Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Did you know there are rainforest areas in Alaska? That and more on today's episode. Let's get started.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Sir. I will live with perseverance in the spirit of taekwondo courtesy for fellow students, integrity within myself, and to become a black belt leader.
Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Ladies and gentlemen, masters, students, instructors of song arm Taekwondo. Welcome back to the Ata Nation Podcast. This is episode 112. We have completed spring nationals. We had an amazing time as ATA Nation down there. It is the 55th anniversary kickoff we're going to be celebrating all year long. And we have another awesome interview for you today, coming all the way from Alaska, an ATA club running in Alaska. Super cool interview. But before that, I wanted to give you just a little, a little motivation, a little encouragement. I, over the last month or so, it's probably been month and a half, have been a little lacking on some of my physical training, a lot of business stuff. I've been working on a lot of things to get done, just working hard on the school. And, you know, sometimes that means that I don't pay as much attention to my physical fitness as I should. And I started back up. I made sure I'm lifting again. I want to be really smart with my lifting. A lot of people are really into lifting and getting strong, but you've got to be smart about how you're doing it. Make sure you check out our athlete program in the show notes. If you are interested in learning more about how I'm training, you can get a template of kind of some of the things that I'm working on with that. I'm also making sure that I'm checking my calorie intake, not just calories, but looking at the specific things that I'm eating as well. So I like to log my food when I'm really working on dialing in. I think that's really important for us as martial artists to make sure that we're really walking the walk and talking the talk. So doing the physical training, making sure that we're working on our martial arts, working on some additional athletic skills outside of our regular martial arts, making sure that we're staying fit in other areas, making sure that we're staying all around athletic because our martial arts has so many parts to it. Forms, sparring, weapons. It's all so different. There's just lots of different things that we need to do and can be supplemented outside of the school, not just our forms and things like that. And then, of course, making sure that we're watching food, fueling our bodies well, making sure that we're eating well. Um, we did an eating challenge, a healthy eating challenge here on the podcast earlier this year. Mister McBride blew it out of the water. He did amazing and won that for us. But I am back to making sure that I am logging my food again. Making sure that I am staying fit, making sure I'm walking the walk and talking the talk.
Now that we've got that little update and hopefully some motivation for you. Just because you go through times, you know, when you're not able to pay as much attention to it as other times, you know, you can pick it back up again. It's not the end of the world, you know, I've learned that you have to go through different seasons. I have two young kids, so everything is changing all the time. There's just lots of different things going on and so there are times that I'm better at it and times that I just have to, you know, let it go and give myself a little grace. So hopefully this motivates you to pick it back up a little bit and get training. Cause we're in the home stretch as we get ready for districts, worlds and a new tournament season.
But now let's get into our interview all the way from Alaska.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Special guest interview.
[00:04:03] Speaker C: Hello ata Nation. We are back for another awesome interview and we've got some super fun guests with us today. I'm gonna let them interview themselves. We've got a mother and son today. Can you guys introduce yourself and let us know where you're from?
[00:04:19] Speaker D: I'm Michelle Dempsey and we are from Whale Pass, Alaska.
[00:04:24] Speaker E: My name is Jesse Dempsey.
[00:04:28] Speaker C: And I assume you're from Alaska as well, right Jesse?
[00:04:32] Speaker E: Yes, sir.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: That's pretty awesome. Well, I don't think most of Ata nation knows that there are songomies, martial artists in Alaska. Can you tell us before we get to a little bit about what it's like to train in Alaska, can you tell us a little bit what it's like to live in Alaska?
[00:04:53] Speaker E: Well, right now we're like in the golden spot. It's really nice. Right now, as you can see behind this, there's a lot of trees and stuff.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: Do you live in a big area like Anchorage or something like that? Are you way out in some other area?
[00:05:15] Speaker E: No, sir.
[00:05:16] Speaker D: We're in southeast Alaska and the town we live in has, I believe on the last poll, 55 registered voters. I believe we have 100 residents total, I think. And that's if you stretch it and include all the kids. So we're in a very remote location. Pretty much what most people would consider the middle of nowhere.
[00:05:41] Speaker C: And what kind of challenges does that have for you guys in just a regular everyday life? I mean, are you really far from another big town?
[00:05:52] Speaker D: We're about 45 minutes drive from the nearest, I guess what you would consider town, which is another small community about the same size as us, to go to the grocery store. It's an hour and a half drive, and 8 miles of that is dirt road and usually with a lot of break your axle potholes in it that goes along the lake. Winter driving is interesting, to say the least, to get off island, because we do live on an island. It's a two hour drive plus a three hour ferry ride to get to Ketchikan, which is where the closest airport is that goes out of state.
[00:06:33] Speaker C: Wow. Okay. So I think this brings us to the question, like, how did you get into song on Taekwondo in that part of Alaska?
[00:06:44] Speaker D: Well, Jesse's been training with senior master Demetrius Hill since kindergarten. We actually lived in Texas for quite a few years, and he's trained with him and when, and I am originally from Alaska and I wanted to raise him up here, but the only problem was, was there was no ata where we were moving to. Senior master offered to train Jesse via Zoom, which we had done during the COVID lockdowns. And it morphed into something different over time. And it's, we're pretty excited about what it's, what's going on with it.
[00:07:33] Speaker C: So you were in Texas, started martial arts there.
[00:07:40] Speaker D: You were in person.
[00:07:41] Speaker C: How long were you there in person before you moved to Alaska to be able to continue to train there?
[00:07:49] Speaker E: Around five years, sir.
[00:07:52] Speaker C: Okay, excellent. So what rank are you, Jesse?
[00:07:54] Speaker D: I forgot to ask.
[00:07:56] Speaker E: I am a red belt, sir.
[00:08:00] Speaker C: Red belt. Congratulations. And can you tell me before we ask, like, what's it like training there with senior master Hill? What is the, what is the thing that you really are liking about martial arts? What is the thing that's keeping you going in martial arts?
[00:08:20] Speaker E: It's the self defense, because out in the big world, there's a lot of people that want to try to hurt you in order to get more paper in their wallet.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: That's true. You might need some.
Are there bears up there? What kind of animal defense would you need in Alaska?
Smart plan. Yes.
So Jesse, can you tell me how has it been doing martial arts there in Alaska? And now, do you have other classmates, other people who are training with you virtually as well?
[00:09:04] Speaker E: We do have other people training with us currently telling more about it right now. We currently have 14 students in total. From, well, pass and nocatee, a 45 minutes drive away from us.
[00:09:24] Speaker C: So how's that work? Are you guys popping on Zoom? Are you in your own home? Are you meeting with another group of people to all be on Zoom together?
[00:09:36] Speaker E: Yeah, we, uh, out.
We train after school, and we, we connect. My mom connects to the big tv with her computer, and we go on Zoom, and nocatee joins on zoom.
[00:09:51] Speaker C: Gotcha.
[00:09:53] Speaker D: Generally, you.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: You're kind of in charge of all the tech and making sure people are there. And are you, um, are you guys actively recruiting other members to come join and train with you guys?
[00:10:05] Speaker D: It didn't start out that way, but I guess now we are. It started out Jesse was training, he was going to worlds last year, and he was training at recess, doing, you know, his forms and weapons and stuff at recess. And some of the other kids like, hey, we want to learn that. And senior master offered to let them join via Zoom. And now our Zoom sessions, we have some homeschoolers and they join from home, some from the nocatee school because we train in our school classrooms because we do not have a building, a dojo per se. We have a donated wrestling mat that we roll out in the classroom. And that's what we train on.
These kids.
We, we keep getting, you know, we've, we're down a few because we had a couple that moved out of town, but we actually have a couple more kids from Kaufman Cove, which is the next community a little further south on the way to what we would call town. They have a couple of students that may be joining as well.
JESSE and one of our other leadership students, Joseph Hillis, they go over to Nocti because it is difficult to trade 100% via Zoom. It's hard for the movements, it's hard for foot placement. Jesse being high rank, and he had helped with training tigers and such at the school in Texas. So he, we take them over to, like, nocatee, and they run them through their forms and help them with foot placement and things like that twice a month. So they can have a little bit more help than just zoom, because it is, it's not the easiest way to learn, but we're making it happen.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: Well, that's exciting. And showing your leadership skills, Jesse, that you were, you know, helping senior Master Hill before, and now you're out there helping some others.
What's that like for you? Are you enjoying the process of helping others?
[00:12:10] Speaker E: I am, because it brings joy to me to know that other people are more safe out in the big world.
[00:12:21] Speaker C: Excellent. And what, what are some of your goals? What, Jesse, what's something that you are looking to achieve in Taekwondo? What are you looking to pursue?
[00:12:33] Speaker E: I'm looking to being a grandmaster.
[00:12:39] Speaker C: I love that. That is an excellent goal.
Yeah. That's fantastic. Now, Jesse, you mentioned the outside. Right now. I can see it. Pretty nice looking. What's the, what's the temperature out there today.
[00:12:55] Speaker E: Right now? I think it's around the fifties.
[00:12:59] Speaker D: It's about 45, 50 degrees right now. We're.
[00:13:02] Speaker C: It might be, might be nicer there than it is here right now.
[00:13:06] Speaker D: It happens that way sometimes. Sir, would you like to see our front yard?
[00:13:11] Speaker C: Yeah, that would be fantastic.
[00:13:13] Speaker D: Let's give you the. Because we're in the. We're in our school right now where we train.
[00:13:22] Speaker C: Open the door, Jesse, what does the school day?
I think I read in something that you guys don't go to school five days a week. It's a different set.
[00:13:33] Speaker D: We have a four day a week. This is our view from the school every day. Sir, the bank.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: That is beautiful.
[00:13:39] Speaker D: Yes, sir. It's a rough life, let me tell you.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: I'm assuming it's not always so green, though.
[00:13:49] Speaker D: Yes, sir. Well, I mean, we get some snow, but it's not.
We're a rainforest. We're in a temperate rainforest here, so it tends to not get super cold.
We'll get down into the twenties in the winter time, but usually we find that it's actually a lot milder than like, I've lived in Idaho and I've went to school in Wyoming for a year and it's much milder here than a lot of the places that I've lived. In the wintertime, it's just wet.
We have, I think it's something like 169 inches annual rainfall here.
[00:14:33] Speaker C: So everything is green, bridging. Okay, it is very green then with much rainbow. How much snow does that in the wintertime?
[00:14:42] Speaker D: Depends on the year. This year we didn't get a whole bunch. We got about, I think, average about 2ft.
Last winter we had 4ft.
There's been winters that there's hardly any snow and then the rain will come in and just melt it all off. So it just kind of depends on the year. But it's nowhere near as harsh as like, mainland Alaska, up around Anchorage, Fairbanks, places like that. It's much more mild.
[00:15:10] Speaker C: Do you guys still deal with the part of the year being really very bright and then part of the year being dark? Or is it a little more average like we have around here?
[00:15:23] Speaker D: No, we have short days in the wintertime, I mean, we don't have the 24 hours dark and light like they have up further north. But like when we were getting out of school at 330, it was by the time we got home at about four, you know, after we got stuff wrapped up at the school, it, it was dark and, but now it's, you know, it'll be light until, as, you know, get into summer, it'll be light till like 11:00 at night. So it's, it's kind of flip flops. We have that more daylight in the summer, less daylight in the winter.
But, you know, it's cold, so we're inside anyway, so it don't matter.
[00:16:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
Jesse, what's your favorite part about living in Alaska?
[00:16:07] Speaker E: It's probably gonna be how all the communities are pretty tight knit up here and how you can build a lot of character.
[00:16:22] Speaker C: Like that. What's, what's one of your favorite things to do outside of, uh, your martial arts training?
[00:16:31] Speaker D: Well, spent a lot of time fishing last summer.
[00:16:36] Speaker E: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:16:39] Speaker C: Yeah, a lot of fishing. My nephew would be all about that. What kind of fish and what kind of fish you catching these days?
[00:16:47] Speaker E: Uh, right now we're not, it's not really into fish season yet, but when it is, we get a lot of pinks.
We'll get some trout sometimes.
[00:17:03] Speaker C: Yourself and eat them.
[00:17:07] Speaker E: Yes, sir.
[00:17:08] Speaker C: Well, I mean, with the grocery store being what, 45 minutes away, when I guess fishing is a little faster than, than going to the grocery store some days.
Depends how the fish are biting, I'm sure. What? Well, so you go ahead, man.
[00:17:27] Speaker D: Um, I said just, uh, we have a lot of runs of, uh, like reds and pink salmon. Uh, we also do a lot of halibut fishing up here, so.
[00:17:36] Speaker C: Nice.
Well, uh, I think it's so cool to hear about Ata nation being all over the place and super exciting. What would you like to see both of you guys, in continuing this training up in Alaska? Any specific goals that you guys have for that or is it really helping you continue your training and then go into worlds and nationals as well? What are you looking to kind of see with Ata there in Alaska?
[00:18:09] Speaker D: Well, we're hoping that it'll spread. We're hoping, if nothing else, that we're raising the next generation of Ata instructors homegrown from Alaska to Alaska.
Alaska is a kind of a different place to live. So not everybody wants to be here. And even if they want to be here, they don't necessarily can't handle it because it is different. It's a lot different up here, but Ata has done a lot for us over the years, and we want to give back, and we're hoping that we'll see Ata schools spreading across Alaska, and we're hoping we're just the start, just a seed, and that it'll grow from here.
[00:18:55] Speaker C: That's amazing. Do you know, Jesse, are there anyone with a Alaska state champion on their uniforms yet?
Do you know what they are?
I see. I think your school there should be definitely the first to have an Alaska state champion. That would be amazing.
[00:19:15] Speaker D: We currently have four students who have points towards state titles, and we believe that two, Jesse and Joseph Hillis, will possibly qualify for the Northwest district championships down in Salem. So we're hoping to go down and make Alaska proud.
[00:19:36] Speaker C: Oh, that would be amazing. You definitely got to let us know. Send us a picture if you get one of those awesome Alaska state champion uniforms. I'd be curious as to if AtA has the Alaska cut out for the uniforms already made or not, because you guys might be the very first. That'd be amazing.
[00:19:56] Speaker D: Well, we'll have to get. We'll get there when it comes to us, but we'll be down at the spring nationals here next week talking to people and, and whatnot. We do have Alaska state ATa uniforms, though. Now, all of the, you know, our clubs uniform has Alaska on the back just like all the other states. So they had to make one special for us because we're it up here. But we have 14 students wearing that.
[00:20:25] Speaker C: Uniform now, so that's amazing. That's fantastic. As I get to talk to school owners across the globe, I've been talking to people recently from Portugal and the United Kingdom and India. It's so neat to see people from all over.
Alaska is part of the United States. Like you said, it's a very different place. And now it's so cool to see that ATA is spreading even further. You guys are on the frontier moving AtA forward to new places, so thank you for that.
I'm sure. We're very thankful, of course, to senior Master Hill for continuing to teach you guys and help spread Ata further as well. Jesse, is there any advice that you would give to some young kid who's somewhere and he's like, I don't know if I'm going to keep training.
You know, I gotta drive a half hour to my taekwondo school or whatever. And you're up in Alaska, you know, way far away from other, other ATA schools. What would you tell that kid? Would you tell him to keep going or give up or what?
[00:21:37] Speaker E: Well, if I saw him, I would probably tell him to adapt and embrace the challenges, to overcome it and become more resilient.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: Oh, man. You are a wise man. Jesse. I really appreciate your thoughts there. Thank you again for this interview coming to us all the way from Alaska. Good luck in your travels next week to nationals and at your competition. And hopefully we'll see you in person at a tournament someday as an awesome instructor.
[00:22:14] Speaker E: Yes, sir.
[00:22:17] Speaker D: Thank you, guys.
Thank you, sir.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: Here's what's going on in Ata nation.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: Before we get to our upcoming events.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: I wanted to give a shout out to senior Master Dimitris Hill, who is the instructor of these students up in Alaska, and he is doing just amazing job. After the interview, I talked a little bit to the this family and they were just singing the praises of senior Master Hill. He's doing an amazing job, so shout out to him. And then these guys were at spring nationals and two students from the school did come home with medals. So that is super awesome. We are very proud to see at nation growing everywhere. Now, ladies and gentlemen, as we are into April, it is the tail end, the last month of tournaments for the 2023 2024 tournament season until district. So we've got a bunch of b tournaments going on across the country. The 12th and 13th in Canada, in Las Vegas, the 20 April in California, in Arkansas, in New Jersey. We've got the 26th and the 27th. We've got tournaments in Colorado, Iowa, Fort Wayne. You can see me there at that one.
We've got Arizona and Louisiana as well. And then we've got class A tournaments in North Carolina this coming weekend, the 12th and 13th, the only one in the United States. Canada. Oh, no, not Las Vegas. Never mind. Las Vegas is this weekend also. But the class A in North Carolina and then in Ohio on the 19th and 20th, in Missouri on the 19th and 20th, Oregon on the 26th and 27th, Georgia on the 26th and 27th. And then, of course, if you're heading out to Portugal, 27th there in Portugal as well. So really making sure you get into those last tournaments before districts, make sure you're checking your standings as well. Remember the 30 day rule. And then as we get here at the end of the season, it'll be even less than 30 days. ATA headquarters will announce it. We'll make sure we mention it on the podcast. But they need to get that all finalized right away so we can get districts information out to everybody, get registrations and all those things. And as we mentioned last week, the information for world championships is now online. If you head over to atamartialarts.com, dot so make sure you are checking that out. That is going to wrap it up for us today. Ata Nation, thank you for tuning in. Do me a huge favor. Will you share this podcast on your social feed? We would love to reach more of Ata Nation. Thank you very much in advance for that big bow in your direction. Until next time, get out there and take action.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to another episode of the ATa Nation podcast. Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Ladies and gentlemen. Hey, I'd be super interested in knowing who you would like to hear on the podcast. I said that all the time, but you're not telling me. I need you to know. You need to send me a message. We're super excited to continue to be running this podcast. 112 episodes over. You know what? You guys want to see this? You want to know how many downloads we've had? It is unsaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. In the lifetime of this podcast, we have had 1 billion download. I'm joking. It's not been a billion downloads. But if you help share this podcast, we would have more than we currently have. You know, if you share it on your social media, tell your friends at your ATA school about it, make sure, you know, like, everybody knows what's going down with the ATA Nation podcast. We've got some exciting things possibly coming in the future, so we just need to know what your interested in hearing about what you're all about there. So in the last 90 days, over 2300 downloads, which is pretty awesome all time.
Let me give you this stat. It's coming up 43,000 downloads. 43,000 downloads. I'm pretty excited about that. That's pretty awesome. You know what, top listings, this secret part is going a little bit long, but I'm going to tell you guys anyways. Look at this. Um, in the last 90 days, uh, the second highest listening country is Canada, then Ireland, Portugal, then United Kingdom, Brazil, Brazil. You guys gotta start listening a little bit more. South Africa, you're way down there. We have more listeners in China than South Africa in the last, uh, 90 days.
So share with your friends.
[00:27:20] Speaker C: Talk later, guys.
