Episode 197
Ep. 197 - Insights from Spring Nationals
This podcast episode primarily discusses the recent Spring Nationals event held in St. Louis, highlighting its exceptional organization and record-breaking attendance. I reflect on the various aspects of the event, emphasizing the enjoyable atmosphere and the ample opportunities for competitors to showcase their talents. Our conversation also delves into the inspiring stories of competitors, including a young martial artist who has overcome physical challenges to excel in her practice. Furthermore, we explore the importance of inclusivity within the martial arts community and the aspirations of athletes striving to make a difference. As we approach the milestone of our 200th episode, we invite our listeners to engage with us and share their experiences.
Takeaways:
- The recent Spring Nationals event in St. Louis was notably well-organized and enjoyable.
- Record-breaking numbers of competitors participated in the Spring Nationals over the weekend.
- We have an upcoming Fall Nationals scheduled for 2027 in St. Louis, which will be exciting.
- The ATA community continues to inspire individuals of all ages to participate in martial arts.
- Our featured athlete shared their journey and challenges related to their physical condition.
- We are actively promoting inclusivity within the ATA community, encouraging participation from everyone.
Transcript
We're back from the gateway to the West.
Speaker A:Let's cover it all.
Speaker A:Here we go.
Speaker A:Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.
Speaker A:Students, parents, instructors, masters of song on taekwondo.
Speaker A:Welcome Back to the Ata Nation podcast.
Speaker A:This is episode 197.
Speaker A:Count down to that extra special 200 and we just got back from an amazing spring Nationals in St. Louis.
Speaker A:Guys, this was an epic event.
Speaker A:Not only did we have record breaking numbers of competitors on Saturday and Sunday, but we even got out at 5:30 on Saturday.
Speaker A:It was amazing.
Speaker A:The team at ATA headquarters did just an amazing job of organizing.
Speaker A:Everything was so much fun.
Speaker A:I took some amazing classes.
Speaker A:I was lucky enough they asked me if I would do some lives while I was for ATA and I was more than happy to do that for you guys.
Speaker A:Hopefully you saw some.
Speaker A:You hit the subscribe button.
Speaker A:We're actually going to bring one of those lives to you because we, we got to meet an extra special competitor that I just wanted to make sure you guys got to see too.
Speaker A:But hopefully you made the trip to Spring Nationals.
Speaker A:I don't know about you guys, but I thought the convention center was fantastic.
Speaker A:Lots of space.
Speaker A:I had the students from my ring or my schools mention how great the pacing was.
Speaker A:Plenty of space between all the rings.
Speaker A:All the things there was excellent.
Speaker A:I thought, you know, we had some great eating opportunities.
Speaker A: s are correct, fall nationals: Speaker A:This place is bananas.
Speaker A:So cool.
Speaker A:I wish we'd gone earlier.
Speaker A:I was busy doing lots of different things and I didn't get to go as early as I like to.
Speaker A:But my kids and, and my wife and I went and it was amazing.
Speaker A:We will be back there again for sure.
Speaker A:We didn't get to the zoo either, which I heard was free.
Speaker A:Free zoo.
Speaker A:This is, this is me putting my plug for St. Louis again as a location for tournament anytime.
Speaker A:We can go there.
Speaker A:Really great.
Speaker A:You know I like the facility, the downtown we went.
Speaker A:I know ATA had checked mentioned on their story the the Foundry, which is this neat place where you could go to all these different food vendors and kind of eat in there.
Speaker A:We went there Saturday after the tournament and it was awesome.
Speaker A:Really cool place.
Speaker A:We didn't get to spend as much time as we'd like to there either.
Speaker A:So we're excited about going back to St. Louis.
Speaker A:Hopefully you are too.
Speaker A:Let us know what you thought?
Speaker A:I saw a lot of great comments online.
Speaker A:I. I just thought the events were run so well.
Speaker A:The tournament went great.
Speaker A:I got to judge two awesome rings of competitors.
Speaker A:And hopefully they see this now because I asked them to subscribe on YouTube and they better have, but great event.
Speaker A:So make sure that you are, you know, just letting Ata know if you liked St. Louis and you'd like to go back.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:I would love to.
Speaker A:We'll be there.
Speaker A: Fall Nationals: Speaker A:Now I want to bring you an interview real quick.
Speaker A:It's real short because we did this live there at spring nationals from a young lady.
Speaker A:Just one second.
Speaker A:Here we go.
Speaker A:Okay, AJ Nation, I have an awesome competitor with me.
Speaker A:What's your name, ma'?
Speaker A:Am?
Speaker A:Mary Hal.
Speaker A:Mary Hale.
Speaker A:And where are you from?
Speaker A:Mar.
Speaker B:Cadillac Mission.
Speaker A:You're up in my area.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:The people out there are wondering probably, you look young, and so you're probably, what, 58 years old.
Speaker A:Okay, green belt.
Speaker A:So what age do you start with?
Speaker A:Yes, he did.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What motivated you to get started with Martin?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:You don't want the parents to sitting out there going, oh, I'm too old to do this.
Speaker A:No, you're good.
Speaker A:Well, she.
Speaker A:Okay, you got to kick her in the head.
Speaker B:I have a broken foot.
Speaker A:Wait, you have a broken foot?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you're still gonna be there?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:This lady right here, beyond the belt right there.
Speaker A:Hey, congratulations today, and I'm excited.
Speaker A:Hopefully, I'll catch up with you tomorrow and see how things go.
Speaker A:Thanks so much.
Speaker A:Look at that, guys.
Speaker A:Never too old to start.
Speaker A:Marshall.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:Let me tell you, seeing people like this, 83 years old, green belt, going to nationals to compete is like, how amazing is that?
Speaker A:That is so cool.
Speaker A:Not only that.
Speaker A:So I was sitting on the testing panel at the international testing, and I was talking to a fellow judge of mine, and we had this lady come up, and she was 72 years old.
Speaker A:And you should have seen the kicks.
Speaker A:This lady had.
Speaker A:Her crescent kicks, I mean, and her hand techniques, they were sharp.
Speaker A:I mean, really sharp.
Speaker A:You would never have guessed this lady's age.
Speaker A:I actually saw her judging the next day or two days later, and I was.
Speaker A:No, it was the next day, and I was like, ma', am, I just want to let you know you are rocking her.
Speaker A:Her technique, her skill.
Speaker A:It was amazing.
Speaker A:So inspirational.
Speaker A:And this fellow judge and I, we were sitting there talking about how ata nation needs, like, the ATA nation grandma.
Speaker A:And so if you have a suggestion for, you know, a maybe an at nation grandpa too.
Speaker A:That would be cool.
Speaker A:A competitor, a martial artist that is maybe a little more seasoned in their years.
Speaker A:I don't want to say old, but you know what I'm saying?
Speaker A:Let me know.
Speaker A:I would love to hear more about these ATA grandmas and grandpas out there or great grandma's, great grandma maybe, because I think that's so inspirational.
Speaker A:Some.
Speaker A:Some cool people we could have on the podcast as well.
Speaker A:So now let's get to our awesome athlete of the week, Foreign nation.
Speaker A:We have with us our athlete of the week.
Speaker A:Could you introduce yourself, please?
Speaker B:My name is Charleston Williams and I am a black belt.
Speaker A:Third degree black belt.
Speaker A:Where from?
Speaker B:Lisa met Missouri.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:And so who's your instructor there?
Speaker B:Brandon Johnson.
Speaker A:Oh, the former brand ambassador, Brandon Johnson.
Speaker B:We do training online with Legends Martial arts.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:So first of all, let's get started with how you got started with martial arts.
Speaker B:A lot of energy and needed something to help me control it.
Speaker B:And then we found taekwondo and.
Speaker A:And you.
Speaker A:Did you just like, like it right away?
Speaker A:Did you just latch on?
Speaker B:Yeah, I wanted to be part of the community.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, it's a great community.
Speaker A:It's one of my favorite things ever since.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Okay, so now for people who have seen your brand ambassador video on the ambassador's corner, you have some struggles that are different than what some people have.
Speaker A:Can you explain a little bit of that to us?
Speaker B:Basically, I don't know the name of it, but I have something with my joints that make them really weak and loose.
Speaker A:Ooh, that sounds like it.
Speaker A:Like, do you, like, hyperextend really easy or do things?
Speaker B:Yeah, I do it with my elbow.
Speaker B:So we have races for that and.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now, did you know this before you started martial arts or did this come after?
Speaker B:This came after we only a year ago.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And how have you.
Speaker A:What have you had to do different because of that?
Speaker B:First we had to get braces, and when that didn't fully help it, we had to move to the special abilities ranking.
Speaker A:Okay, so are you limited on certain kinds of things that you can do in class and in training?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:What are some examples?
Speaker B:I can't do the push ups.
Speaker A:I know some kids that would be like, yay, I can't do push ups.
Speaker B:And then I loved to do tricks and I couldn't do most of them anymore.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker B:As I've gotten stronger, I can start doing cartwheels and some small tricks again by.
Speaker B:Probably will never be able to do my aerial and stuff like that again.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:So how.
Speaker A:How have you dealt with that?
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What's it been like for you?
Speaker A:I mean, that seems like a big struggle, you know, to.
Speaker A:To not be able to get to do some of the things you wanted to do before.
Speaker A:How have you dealt with it?
Speaker B:Last year, we took a break.
Speaker B:We didn't do quite as many tournaments.
Speaker B:We still trained, and I'm just doing the adaptive.
Speaker B:I'm in the special abilities ring, and I'm happier there.
Speaker A:Good, good.
Speaker A:I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker A:Well, as we talk about tournaments a little bit, what's your favorite thing to do with tournaments?
Speaker B:I see all the people score.
Speaker B:Keep.
Speaker B:When I turn 14, immediately I'm gonna judge.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah?
Speaker A:You're excited about judging, huh?
Speaker B:I'm learning already.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Well, it's.
Speaker A:I agree with you.
Speaker A:One of the best parts of tournaments is just to be around the people, you know, just to do this thing with all these people that are your friends and get to hang out with and do all those things.
Speaker A:So I love that.
Speaker A:What, in your current competition, what event do you do you like to do the most?
Speaker B:Probably Creative and Extreme, because I get to create the forms, I don't have to do what everybody else does.
Speaker B:But it has been a change not be able to do some of the tricks.
Speaker B:So with my braces, I can start doing some of the jumping kicks.
Speaker B:And in my extreme, I have a cartwheel.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Well, yeah, it sounds like as a person who has lots of energy, Creative Extreme is probably a great outlet to be able to use that energy to create different things and do different things.
Speaker A:So I like that.
Speaker A:Do you do a weapon with Creative Air Extreme?
Speaker B:Well, I did.
Speaker B:I did do.
Speaker B:Before we did the change, I didn't do Creative Weapons, Extreme Forms, and Extreme Weapons.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:When we changed, I had to rewrite everything.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Doing Creative Weapons and creative.
Speaker B:I mean, Extreme weapons.
Speaker A:What's the weapon that you like to use?
Speaker B:I like my bow staff the best.
Speaker B:But right now for creative, I'm using the strong demands, and for extreme, I'm using something else.
Speaker A:Okay, very cool.
Speaker A:I our weapons sometimes.
Speaker A:My guess would be because you have less of the joint kind of things you have to do with weapons.
Speaker A:It might be a nice way to not have some of the stress and things on your joints, but still get to have the fun of doing it.
Speaker B:A couple years ago, I bought one of the metal swords, and that's still too heavy.
Speaker B:I can use it a little bit.
Speaker B:There's not really a tournaments yet, so I'm still working on getting back to use that still.
Speaker A:That makes sense.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I hadn't thought about that the weight of it would make a difference there too.
Speaker B:But there's weapons I still can do and I think I'm going to do the long range BO staff.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Now you said earlier that you probably won't get back to being able to do the aerial and things like this is.
Speaker A:But you've also mentioned as you get stronger, there are certain things.
Speaker A:So as you grow, are you working on, like, is there physical therapy, things like that that are.
Speaker A:Will help in some ways as you get through that?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Every Friday I go to physical therapy now and we found some things that are gonna help.
Speaker B:I'm just never gonna be able to fully get back to where I was.
Speaker B:And part of the reason is when I was so much younger, I could do it so much easier is because I was so much smaller and I didn't have so much weight on my joints.
Speaker B:And then the week they first started popping out was when we first found out.
Speaker A:Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker A:As you got bigger, in some ways, that was more stress on the joint.
Speaker A:But there will be some things that they'll be able to do where you'll be able to strengthen certain things so that you can hold those joints a little bit better and whatnot as you go.
Speaker B:And I'll be able to have braces that fit me a lot better.
Speaker B:It took forever to find ankle braces that fit.
Speaker A:Ah, that makes sense.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Made elbow braces.
Speaker A:Custom made ones.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Man.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:My guess is as technology continues to get, you know, it's fancier and fancier and stuff, they can 3D print everything.
Speaker A:Eventually, you know, you'll probably be able to have really good custom things.
Speaker A:But it probably will take time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:For society to grow in some ways.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:So speaking of growing, what are, what are some goals that you have as you look towards your martial arts?
Speaker A:You know, training.
Speaker B:My short.
Speaker B:Some of my short term goals are becoming a world champion.
Speaker A:Oh, I love that.
Speaker B:I got second place last year and I was really close.
Speaker B:It was extreme weapons, I think.
Speaker B:I was doing my aerial and I fell because my ankle andrus popped out.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker B:I finished the form and still got second.
Speaker B:I was very surprised.
Speaker A:That is fantastic.
Speaker A:Way to go.
Speaker A:That's a great goal.
Speaker A:Do you have any, any longer term goals that you're thinking about?
Speaker B:I do have one, yes.
Speaker A:What is it?
Speaker B:My goal is?
Speaker B:Well, I kind of have two.
Speaker B:They go hand in hand though, to bring the Special Olympics, Missouri to connect it with the ata and then we're working on opening a school for that in our basement here.
Speaker A:Oh, that is super cool.
Speaker A:What a great that.
Speaker A:You know, the.
Speaker A:The Special Olympics, how that's grown in the ata.
Speaker A:It's been a goal for so long, and now it's really starting to ramp up.
Speaker A:What a great goal.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Well, you'll have to let us know how it goes as you continue to push that goal.
Speaker A:That's just fantastic.
Speaker A:I'm excited to hear from you because I think you'll have a good.
Speaker A:A good idea what it means to you to be an athlete that goes beyond the belt.
Speaker B:It means leadership and inclusivity.
Speaker B:I love to include others.
Speaker B:And at school, I'm actually part of the Unified Champion Club.
Speaker B:Not all schools are part of it, but every Wednesdays we have clubs and I'm part of that one.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker B:Used to include event and.
Speaker B:Yeah, I really like that.
Speaker B:And then I'm a unified partner with Special Olympics outside of school.
Speaker B:It has to be on Wednesdays.
Speaker B:I'm so busy on Wednesdays.
Speaker A:It's your.
Speaker A:It's your full day.
Speaker A:Well, what a great example you are for people.
Speaker A:Just, you know, overcoming some struggles, some adversity, but then being a leader in the outside of the school, being able to do all these things and with some amazing goals.
Speaker A:Congratulations on being an athlete of the week, and just thanks so much for your time today.
Speaker B:You're welcome.
Speaker B:And I had a lot of fun, and I think I'm excited to help special needs kids feel included.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:What a great goal.
Speaker A:You know, it's something Grandmaster, Eternal Grandmaster was really focused on.
Speaker A:It was something that he really did well.
Speaker A:And we're just continuing to grow it.
Speaker A:And you are going to be a great person to pick up that torch and just keep going.
Speaker A:Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker A:It was great to meet this athlete and a bunch of other athletes of the week at Spring Nationals.
Speaker A:So cool to be able to connect in person.
Speaker A:I got to say hi to a bunch of them.
Speaker A:I got to see some of you guys, the listeners, the viewers out there.
Speaker A:Make sure you're sharing this with your friends.
Speaker A:Hit that subscribe button on YouTube.
Speaker A:On YouTube, we're trying to do more.
Speaker A:Put some reels out of clips and things.
Speaker A:Trying to get the ambassadors to stick some stuff on there then as well, just so we can, you know, up our YouTube presence a little bit.
Speaker A:Let us know what you think and make sure you hit that subscribe button.
Speaker A:Last but certainly not least, guys, did you see already World Championships registration live get out there.
Speaker A:Get ready for Worlds.
Speaker A:I saw the event schedule going already, so get your information.
Speaker A:I'll be reminding you probably almost every week between now and then.
Speaker A:I'm excited.
Speaker A:As I was sitting at Spring Nationals, I was already thinking about what we can do to maybe level up our coverage of the International Songam cup for the team sparring.
Speaker A:We'll see what we can do.
Speaker A:But until next time, get out there and take some action.
Speaker A:Going beyond the Belt ATA Nation podcast, Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.
