Episode 207
Ep. 207 - The Hidden Power of Beyond-the-Belt Leadership in Martial Arts
This podcast episode elucidates the forthcoming awards and events in the ATA community, particularly focusing on the announcement of award nominations for the 2025 and 2026 tournament seasons. We delve into the accolades that will be presented at the World Championships, emphasizing categories such as School of the Year, Club of the Year, and Rookie awards. Additionally, we discuss the significance of the Tournament of Champions (TOC) registration, which is currently open, encouraging qualified participants to seize this opportunity. Furthermore, we highlight the recent Athlete Development Camp, celebrating its tenth anniversary, and its importance in nurturing our athletes. In conclusion, we engage in an enlightening conversation with our featured athlete of the week, who shares insights on their journey in martial arts as they prepare for their upcoming black belt test.
Takeaways:
- The podcast episode focuses on the recent announcements regarding award nominations for the 2025 and 2026 tournament seasons, highlighting the significance of recognizing contributors to the ATA community.
- Listeners are encouraged to engage with the ATA's YouTube channel and Facebook page to stay informed about tournament events and important updates regarding the organization.
- The discussion emphasizes the upcoming World Championships, detailing the dates and events that participants should prepare for, including the Tournament of Champions and Super 20 competitions.
- The importance of early registration for tournaments is stressed, as well as the benefits of participating in various competitions to improve skills and gain experience.
- A segment of the podcast features an interview with a young athlete preparing for a black belt test, underscoring the values of dedication and perseverance in martial arts training.
- The episode concludes with a reminder for listeners to subscribe to the ATA Nation podcast and share it within their community to foster a supportive network among martial artists.
Transcript
A weekend of awards, athletes and more.
Speaker A:Let's get started.
Speaker A:Welcome to the ATA Nation Podcast.
Speaker A:Students, instructors, parents, masters, grandparents of Songam Taekwondo, welcome Back to the Ata Nation podcast.
Speaker A:This is episode 207.
Speaker A:It is a joy to be back with you.
Speaker A:Today we had an extra broadcast.
Speaker A:I don't know if you guys caught it.
Speaker A:If you didn't, you need to go over to the YouTube channel and check it out.
Speaker A:Now you can go over to Facebook and check it out on the ATA's Facebook page.
Speaker A: the award nominations for the: Speaker A:This includes a lot of things, like people who help at tournaments.
Speaker A:RTTLs it involves school of the Year, Club of the Year, Rookie School and Club of the Year International awards for each of these categories.
Speaker A:There's just a lot of things nominated, really great people nominated.
Speaker A:And at World Championships they'll be giving out these awards.
Speaker A:They're going to do that throughout the tournament event instead of all at one time, just to keep things moving and rolling.
Speaker A:So it's a little bit different than past years, but if you haven't checked out that, check it out.
Speaker A:They will also be at the gala for licensees.
Speaker A:They will be doing the hall of Fame as well as Songam's special service award.
Speaker A:Some really cool things there then too.
Speaker A:So you don't want to miss out on those.
Speaker A:If you didn't watch the live, you missed out.
Speaker A:You need to go back.
Speaker A:Go back and watch it, check it out because some cool stuff there.
Speaker A:Now, speaking of world championships, before we get to our interview this week, I want to make sure that you guys are taking advantage of everything that is coming because world championships will be here before you know it.
Speaker A:I know TOC registration is open at this very moment.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:You know what, I need to check when it closes.
Speaker A:I don't remember when it closes.
Speaker A:By the time you hear this, it might be over.
Speaker A:I don't remember.
Speaker A:But make sure you okay.
Speaker A:Registration.
Speaker A:Let's see.
Speaker A:Double check and trouble.
Speaker A:Okay, you can.
Speaker A:I still have time.
Speaker A:By the time this episode comes out, you still have time.
Speaker A:TOC registration.
Speaker A:Now this is the.
Speaker A:You have to qualify for the TOC.
Speaker A:If you won district champion, you qualify if you were a black belt.
Speaker A:And then if you are in the top 10 in the national standings for black belts, you qualify for the TOC.
Speaker A:You'll go over and register, I believe at ATA easysignup.com and that registration will be open for the toc until Wednesday, June 24 at noon Central Standard Time.
Speaker A:So get registered.
Speaker A:There is no on site registration for that event now.
Speaker A:There's still of course plenty of time to register though.
Speaker A:Do it early because everything's better when it's early and cheaper.
Speaker A:If you are competing in the Super 20, that is the tournament that is open to all competitors at World Championships, you don't want to miss out on that.
Speaker A:A great time at the Super 20.
Speaker A:This, it's called Super 20 because you get extra points.
Speaker A:So like first place is 20 points or you know, the state national standings, all those kinds of things for point titling.
Speaker A:So Super 20, 20 points, first place, you don't want to miss out.
Speaker A:Great event.
Speaker A:A lot of fun too.
Speaker A:I mean just an amazing time.
Speaker A:So World Championships we've got the, the Tournament of champions.
Speaker A:That'll be July 15th, 16th, 17th and then the Super 20 tournament is the 18th and 19th and then we've got of course the training that is all part of World Championships, which is my favorite part, July 14th and 15th.
Speaker A:So lots of great things at World Championships.
Speaker A:And I know it's only a couple of weeks away, but you can still make plans to attend.
Speaker A:It's still possible.
Speaker A:There's a today not possible, tomorrow possible.
Speaker A:Guys, you can make plans.
Speaker A:So that's all coming up.
Speaker A:Hey, I wanted to give out a shout out to all of you athletes that are down at Athlete Development Camp right now.
Speaker A:If you are listening to this, you have arrived back home or you were in the process of coming back home and you are so and tired and exhausted.
Speaker A:But I know you had an amazing time.
Speaker A:Athlete Development Camp is such a spectacular experience.
Speaker A:It was sold out this year.
Speaker A:They were busting at the seams.
Speaker A:I think they even had to like bust some people from a hotel nearby instead of staying on site because it was so full.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And it was the 10th anniversary of athlete Development Camp.
Speaker A:If you haven't made plans to go to Athlete Development Camp, this is something you definitely need to look into.
Speaker A:All right, so there's a few events across ATA nation that I really encourage you to look at.
Speaker A:Athlete Development Camp wasn't a thing when I was a young, young buck training student.
Speaker A:You know, all those kind of things.
Speaker A:I'm still training now, don't get me wrong.
Speaker A:But there's Athlete Development Camp that would definitely be something this I think nostalgia wise in the way it's run and the experience that you have I think is probably the thing that closest analogy is the old school instructor camp set at in Little Rock because is that the same place?
Speaker A:I think it's very the Feel is very similar to that.
Speaker A:The sweat, the hard work, and I think is very similar to that.
Speaker A:So athlete development camp, I think Camp Jong Sue.
Speaker A:Camp Jong sue is an event that is very much like some of our old school leadership camps that we had.
Speaker A:I would definitely look at that if I were you.
Speaker A:Um, you know what?
Speaker A:This extreme creative, the.
Speaker A:That, that event they put on, I don't know.
Speaker A:That's one I would.
Speaker A:I would go check out.
Speaker A:And then, of course, worlds and national events.
Speaker A:If you're part of ATA nation and you have not yet made the trip to a worlds and nationals, you need to.
Speaker A:A world championships is the culmination of ATA nation work.
Speaker A:I mean, it is just such a spectacular event.
Speaker A:I love every year going.
Speaker A:I do not the opportunity to go.
Speaker A:It is so much fun.
Speaker A:So enough hyping up those events.
Speaker A:I'm just telling you, go do it.
Speaker A:It's a lot of fun.
Speaker A:Don't miss out on all these awesome things.
Speaker A:New season starting then too.
Speaker A:So get your training in.
Speaker A:Get your training in.
Speaker A:Ladies and gentlemen, let's get to our athlete of the week, ATA nation.
Speaker A:We are thrilled to have another awesome athlete of the week with us.
Speaker A:Ma', am, could you introduce yourself for us?
Speaker B:Hi, my name is Ellie Hospill.
Speaker A:And where are you from?
Speaker B:I'm from Fuqua Marina, North Carolina.
Speaker A:North Carolina.
Speaker A:And what belt rank are you?
Speaker B:I'm a red black belt and I'm getting ready to test for my first degree on June 18th.
Speaker A:Oh, coming right up.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:Are you nervous?
Speaker B:A little.
Speaker A:You've been working hard?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Who's your instructor?
Speaker B:Mr. Boudily.
Speaker A:And what school you go to?
Speaker B:Vision martial arts.
Speaker A:Ah, Vision martial arts.
Speaker A:Do you know senior master Beto?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:He and I grew up together.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Next time you see him, you tell him I said hi.
Speaker A:Anyways, so.
Speaker A:Getting ready.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Before I ask my other questions, I want to ask a little bit.
Speaker A:You're getting ready for the full black belt.
Speaker A:So what does your testing look like?
Speaker A:What are you most nervous about?
Speaker B:For your testing, probably sparring.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:How much sparring do they make you spar?
Speaker A:Like 30 different people.
Speaker B:They make us do two, two one minute rounds.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Good.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's pretty standard.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's better than 30 people.
Speaker A:Good.
Speaker A:What about board breaks?
Speaker A:Are you confident with board breaks?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:I'm pretty good with board breaks and I've been practicing, so.
Speaker A:Good deal.
Speaker A:What are your breaks that you're doing?
Speaker B:Sidekick and punch.
Speaker A:Very good.
Speaker A:I like it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay, so let's back go backwards a little bit.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What got you started?
Speaker A:Martial arts?
Speaker B:When I was little, I always wanted to do martial arts.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And I always wanted to be a Power Ranger.
Speaker B:And finally, when I was nine years old, my mom let me join martial arts.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:Did you start right away with Vision?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker A:Okay, which ninja or not ninja, which Power Ranger did you want to be?
Speaker B:The red one.
Speaker A:The red one.
Speaker A:Okay, very cool.
Speaker A:Which.
Speaker A:Which.
Speaker A:Which series was it at the time?
Speaker A:Because they go through, like, space and dinosaurs and I don't know what else.
Speaker B:I think it was the dinosaur one.
Speaker B:I'm not quite sure.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker A:I. I was.
Speaker A:I was all about the Green Ranger back in the day.
Speaker A:So now getting ready for black belt.
Speaker A:You just finished, then you did district championships.
Speaker A:I'm assuming you competed in the Colorbelt divisions?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Okay, what did you compete.
Speaker A:What events did you qualify in for?
Speaker A:Districts?
Speaker B:All eight.
Speaker A:All eight events?
Speaker A:Oh, man, look at you.
Speaker A:And did we bring home any.
Speaker A:Any titles this year?
Speaker B:A1 title.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Hey, that's pretty good.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker B:Better than last year?
Speaker B:Because I didn't get anything last year.
Speaker A:Well, hey, going in the right direction, then you can't win them all.
Speaker A:I mean, sometimes.
Speaker A:I mean, sometimes we see those people who do win them all, but that doesn't happen all the time.
Speaker A:So what event did you place in?
Speaker B:I placed in Extreme Weapons.
Speaker B:I did get.
Speaker B:I got five other medals.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:So you.
Speaker A:You weren't like, bottom of the pile?
Speaker B:No, sir.
Speaker A:Okay, what's your favorite event to compete in?
Speaker B:Mostly combat sparring and both of the extreme events.
Speaker A:Okay, the.
Speaker A:You said extreme.
Speaker A:Extreme weapons.
Speaker A:What weapon did you do?
Speaker B:I did BO staff.
Speaker A:BO staff.
Speaker A:That's a good one.
Speaker A:You throw it.
Speaker A:Did you catch it or did it fall?
Speaker B:I caught it.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker A:Good deal.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And combat sparring, you said, right?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:So you are.
Speaker A:Oh, not yet.
Speaker A:I was gonna ask if you're on a team, but you can't be on the team yet.
Speaker B:I'm doing tryouts.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker A:Oh, good deal.
Speaker A:When do you guys.
Speaker A:Are you guys.
Speaker A:Is that this summer tryouts?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker B:It's like towards.
Speaker B:I think it's towards the end of June.
Speaker A:Are you getting ready?
Speaker A:Are.
Speaker A:Are you excited about that?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Team sparring is a lot of fun.
Speaker A:You want to whack people with the.
Speaker A:And they, Hey, I don't know how it is at your school.
Speaker A:My school, I have so many.
Speaker A:I have more ladies on my teams than guys, and I need more guys.
Speaker A:Do you guys need More like, are they like, hey, yay, she's coming up.
Speaker A:She's going to be a girl on our team.
Speaker B:What I've heard in my age group, there's, like, no one in that age group for my school, so they're excited to let me try out for them.
Speaker A:Yeah, they got to start building that team up, right?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Good deal.
Speaker A:Exciting.
Speaker A:Okay, so if you had an event that was like, the event that you're, like, not my favorite, what would that be?
Speaker B:Probably just regular sparring.
Speaker B:Even though I'm pretty good at it, it's not really my favorite.
Speaker A:Hey, I gotcha.
Speaker A:I mean, even if we say, like, I think all the events are great, they're all great, but, you know, you gotta.
Speaker A:You gotta rank them somehow.
Speaker A:Just because it's.
Speaker A:It's not your favorite doesn't mean you don't like it.
Speaker A:So I'm with you.
Speaker A:Sparring's good.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Would you think, you know, we were talking about your.
Speaker A:Your testing board break.
Speaker A:If they did board breaking competition, would you be like, yeah, all for that?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Now they're not going to no one in ata nation.
Speaker A:Listen, I.
Speaker A:That's totally.
Speaker A:Was just a random thing I said, don't start calling the tournament department and see if you can do board breaking.
Speaker A:I will be in trouble.
Speaker A:Grandmaster will call me and be like, stop it.
Speaker A:So don't do that.
Speaker A:Anyways, so getting ready.
Speaker A:Are you going to World Championships this year?
Speaker B:No, sir.
Speaker A:Have you ever been?
Speaker B:No, sir.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:You got to make a plan.
Speaker A:Not this year, because.
Speaker A:Are you guys planning maybe next year?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Let me tell you, I know it's tough, especially when, I mean, I'm in Indiana, you're in North Carolina.
Speaker A:That's a long flight out to Arizona.
Speaker A:And it's a ridiculous.
Speaker A:It's ridiculously hot.
Speaker A:But World Championships is so much fun.
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:And we've never traveled on an airplane or anything for tournaments, so we just drive to all of them.
Speaker A:You don't want to drive to Arizona?
Speaker A:Yeah, no, that'd be not fun, especially from North Carolina.
Speaker A:Okay, so Worlds is.
Speaker A:You got to put it on your list.
Speaker A:If you.
Speaker A:Okay, here's.
Speaker A:Now they've got this European Championships.
Speaker A:They got the South African Championships.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've heard about that.
Speaker A:Well, and then the.
Speaker A:The Pan Am Championships.
Speaker A:If you had to pick Europe, South America, South Africa, which one?
Speaker A:Bucket list is on the top.
Speaker A:Which one are you going to pick first?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker A:That's a tough one.
Speaker B:Maybe like.
Speaker B:Maybe like the South America one.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's a good one.
Speaker A:It's pretty.
Speaker A:I hear good things.
Speaker B:I hear I, I'd end up wanting to do both.
Speaker A:Just go to all of them.
Speaker A:That's what I want to do too.
Speaker A:Okay, so what kind of goals do you have?
Speaker A:You know, for you as a colored belt almost black belt district championships is kind of like the, of the season.
Speaker A:There's no more, you know, opportunities to compete for this season.
Speaker A:So are you looking.
Speaker A:What kind of goals do you have other than getting your first degree in, in the future?
Speaker B:Well, I want, well, I want to go to world and one of my goals for last season was, was to like get a district title success.
Speaker B:And I got, and I got six state titles.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Did you really?
Speaker A:Fantastic.
Speaker A:Very nice.
Speaker B:And in my age group for, for my, for like my district, it's very competitive.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was going to say you guys got a lot of people out there.
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:And yeah, no, that's big.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Okay, so new year, first degree division and that can be a kind of be a tough one.
Speaker A:Are you looking to try to be in the standings again this year?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:We will try to travel like that, like as far as we did this year.
Speaker B:So I will do a few other sports for my school next year.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:Well, and a lot of times I don't know how it is at your school and everybody's different in their like pacing their goals.
Speaker A:But I know a lot of people do first degree for sometimes they do two years or more instead of just one year for the first degree.
Speaker A:And a lot of times I'll tell my guys, especially if they're younger, like that first year is a good year to, to go do some tournaments, get used to it, understand the black belt division, get going in it and then use that second year as you're like, yeah, I'm going for it.
Speaker B:Well, what I, what I usually do, I would never want to like stay behind just for tournaments.
Speaker B:I would always want to like keep pushing those belts so I wouldn't really stay behind.
Speaker A:Hey, that was me.
Speaker A:I was the exact same way.
Speaker A:I was like, tournaments are cool, but can I test for that second degree?
Speaker A:I wanna, I wanna be a second degree.
Speaker A:And then I was like, tournaments are cool, but can I test for that third degree?
Speaker B:I always, I've always wanted those like the gold letters on my belt.
Speaker B:Yeah, like, I've always wanted that.
Speaker A:Very cool.
Speaker A:Well, I am super excited that you are getting ready to test for black belt.
Speaker A:We love.
Speaker A:I mean I don't often get a lot of colorbell athletes of the week on here.
Speaker A:So it's really neat to get to talk to one.
Speaker A:And getting a test for black belt any day now, that's pretty awesome.
Speaker A:So what does it mean to you?
Speaker A:Oh, wait, hold on.
Speaker A:I got a question.
Speaker A:What about, like, Legacy?
Speaker A:You're going to are?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:My.
Speaker B:My chief instructor said that once I'm a black belt, I can join Legacy.
Speaker A:Are you excited about that?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:Because I'm not, like, I'm not old enough to test, like, a red black collar or anything for a long time, so.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, I know that we.
Speaker A:We got the same thing in our school.
Speaker A:Sometimes it's like, ah, you're so young, you got to wait a little bit.
Speaker A:But, man, you guys can get to be awesome instructors.
Speaker A:Even though you can't level up, you'll be fantastic.
Speaker B:My dream is to be an instructor.
Speaker B:That's, like, my job.
Speaker B:My dream job.
Speaker A:Oh, it's a.
Speaker A:It's a great job.
Speaker A:It's a great job.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So this is the thing.
Speaker A:We're going to see you here on the ATA Nation podcast, getting ready to test for first degree, and then someday I'll see you get bonked in the head with the b wrong bong and the master ceremony.
Speaker A:You'll be a master.
Speaker A:You'll be an instructor.
Speaker A:How cool will that be?
Speaker B:Yes, that would be very cool.
Speaker A:Oh, that's great.
Speaker A:Hey, and it happens.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I was just like you.
Speaker A:Okay, so here's the last question.
Speaker A:What's it mean to you to be an athlete that goes beyond the belt?
Speaker B:What I think it means to be an athlete beyond the belt is to use what you've learned in class, like the how to be a good person in class and all those, like, virtues and leadership class that you've learned and take them to, like, like, use them in life.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:And like, help others and all that stuff.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Now, if you had to pick one of the life skills, that was the one that for you is like, oh, that one's a little harder for me to do.
Speaker A:Is there one that you would pick?
Speaker A:Which one?
Speaker B:Probably discipline.
Speaker A:I'm with you.
Speaker A:Chocolate cake.
Speaker A:I see a chocolate cake and my discipline's like, I want to eat that thing.
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:That's the same for me.
Speaker B:But not for chocolate cake.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:What's your go to snack?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I really like popcorn, but I can't have popcorn with braces, though, so.
Speaker B:Which is very sad.
Speaker B:But, like, a lot of treats.
Speaker A:Yep, I'm with you.
Speaker A:Okay, well, we'll both work on our discipline together then.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I'll try not to eat too much chocolate cake, and I'll eat some of the popcorn for you instead.
Speaker A:And I won't see it Worlds this year, but one of these years, you're going to see me at Worlds, and you'll be like, hey, I made it to Worlds, and you got to make sure you say hi to me, okay?
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Well, congratulations on being an athlete of the week.
Speaker A:Congratulations on your district title and good luck or good skill with your black belt.
Speaker A:Testing.
Speaker B:Thank you, sir.
Speaker A:Hey, let me click.
Speaker A:I hope you guys enjoyed that interview.
Speaker A:It was great.
Speaker A:ATA Nation podcast.
Speaker A:Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.
