speaker C:And is it.
Speaker A:Is.
Speaker A:Is there, like.
Speaker A:Is there food that you like?
Speaker A:I went to Korea one time with the ata and there was a lot of food that I was like, I am not eating this.
Speaker A:This is not my kind of food.
Speaker A:How was it?
Speaker A:Did you.
Speaker A:You have some good food there?
Speaker C:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Did you have to find a McDonald's somewhere?
Speaker C:No snow.
Speaker A:She's like, no, I'm good.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Well, hey, Mr. Gomance, so nice to meet you.
Speaker A:Congratulations on being an athlete of week.
Speaker A:And thank you so much for just being an inspiration for other martial artists out there of ages.
Speaker A:We really appreciate it.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker A:I love doing these athletes of the week.
Speaker A:So cool to talk to all these different kids.
Speaker A:You think someday you'll be one of the athletes of the week, Hezekiah?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or maybe a brand ambassador.
Speaker A:That would be cool.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you guys aren't checking this out on YouTube, it's definitely best on the AGA's YouTube page.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:They should go check that out, don't you think?
Speaker A:Hezekiah?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's so good to be on Taekwondo.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:And they should subscribe.
Speaker A:Hit that subscribe button.
Speaker A:That would be great.
Speaker A:And that's.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:We've got other stuff we've got to do today.
Speaker A:I'm on daddy duty today, so we are going to wrap it up.
Speaker A:Is anything else you want to say to all our friends in ATA Nation.
Speaker B:Is kind of old.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's, like, so sold.
Speaker A:So old.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Does it need.
Speaker A:Is it.
Speaker A:Is it broken?
Speaker B:No, it's just.
Speaker A:Oh, do we need new stuff at our taekwondo school?
Speaker B:No, I'm just reminding you.
Speaker A:Oh, you're just reminding me that am I old?
Speaker A:I'll take that silence as a sign up, maybe.
Speaker A:Okay, say, let's.
Speaker A:Let's end with saying, let the champions beyond the belt.
Speaker A:Can you say, be champions beyond the belt.
Speaker B:Be champions beyond the belt.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:We'll talk next time.
Speaker A:ATA Nation.
Speaker A:Get out there and go beyond the belt.
Speaker A:ATA Asian podcast.
Speaker A:Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.
